R&D Manager
Date: 10 Aug 2026
Location: Barnsley, GB
Company: Premier Foods
Based - Carlton, Barnsley
Permanent, Full Time
Join Premier Foods — where people, brands and purpose come together.
We’re looking for an experienced, hands-on R&D Manager to lead the development and optimisation of ambient cake products across our brand and private label ranges. This is a key role within our R&D team, with responsibility for delivering commercially successful, technically robust cakes with outstanding taste, texture and shelf life.
You’ll play a pivotal role in bringing exciting new products to market across our much-loved Cadbury, Mr Kipling and Home Baking ranges, managing the journey from concept creation and recipe development through to scale-up and launch
As R&D Manager, Cake and Home Baking, you’ll manage end-to-end product development for a wide range of ambient cake and home baking products. You’ll work closely with colleagues across Marketing, Supply Chain, Technical, Procurement and Operations to ensure brilliant ideas are turned into products that are feasible, commercially strong and loved by consumers.
This role will see you leading multiple NPD and EPD projects, owning timelines and resources, troubleshooting technical challenges and ensuring products meet food safety, regulatory, labelling, quality and brand standards. You’ll also manage and mentor a team of technologists across three manufacturing sites, creating a positive culture of curiosity, creativity and continuous improvement.
What you'll be doing?
In this role, you will:
- Manage the end-to-end development process for new products, from ideation and bench trials through to factory scale-up and launch.
- Build and maintain a strong understanding of manufacturing processes and capabilities, ensuring product feasibility is considered alongside innovation.
- Identify and apply emerging technologies, ingredients and processes to improve product quality, shelf life and cost efficiency.
- Own timelines and resources across multiple development projects, ensuring milestones are met and risks are managed effectively.
- Act as a key link between Marketing, Supply Chain, Technical and Operations to ensure product feasibility and alignment with business strategy.
- Ensure all R&D outputs comply with relevant food safety regulations, labelling laws, internal quality standards and brand standards.
- Troubleshoot technical challenges to help deliver high-quality products for consumers.
- Manage and mentor a team of technologist three manufacturing sites, encouraging curiosity, creativity and continuous improvement.
- Improve existing recipes and formulations to support margin, sustainability and nutrition goals.
- Foster a test-and-learn mindset, supported by clear documentation of trials, learnings and best practice
- Manage Mondelez licensed cake NPD and product approvals
What we need from you?
We’re looking for a creative, commercially minded R&D professional who is passionate about food and confident leading complex product development projects in a manufacturing environment.
You’ll ideally bring:
- A degree-level qualification in Food Science, Food Technology or another relevant field.
- At least five years’ experience in food product development, ideally within the ambient bakery category.
- Proven experience managing complex NPD projects from concept through to launch, including scale-up principles.
- Strong knowledge of food manufacturing processes and ingredients.
- Excellent communication, organisational and leadership skills.
- Familiarity with HACCP, food safety standards and regulatory requirements.
- A creative mindset, commercial focus and consumer-first approach
What we offer you in return...?
- Competitive salary
- Car Allowance
- Bonus
- Up to 7.5% pension
- Life assurance
- Wide range of online and in-house training
- Access to an employee discount scheme, with access to hundreds of nationwide retailers
Ready to apply...?
Click apply, submitting an up-to-date CV tailored to this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you.
At Premier foods we believe in inclusion, authenticity and individuality. We aim to ensure all existing and future colleagues are given equitable opportunities and are respected, valued and encouraged to bring their true authentic selves to work no matter who they are, what they look like, who they love or what they believe in. Our culture is one where everyone is welcome.
We're proud to be a Disability Smart employer and are committed to supporting disability inclusion throughout our recruitment process. If you experience any access issues or require reasonable adjustments at any stage, please let us know so we can ensure you have the support you need.