Product Development Lead

About the role

We are seeking a Product Development Lead to join our corporate Marketing team. The role will lead food product and menu development from concept to launch, translating brand strategy and customer insights into profitable, scalable products while ensuring quality, consistency, and operational feasibility across markets.

Key responsibilities

• Develop and maintain the menu strategy, define category priorities, and review the product portfolio using customer, market, commercial, and operational insights.
• Establish and maintain menu standards and structured processes for new product introductions, menu changes, product specifications, and documentation.
• Manage the innovation pipeline, develop product concepts and business cases, and lead recipe development and prototyping with relevant teams.
• Lead sensory, consumer, quality, shelf‑life, cost, and restaurant‑operability testing, using results to refine products before launch.
• Coordinate product launches across markets, including launch plans, readiness assessments, supply availability, training materials, and pilot execution.
• Guide regional menu adaptation and evaluate local product proposals while maintaining brand consistency, quality, and food‑safety standards.
• Collaborate with Operations, Supply Chain, Quality and Food Safety, Finance, Procurement, and regional teams to achieve product cost, margin, availability, service speed, and customer‑value objectives.
• Monitor post‑launch sales, product mix, margins, customer feedback, quality, and operational performance, and recommend improvements.
• Develop and deliver training on product‑development methods, menu standards, and new product introduction processes.
• Identify and address product, supplier, regulatory, allergen, food‑safety, supply‑capacity, and execution risks before launch.
• Lead cross‑functional projects, manage timelines and priorities, resolve challenges, and communicate progress and performance to stakeholders.
• Track development milestones, innovation progress, launch readiness, standards compliance, regional review turnaround, and training effectiveness.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management, Business, Marketing, or a related field (post‑graduate qualification is an advantage).
• 10+ years of experience in product development, menu management, culinary innovation, or category management within QSR, food service, hospitality, or FMCG.
• Proven experience leading cross‑functional product development and launches from concept through rollout and post‑launch evaluation.
• Strong knowledge of structured product‑development processes, sensory and consumer testing, recipe development, product specifications, and shelf‑life testing.
• Strategic thinking, commercial awareness, and the ability to translate customer and market insights into product opportunities.

Required skills

• Sensory testing
• Consumer testing
• Recipe development
• Product specification development
• Shelf‑life testing
• Food costing
• Menu engineering
• Business case development
• Product profitability analysis
• Food safety compliance
• Allergen control
• Regulatory compliance
• Project management