Liquid Devlopment & NPD/NPIManager

Liquid Development \& NPD/NPI Manager
Cardiff Canning
About Cardiff Canning
Cardiff Canning is one of the UK’s fastest\-growing canned drinks manufacturers, producing both alcoholic and non\-alcoholic beverages for a wide range of brands across the UK.
We work across RTDs, cocktails, functional beverages, soft drinks, and emerging drink categories, supporting customers from concept through to full\-scale production.
As the business continues to grow, we are looking for a commercially minded and technically capable Liquid Development \& NPD/NPI Manager to support customer product development projects and internal liquid operations.

The Role
This is a hands\-on role combining beverage development, NPD/NPI, liquid operations, and production support within a fast\-paced manufacturing environment.
The successful candidate will support recipe refinement, product trials, liquid preparation, and customer development projects whilst also helping improve organisation, consistency, and communication within the liquid department.
The role bridges the gap between product development and commercial manufacturing, ensuring products are both technically sound and suitable for large\-scale production.

Key Responsibilities
Beverage Development \& NPD/NPI

• Support customers with recipe development and product optimisation


• Conduct flavour balancing, acidity adjustments, sweetness optimisation, and carbonation adjustments


• Assist with scaling products from bench samples into commercial production


• Manage and coordinate product trials and sample preparation


• Work alongside flavour houses and ingredient suppliers on development projects


• Support shelf\-life and product stability discussions


• Assist with troubleshooting product issues including flavour loss, separation, sedimentation, and stability concerns


• Research new ingredients, beverage trends, and product opportunities


• Support the development of new internal beverage concepts and innovations

Liquid Operations \& Production Support

• Support day\-to\-day liquid preparation operations


• Ensure liquids are correctly prepared and signed off prior to production


• Assist with batching calculations and production readiness


• Maintain accurate liquid specifications and technical records


• Support troubleshooting during production runs


• Help improve organisation and standards within the liquid department


• Work closely with Production, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Operations teams

Customer Technical Support

• Act as a technical point of contact for customer liquid queries


• Support onboarding of new products into production


• Ensure customer formulations are suitable for commercial manufacturing


• Assist with specification control and version management


• Support the development of structured beverage development and technical support services within the business

Process Improvement

• Help develop and improve SOPs relating to liquid preparation and recipe management


• Improve technical documentation and sign\-off procedures


• Support continuous improvement initiatives across liquid and production operations


• Help build scalable systems around beverage development and liquid management

What We’re Looking For
We are looking for somebody who is:

• technically minded and commercially aware


• organised and process\-driven


• practical and hands\-on


• creative but operationally realistic


• calm under pressure


• confident communicating with customers and suppliers


• willing to take ownership and drive improvements

Preferred Experience
The ideal candidate will have experience within one or more of the following:

• RTD beverages


• Brewing


• Distilling


• Soft drinks


• Functional beverages


• Beverage manufacturing


• Food or drink product development

An understanding of:

• carbonation


• acidity and sweetening systems


• batching and scaling


• beverage processing


• shelf\-life considerations


• and commercial manufacturing

would be highly beneficial.

Important Notes
This is not a laboratory\-only role.
The successful candidate will work directly within a live manufacturing environment and must be comfortable working across production, operations, and customer\-facing development projects.
The role offers the opportunity to play a key part in shaping the future beverage development and liquid capabilities of a rapidly growing drinks manufacturing business.

Salary

• £33,000\+ depending on experience

Progression Opportunities
Strong opportunities for progression as the business continues to grow, including future development into:

• Head of Beverage Development


• Innovation Lead


• Senior Operations or Product Development roles

Pay: From £33,000\.00 per year

Benefits:

• On\-site parking

Work Location: In person

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