23rd January, 2026
New Product Development Manager
One of Ireland's Leading Food Manufacturers are hiring for a New Product Development Manager to join their team! This is not just another Product Development role. This is your chance to step into a senior, influential position within one of Ireland's most respected and progressive food manufacturing businesses, where innovation, pace and ambition sit at the heart of everything they do.
As the NPD Manager, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of a large, high-performing food operation. Working at the centre of New Product Development and New Product Introduction, you will lead exciting projects from early concept through to full-scale launch, partnering closely with customers, commercial teams and site leadership.
If you thrive on turning ideas into market-leading products, love the buzz of factory trials and launches, and want to see your work make a real commercial impact, this role offers scale, autonomy and visibility in equal measure.
What we offer:
Salary: €70,000+ DOE
Working Hours: Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.00pm, no weekends Location: Wicklow
Benefits include very competitive annual leave, pension contribution, strong career development opportunities, Employee assistance programme, life assurance, employee wellbeing initiatives, onsite parking.
What You'll Be Doing
- Leading and driving a diverse portfolio of NPD projects from concept through to successful launch, ensuring timelines, quality and commercial targets are met
- Working closely with senior stakeholders, development chefs, site teams and customer-facing teams to deliver customer-led, commercially viable innovation
- Owning and driving a structured stage-gate development process across all projects
- Facilitating internal and customer-facing innovation sessions, keeping the business at the forefront of market and consumer trends
- Building and managing robust critical paths that keep projects moving at pace
- Leading, coaching and developing a high-performing team, supporting both personal growth and business objectives
- Creating forward-looking innovation roadmaps aligned to trends, customer needs and site capability
- Managing budgets and contributing to wider end-to-end customer and value-driven projects
- Acting as a key technical and innovation point of contact for customer-facing teams
About you - A food-related degree and/or a minimum of 5 years' experience in Product Development within the food industry
- Proven experience delivering successful NPD projects in a structured, stage-gate environment
- Strong product costing experience, including recipe management systems
- Hands-on experience running factory trials and seeing products through to launch
- Confident people leadership skills, with the ability to manage and inspire a team while also owning your own project portfolio
- Strong project management and organisational skills
- High level of IT proficiency, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint
- A genuine passion for food, ingredients and innovation
- Full, clean Irish driving licence
Why Apply This is a rare opportunity to step into a senior Product Development role where your ideas will be heard, your leadership will matter, and your work will be seen on shelves and plates across Ireland and beyond. The business is investing heavily in innovation, people and growth, making this an ideal move for someone looking to take the next big step in their NPD career.
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