What’s in the Box
As a Junior International Sourcing Specialist (New Ingredient Development), you will act as the crucial link between our Culinary Innovation and Procurement teams. Sitting within local/regional teams, you will own the end-to-end process from food ingredient requests through to operational onboarding. You will ensure that every new culinary ingredient coming into your market drives innovation without creating operational chaos.
What You’ll Do: The Recipe
Lead project management for new ingredient requests across Culinary, Product, and Procurement teams
Own the workflow for new ingredient requests once handed over from Product Operations, acting as gatekeeper to ensure strict adherence to standardized processes, including progression or rejection decisions
Align with the local NID/Ingredient Specialist to ensure sourcing tasks are completed on time and in line with the critical path
Act as gatekeeper for all NID requests, ensuring only SKUs that pass Gate 2 (feasibility) progress to Culinary SKU testing
Review all new ingredient requisition proposals in market for completeness before connecting with local suppliers or handing over to Category Managers for sourcing/tender (if multi-market)
Manage stakeholder engagement and communication between local and international teams to ensure consistency in NID approach across markets
Coordinate new developments with Category Managers, sensory testing, Culinary, FSQA, and other markets
Facilitate speedy SKU onboarding while ensuring coordination of new SKU creation across markets, including reviewing existing alternatives in the global portfolio
Support Category Managers in cost-saving initiatives through improved SKU catalog management and identifying opportunities for SKU consolidation/rationalization or sourcing from existing international catalogs
Support SKU improvement initiatives with Culinary and Quality teams to optimize specifications or formulations for better ingredient performance
Wha
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£45,000 – £60,000 (Glassdoor, Levels.fyi, 2025)
