Product Technical Performance Manager - Ice Cream

Job Location: Alba

Company description

Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella®, Tic Tac®, Ferrero Rocher®, Raffaello®, Kinder Bueno® and Kinder Surprise®. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 38,767  dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of. Join us, and you could be one of them.

Diversity Statement

Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.

About the Role:

We are currently looking for a talented candidate in product development & implementation of new products as well as defining industrial processes for Ice Cream Category thus across the world. 

The candidate will also liaise with colleagues from different teams and departments, colleagues from factories around the world and our key business Stakeholders to execute flawless projects.

The candidate will work in a highly dynamic and international environment within Ferrero, with the following responsibilities.

Main Responsibilities:

• SUPPORT IN CATEGORY PRODUCT RANGE DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Supports Presidenza/DTC in ensuring the structuring of the technological and product evolution plan for the Category (new products, improvements to existing ones, etc.)

• DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIALIZATION OF NEW PRODUCTS AND CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF EXISTING ONES. PRODUCT/RM TRIALS

Ensure the Category innovation through the development and the industrialization of new products
Ensure product and process development of new products in accordance to guidance of Global Presidenza
Participate (with different level of responsibilities depending on the type of innovation) in the definition of new products recipe
Monitor raw material quality to assure high quality finished product
Define the conditions to keep stable organoleptic characteristics of the products (taste, texture)
Ensure quality constant improvement (performance) of existing products, of production systems and raw materials
Continuous improvement of the existing processes in quality, technology and costs
Provide technical product-process support to Group plant technologies
Cooperate with Local Technologist in UGP to keep up to date quality and share best practices
Design and attendance to the execution of  lab and industrial trials on innovation/proximity/alternative raw material projects (in this case following the governance of Ferrero plants)

Main Tasks:

• TECHNOLOGICAL PROCESS and SUPPORT TO MACHINERIES DESIGN/FEASIBILITIES

Define and fix process/technologies for manufacturing new products and for improving existing ones
Ensures the coordination and supervises the execution both in the lab and in the plant of new process technologies tests and new machineries potentially impacting quality
Collaborates with the competent technical bodies, providing inputs in the design of new machineries or modifications of the existing ones within Ferrrero quality stds

• TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION AND WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT

Keep up to date all the specification related the products (doses, technical specification, ecc.)
Data management and following all the key steps from definition of recipe up to industrilaization
Is responsible for documentation management on the end-to-end DTC process
Supports the integration of the new Category within the Group standard documentation way of working, flow and systems (in particular the fine-tune of the implementation of DEVEX system for Ice Cream Category)
Ensures visibility and alignment on documentation/ systems status for recipes
Liase with R&D Raw Materials to support cross-team contact for flow facilitation (e.g., collect documentation, check raw materials validation status, provider contact-scouting for RM-SF in alignment with R&D Raw Materials, support follow-up if any..)
Liaise with Product Integrity on nutritional topics touching on related process requirements/ stages

• TECHNOLOGY/PRODUCT TECHNICAL REFERENT FOR CATEGORY STAKEHOLDERS

Be the reference point for Engineering, Plants technologists, Quality DPT, RD Raw & Pack materials and UPS, Strategic RD on involved projects
Work and active collaboration with DTC Laboratory and Team Progetti DPT, Filiera, Eng, Plant , BTI labs, UPS, ops dev, quality and marketing

Who we are looking for:

• University Master's degree in Food Technology, Chemistry, Biology
• 3-5 years of experience in Ice Cream R&D / Operation Companies
• Knowledge food industry processes and raw materials, food safety and production processes of ice-cream products
• Knowledge of chemistry, physic, microbiology and nutrition
• Knowledge of project management
• Strong autonomy capacity on team working and empathy
• Strong capacity on creativity and problem solving
• High level of knowledge of MS office program (excel, word, powerpoint point)
• Excellent knowledge of English, both written and spoken
• Availability to frequent transfer in Italy and abroad

How to be successful in the role and at Ferrero:

Consumers, quality and care are at the heart of everything we do. So, to be successful at Ferrero, you’ll need to be just as consumer and product centric as we are - dedicated to crafting brilliant results for consumers around the world. 

Strong analytical mind, attention to details on one hand, and ability to cooperate with employees at all levels and great organisational skills on the other, would be key to success.  Employee contribution and engagement at Ferrero is based on the individual, team and organisation dimension, so you should have the ability to work independently, as a part of the team and build good relations with stakeholders at all levels.  Being flexible and dealing with a dynamic working environment as well as the ability to embed new knowledge and skills in existing competencies will definitely help you to become high performer here.