Development - NPD Project Coordinator
Finsbury Food Group · Grenoside, Sheffield
Our estimate of how close this job is to decisions about what protein a business sources, specifies, buys and serves. How we score
Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
This is an administrative seat inside product development at a specialty bakery group, not one that currently sets what goes into a recipe or who supplies it. The value here is proximity: you would sit across Development, Commercial, Technical, Procurement and Operations, watching how new products and packaging changes actually move from concept to launch inside a real food manufacturer. For someone thinking about a longer path toward influencing what a company reformulates or sources, this is a seat that builds the operational literacy and cross-functional relationships that later NPD, technical or category roles draw on, including how ingredient and supplier decisions get made. But nothing in this role as described lets you change an ingredient spec or a supplier standard today.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
Where it can lead
- NPD Project Manager
- Technical Coordinator
- New Product Development Manager
These roles typically hold more direct sign-off over product formulation and supplier specification, including decisions on ingredient sourcing that can touch dairy, egg and other inputs in bakery products.
About the role
Finsbury Food Group is recruiting an NPD Project Coordinator to join the Development team at its Fletchers and Kara bakery sites, supporting delivery of New Product Development (NPD), Existing Product Development (EPD) and packaging change projects. The role sits within the Development function but works closely with Commercial, Technical, Procurement, Planning and Operations teams, coordinating project activity, managing timelines, and ensuring key milestones are achieved from concept through to launch. Day to day responsibilities include maintaining project plans, monitoring timelines, tracking milestones, and ensuring stakeholders are kept informed of progress. The postholder takes ownership of the Point 74 Stage Gate process, maintaining project trackers, critical paths and Power BI reports to give visibility of project status, helping identify delays and ensure deadlines and sign-off requirements are met. The role also covers project administration - coordinating meetings, sending samples for testing, maintaining documentation, recording updates, and chasing approvals and actions - plus coordinating customer sample requests, organising sample preparation and dispatch, arranging courier bookings, supporting purchase order administration, and helping coordinate ingredient, packaging and material requirements. Essential requirements are strong planning, organisational and time management skills; excellent communication and stakeholder management skills; the ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities; high attention to detail; a proactive, motivated approach; strong IT skills particularly in Microsoft Excel and Office applications; and a passion for food, innovation and market trends. Desirable requirements include being degree educated, ideally in Food Science, Food Technology or a related discipline; previous experience in a food manufacturing or FMCG environment; experience coordinating NPD, EPD or packaging change projects; understanding of Stage Gate or project management processes; experience using Power BI reporting tools; a Food Hygiene qualification; and knowledge of retail and foodservice markets. Benefits listed include enhanced maternity and paternity leave, an enhanced pension scheme, death in service benefit, a free Employee Assistance Programme, retail discounts via a Benefits Hub, employee recognition awards, and learning and development opportunities including sponsored professional memberships and an in-house development course. The role is full time on weekday shifts, based at Wadsley Bridge, Fletchers.</role_summary> <parameter name="builds_skills">["NPD/EPD project coordination", "Stage Gate process experience", "cross-functional stakeholder management", "project tracking with Power BI", "food manufacturing operations exposure"]
This is an extract. Read the full advert on the employer's site.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- project coordination
- NPD coordination
- EPD coordination
- packaging change management
- stage gate process
- project tracking
- Power BI reporting
- stakeholder management
- cross-functional coordination
- purchase order administration
- sample management
- Microsoft Excel
- project documentation
- time management
- attention to detail
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Frame your interest around delivering projects reliably - tracking milestones, keeping multiple departments aligned, and ensuring sign-offs happen on time - since that is exactly what the role asks for. If you want to build toward a more technical or sourcing-facing path, mention any exposure to project management methodology (Stage Gate) or data tools like Power BI, and signal curiosity about how NPD decisions get made upstream of your coordination role.
You apply directly with the employer. We just link you to their advert, and we don't see anything you send them.