Head of New Product Development (m/f/d)
Lead product development. Shape change. Build the future. Do you want to do more than just manage existing structures – do you want to actively drive the development of a product development organisation? In this key role, you’ll take overall responsibility for our New Product Development in Germany – at a time when you can really make a difference. 🚀 We’re offering you the chance to work with us to future-proof the team, develop skills and provide fresh impetus. In doing so, you’ll align the needs of our markets and customers with technological expertise, efficient development processes and the strategic guidelines of our Group NPD. 🎯
Permanent
100%
Hybrid working time after coordination
01.09.2026
German
What we offer
We offer flexible working hours on a 4.5 day week, more than 30 days off a year and the option of working remotely one day a week.
Catering is very important to us, and the freshly prepared food served in our staff canteen is evidence of this for our employees.
Thanks to our travel allowance, good public transport connections and plenty of parking spaces for cars and bicycles, our employees can travel easily.
We offer professional development opportunities in an international environment. We offer a wide range of further training programmes and regular training courses on our training campus.
All employees have the opportunity to take advantage of sports, leisure and wellness programmes throughout Germany with HANSEFIT.
Our attractive additional financial benefits include a company pension scheme, holiday pay, special annual bonus, employee participation and anniversary payments.
Your tasks
- Management & Organisation: You will provide technical and disciplinary management for the NPD department, develop your team’s capabilities and shape structures, responsibilities and collaboration with a view to the future.
- Product Development & Innovation: You will manage and prioritise development projects and translate market, consumer and technology trends into relevant product and innovation concepts.
- Processes & Transformation: You will continuously refine our development processes, actively shape change and take responsibility for cross-functional optimisation, process and digitalisation projects.
- Networking & Collaboration: You work closely with Production, Quality, Purchasing, Marketing and Sales, as well as our international NPD teams, and advise internal stakeholders on development-related issues.
- Quality & Responsibility: Together with the relevant specialist departments, you will ensure compliance with our quality standards and food legislation requirements, and be responsible for the efficient use of budget and resources.
What you bring with you
- Management experience in food product development, with a focus on formulation development and/or process engineering
- A degree in food technology, food science, nutrition and dietetics or a comparable discipline
- Experience in an international corporate environment and a good understanding of European food markets
- Experience with structured or harmonised product development processes
- Confident leadership skills and a passion for developing people, providing guidance and implementing change together with the team
- A strategic and structured approach to work, strong decision-making skills and a pronounced focus on finding solutions and delivering results
- Assertiveness and the ability to remain focused on the goal, even when dealing with complex issues
- Very good command of German and English
Any more questions?
I'm happy to help
I'm happy to help
This is what our application process looks like:
Thank you for your application! We have received your documents and will get back to you as soon as possible.
We would like to get to know you and your motivation better in the first introductory meeting – let us have a relaxed chat and find out together whether we are a good match.
In the second interview, we will get to know each other better and talk about your skills and the next steps at our company – we look forward to continuing our dialogue with you. For some positions, an assessment may still be required - if this is the case, you will be informed in good time.
Congratulations, you have won us over and we you! We are now finalising the process and look forward to welcoming you to our team soon.
