Bar Development Manager

Bar Development Manager – Sport & Food

East Tamaki, Auckland | Full Time

Help bring innovative nutrition products from concept to commercial reality.

At Vitaco, we're on a mission to empower healthier lives and build a world-class nutrition company. Consumers and customers across Australasia and beyond love our brands, and we're continuing to invest in innovation to support our growth.

We are now seeking an experienced Bar Development Manager to join our Sport & Food Innovation team. This is a senior technical role responsible for leading the development and commercialisation of nutrition bars and related food products, while providing technical leadership and support across the business.

Your Opportunity

Reporting to the Innovation Manager – Sport & Food, you will manage product development projects from brief through to commercial production, ensuring products meet customer, consumer, manufacturing, quality, regulatory and commercial requirements.

Working closely with Marketing, Production, Procurement, Quality and Supply Chain teams, you will contribute to the Sport & Food innovation pipeline, support continuous improvement initiatives, and provide technical expertise across the category. You will also lead and develop members of the Product Development team.

What You'll Be Responsible For

• Leading new product development and product renovation projects from concept through to commercial manufacture
• Managing development projects across both internal and external manufacturing partners
• Contributing to the Sport & Food innovation pipeline through market research, ingredient evaluation and supplier engagement
• Ensuring products meet regulatory, quality, customer and commercial requirements
• Managing product specifications, technical documentation, label compliance and product sign-off
• Providing technical expertise and support to Marketing, Production, Quality and Commercial teams
• Troubleshooting product, ingredient and manufacturing challenges
• Driving continuous improvement and cost-saving initiatives across products and processes
• Leading, coaching and developing Product Development team members
• Supporting customer technical enquiries and providing expert product guidance

What You'll Bring

We're looking for an experienced food product development professional who combines strong technical capability with excellent stakeholder management and leadership skills.

You will have:

• Tertiary qualification in Food Science, Food Technology or a related discipline
• 10+ years' experience in food product development
• 10+ years' experience within a food manufacturing environment
• Proven experience delivering products from concept through to commercial production
• Strong understanding of food manufacturing processes and commercialisation
• Excellent project management and organisational skills
• Strong communication and stakeholder management capability
• A collaborative approach and ability to work effectively across multiple functions
• Experience leading, coaching or mentoring technical team members

Highly Regarded

• Experience developing nutrition bars or similar food products
• Experience formulating sports nutrition products
• Knowledge of FSANZ regulations and food labelling requirements
• Experience working with contract manufacturers
• Tertiary qualification in Nutrition or Sports Nutrition

Why Join Us?

At Vitaco, We Care. We Act. We Succeed.

As a HRD 5-Star Employer of Choice, we offer more than just a job — we offer the opportunity to work on products that reach consumers across New Zealand, Australia, China and beyond.

You can look forward to:

• Competitive salary with annual review
• Flexible working arrangements
• Staff discounts on our products
• Discounted health insurance
• Subsidised onsite café
• Paid birthday leave
• Learning and development opportunities
• Access to wellness and naturopathic support
• A supportive, collaborative and innovation-focused culture

Ready to Make an Impact?

If you're passionate about food innovation, product development and bringing great products to market, we'd love to hear from you.

Apply now and help shape the future of Vitaco's Sport & Food portfolio.

Agency Notice

This recruitment assignment is being managed directly by Vitaco's recruitment team. We will reach out to our preferred agency partners should we require additional support. Thank you for respecting this process.

Apply now

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