Product Developer

Full job description
Product Developer
£31,450 to £38,000 plus benefits (Work Level 6B)
Manchester City Centre, in this role you’ll work in a hybrid way splitting your time between home, the office and supplier sites as required (find out more about our hybrid working policy at colleagues.coop.co.uk/hybrid-working-policy).


We’re looking for a Product Developer to join us and help us deliver Co-op’s amazing own brand products. In this role, you’ll have the opportunity to work on both existing and new product development and collaborating with our suppliers and internal teams. It’ll be up to you to help us create and enhance our products, making sure they taste great, meet customer needs, and always live up to the highest quality standards.

You’ll have the chance to work in our impressive development kitchens, developing your skills and gaining valuable experience as you go. If you’re a great communicator with a passion for food, we can offer you an amazing opportunity to do just that with a business that always puts people at the heart of its strategy.


What you’ll do

Use your food expertise and passion to create clear development briefs, always considering the commercial implications throughout development to maximise value for our customers
Support tenders from a development perspective
Review market and customer data to make sure we’re focused on the biggest opportunities
Carry out competitor market reviews and store visits across the country as well as visiting manufacturing sites across the UK
Regularly review product quality and taste test products to make sure they meet our standards
Work collaboratively with other functions to make sure products meet expectations
Monitor and keep track of products throughout the critical path up to launch, supporting the communication of key product information and launch activity
Build relationships and work collaboratively with both internal teams and external suppliers to make sure products launch successfully

This role will suit people who have

A real passion for food with some experience in food product or process development, or a degree in a food-related subject
Great organisational skills, with the confidence to manage projects and work autonomously
Customer focus combined with commercial awareness
Great communication skills with a talent for building positive relationships both internally and externally
A logical approach to solving problems and the ability to use data to back up decision-making

Why Co-op?

At Co-op, we’re owned by our members. And because we’re owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you’re not just taking a job, you’re joining a movement. We’re an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we’re powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you’ll also receive:

An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance)
28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays
A pension with up to 10% employer contributions
Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ)
Coaching and training to support your career development
Stream app – giving you access to a percentage of your pay as you earn

Building a diverse environment

We’re actively building diverse teams and we welcome applications from everyone. If you have a disability, we can make reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process according to your needs. We're also part of the Disability Confident scheme, meaning we'll always offer an interview to disabled candidates who apply through the scheme if they meet the minimum criteria for a job.

We'll ask whether you’d like to be considered under the Disability Confident scheme when you apply.

If we invite you to take part in the recruitment process for any of our jobs, we’ll ask you if you need any reasonable adjustments to enable you to participate.

You can find out more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process.

You can find out more about the Disability Confident scheme and all our commitments to diversity and inclusion at colleagues.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion-and-wellbeing


Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 50 minutes. If you're a current Co-op colleague, this does not need to be completed.