General Manager- New Product Development (Food Processing)- International Business

Position: General Manager- New Product Development

Department: International Business

Reporting to: President- International Business

Location: Ahmedabad- Corporate Office

Salary: Open for discussion.

Bond- 3 years

Job Summary

The General Manager for New Product Development (NPD) in the food processing sector, specializing in dairy technology, will play a key leadership role in driving innovation, product design, and market entry strategies for dairy-based products. With a strong techno-commercial background, the GM will oversee the entire NPD lifecycle, ensuring product feasibility, cost-efficiency, and commercial success. This role also requires substantial experience in managing third-party operations, vendor development, and supplier relationships to ensure that product development and production align with operational standards, cost targets, and quality control requirements.

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Responsible for management of New Product Development, Procurement, Vendor Development, and contract management for all Projects related to International Business.

Understands the market priorities of the organization and provides inputs to support the formulation of procurement and new product development strategy based on the criticality of requirements, cost control norms, and quality specifications.

Develops strategic plans for efficient procurement process and translate them into standard processes and systems to improve operation efficiency and cost and efforts.

Oversees the techno-commercial negotiation with identified vendors/suppliers for major/ critical procurement to ensure the best possible terms of sourcing for the organization in terms of price, quality, and services by evaluating offers and giving counter offers based on industrial standards.

• Review the key performance metrics of the function on a periodic basis and intervene as and when necessary
• Monitors performance of the function against set goals and against the budget on a periodic basis
• Drives cost efficiencies in the operations; identifies new and innovative ways to drive cost reduction in Procurement.
• Third-party operations management viz, ordering, inventory control, close coordination with the concerned department.
• Ensuring timely fulfilment of orders and backward working at the supplier end to ensure smooth operations.

Identify, source, and manage R&D for new ingredients to develop new formulations and make improvements to existing products, and develop new products as per market requirements.

Optimize and scale up manufacturing operations for new products to support the growth of the organization.

Responsible for the timely and right execution of product development activities including formulation development, supporting pilot & and plant trials, sensory evaluation, and R&D documentation.

• Coordinating and conducting value-added audits of the third-party manufacturing units and any other essential audits as per business requirements.
• Based on Audit findings, encourage and support the vendor to get all non-conformities overcome and get the vendor facility up to date as per norms.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory documents as prescribed by the exporting country.
• Support Third-party operation and QA to resolve ingredient, formula, label, and process issues.
• Manage product specifications, documents, and system entries in (SAP).
• Investigate, report, and make sound recommendations on technical issues based on the data analysis, QC findings, and Third-party inputs.

Cost control through ongoing review of formulation, developing vendors for improving operational efficiencies, identifying bottlenecks, and providing solutions to have the best efficient sourcing.

• Keeping track of Third-party account ledger, receivables, payment, stock, etc. Ensure commercial agreement with the third party is in place and being followed religiously.
• Ensures timely goal setting, monitoring, review of performance parameters, and feedback to team members; ensures the same across the department.
• Monitors the performance of employees within the department and takes action wherever necessary.

Key Competencies:

• A good negotiator and influencer
• Excellence in Execution
• Techno -Commercial awareness or understanding.
• Project and budget management skills
• Relationship Management
• Problem-solving approach with taking all stakeholders into confidence.
• Persuasive
• Planning and scheduling
• Inventory Management
• Coordination and Control
• Vendor Management
• Decision making
• Time Management
• Detail-oriented, self-motivated, and highly organized
• Conflict management and Stress tolerance
• Ability to multi-task, work independently and as part of a team
• Good working knowledge of dairy products, their processes, and technology.

Generating new product ideas and recipes.

Modifying and improving existing recipes

R&D in new product development

Desired Candidate Profile:

Minimum Graduate in Food Technology, Food Science, Dairy Science, and Dairy Technology.

Minimum 20+ Years of work experience work experience in the areas of product/process development, ingredient research, product formulation, specification development, analytical measurements, scale-up, and commercialization.

Techno-commercial skills who understand business prospects and opportunities to improve spending with a better value of money.

• Sound knowledge of Dairy and food processing technology, specifically, Sweets, Bakery, Paneer, etc.
• Updated with the latest innovations in Dairy and Food processing and trends.
• Regulatory awareness, networking, commitment, team player.
• Understanding of Food Safety laws, food safety-based process requirements, and HACCP/ ISO 22000/ FSSC 22000 implementations.
• Knowledge of External Audits/ 3^rd party audits with Testing, Inspection and Certifications requirements.

Please note that only candidates with relevant experience and qualifications in FMCG food or food processing should apply.

Interested candidate can send their resume at [HIDDEN TEXT]