KTP Associate

Job description

NPD Technologist / Commercial Food Science Extraordinaire (KTP Associate)

Growers Garden & Abertay University

32 months

Salary range: £27,.00 - £32,.00, plus dedicated Personal Development Budget of £5,

Background

Enjoy potato crisps and conventional snacks? So did we, until we heard how they were made. And saw the farming practices behind them. And then saw the nutritional parameters. After that, we put that bag of potato crisps down. At Growers Garden, we believe in sustainable farming and snacking. We believe passionately that our supply chain should support sustainable working practices, all the way from picking the crop to marketing the product (which we do online… less paper). And above all else, the product should be healthy, food inclusive and taste magnificent. What’s even better – we want you to be a part of it with us.

Growers Garden have partnered with Abertay University through Innovate UK KTP programme and their incredible food scientists to create an NPD technologist role. You’ll be based primarily at Growers Garden, and spend on average one day a week at Abertay. As the KTP associate, you’ll drive our NPD projects forward, you’ll transfer tons of knowledge about ingredient interactions and product quality over to Growers Garden (don’t worry, their managing director is also a scientist, so he may even understand you). You’ll foster a culture of innovation, research and development, you’ll engage with internal (staff, management, the board) and external (customers, suppliers, researchers) stakeholders, and you’ll work tirelessly on the creation of new, healthy and exciting snacks. Like the current range, these new snacks will be vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free, and make use of ‘wonky’ or under-utilised crop.

What will I be doing?

The primary duties of this role will include:

Deliver the project objectives in the KTP project proposal.Develop and understand ingredient interactions and the processes that go into making fresh veg crisps.Assist in the development of HFSS compliant snacks (this is government legislation about reducing all the nasties that we eat).Develop training programs for all staff on new processes, and create supporting documentation. This will include weekly and monthly updates to key stakeholders.Maintain an up-to-date project plan and provide progress updates to the Local Management Committee (Growers Garden, Abertay and KTP funding bodies).Understand the company’s extrusion production process and seek to develop this further.Work to improve the nutritional profiles of the vegetable snacks.Understand how brassicas interact with other ingredients and they may effect the production process and/or nutritional parameters, e.g., does variety matter, time of planting or picking, whether you use the stem or the florets etc.Assist with expanding the product portfolio to incorporate a whole range of other healthy vegetables.Embed a culture of learning, development and scientific innovation into the company.

What you’ll need to succeed

Nobody ticks every box, but ideally you’ll have a Masters or Honours degree in food science or food technology. You’ll be an outstanding communicator and confident when presented with challenges to overcome. You’ll be a natural-born teacher and have solid IT and project management skills. Most importantly, you’ll work extremely well with others at all levels.

Specific knowledge of relevant analytical food science techniques is also an advantage, including HPLC, LCMS or GCMS. Strong practical lab and research skills would be beneficial, and experience of working in a commercial environment post-graduation is highly desirable.

Informal enquiries can be directed to Martin Peel () or Athina Tziboula-Clarke ().

Hours of Work:

Your normal hours of work will be 37.5 hours per week worked between 8.30 am and 5pm Monday to Friday. We may change these working hours if such changes are reasonably required for the purposes of our business, and we aim to give you any overtime back with Friday afternoons off.

Holidays:

Your annual entitlement will be 30 days, inclusive of bank holidays

Location:

The position will be based at Growers Garden’s premises in Cupar, Fife, with some periods of work at Abertay University.

Apply online

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