the ideal candidate:

• Proven experience in end-to-end product development, ideally within the food or FMCG industry
• Strong project management and stakeholder influencing skills
• Commercially astute - you understand margins, costing, and how to build a compelling business case
• Experience in leading factory trials and managing supplier relationships is essential
• A passion for food, creativity, and the ability to translate ideas into scalable, commercially successful products

about us:

itsu is the healthy eating, Asian inspired quick service retail & grocery brand with over 70 stores in the UK and a leading grocery business across Europe and beyond. Renowned for its best-in-class food made fresh in every shop every day, itsu has huge global ambitions with a commitment to continue to open many more stores and intensify the growth of its already thriving grocery arm. With its best-is-class healthy food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.

itsu [grocery], which this role falls under, takes the itsu brand into supermarkets, health food stores, online, wholesale and internationally with products such as crispy seaweed thins, frozen gyoza & bao, brilliant’broth, rice’noodles & miso’easy to name a few…

D&I statement:

itsu [grocery] is committed to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive organisation. We encourage applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply for all of our opportunities.

When applying for a role with us, please remove your: full name, name of University/School, address, email address and any photos of you on your CV and covering letter. non-anonymised CVs may not be reviewed. 

scope of the role:

As a Senior Product Developer, you’ll lead the development and delivery of new and

improved products across multiple categories. Reporting into the NPD Product Controller,

you’ll be responsible for managing projects from concept through to factory launch, ensuring

delivery against quality, timing, and commercial goals. Acting as a key cross-functional

partner across brand, marketing, technical, procurement, and supply chain, you’ll also support

the wider innovation strategy and help shape the future product pipeline.

• Lead NPD and EPD projects from concept to launch, ensuring alignment to timelines, budgets, and briefs
• Manage project meetings and ensure all activity follows the internal gate process
• Own the QAS process and ensure products are developed to meet agreed quality standards while working closely with technical and kitchen teams to deliver excellence in product execution
• Oversee kitchen and factory trials, ensuring consistency, feasibility, and scale-up readiness
• Coordinate activities and ensure each function delivers inputs in line with project critical paths
• Maintain clear communication and alignment throughout project lifecycles
• Manage detailed, individual project budgets and deliver monthly re-forecasts
• Contribute to business planning with relevant cost, pricing, and performance insights.
• Identify and validate new product concepts that align with brand strategy and
• emerging trends, keeping up-to-date with food and lifestyle trends, and
• competitor launches
• Work with the NPD Product Controller to shape and influence the longer-term innovation pipeline
• Champion agile thinking and iterative development to accelerate innovation
• Support a collaborative, high-performing culture within the NPD team
• Line manage the Kitchen Developer, providing day-to-day direction and clear development priorities
• Ensure effective delegation of sample creation, trials support, and technical preparation to meet project timelines

what we offer

• Competitive salary
• Competitive bonus scheme
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays  (two bank holidays are interchangeable for other religious holidays)
• Health insurance
• Company pension scheme
• Hybrid working (2 days wfh)
• Opportunity to work from abroad 
• 50% employee discount in itsu shops
• Free itsu lunch 
• Discounts at major retailers
• A sizeable training budget to support your ongoing development

we want to hear from you

• Ideal start date: 1st August 2025 

itsu