New Product Development (NPD) Production Manager

About the role

Brites Management Services is hiring a full-time New Product Development (NPD) Production Manager in Nairobi within the FMCG industry. The role leads the development, trial production and commercialization of new products by coordinating cross-functional teams, optimizing production processes and ensuring products meet quality, regulatory and commercial requirements. The advertised salary is KShs 100,000.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end NPD process, including concept evaluation, production trials, sampling and commercial launch, and coordinate pilot runs and scale-up.
• Develop production plans, manufacturing processes and resource requirements, optimize methods and equipment use, and monitor trial production performance.
• Work with R&D, Quality Assurance, Procurement, Supply Chain, Sales and Marketing, and provide technical guidance to production teams.
• Ensure compliance with quality standards, food safety and regulatory guidelines, and maintain product specifications, procedures and technical documentation.
• Monitor adherence to GMP, HACCP and company quality management systems.
• Support product costing and budget planning, track project timelines and milestones, and report progress to management.

Required profile

• Degree in Food Science, Production Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering or a related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in production management, product development or manufacturing operations.
• Experience in FMCG manufacturing and new product commercialization is highly desirable.

Required skills

• Understanding of production processes, quality management systems, GMP, HACCP and cost optimization.
• Project management and product commercialization skills.
• Analytical, problem-solving and process improvement abilities.
• Leadership, communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Proficiency in production planning, ERP systems and Microsoft Office.

Candidates apply by sending their CV to the company's recruitment team; interviews are held on a rolling basis until the position is filled.