Technical and New Product Development (NPD) Lead, Dairy

Date: 2 Mar 2026

Country: New Zealand

Location:

Tokaroa, NZ

Function: Innovation, Quality & Food Safety

About Us

As a leading provider of high-quality food and beverage ingredients, we work with farming communities across the globe to grow, source and produce ingredients that are good for consumers, farmers, and the world around us. We supply household food brands and manufacturers worldwide with cocoa, coffee, dairy, nuts and spices ingredients which are often grown on our own farms and estates and sourced from hundreds of thousands of farmers across ~50 countries. Along with our diverse manufacturing and innovation capabilities, this means we can provide ingredients for a range of products, from a plant-based latte mix to an almond based snack bar or a dairy-free ice cream.  Making a positive impact on people and planet is a core component of our Purpose, to be the change for good food and a healthy future. With a deep-rooted presence in the countries where our ingredients are grown, we are closer to farmers, enabling better quality, and more reliable, traceable, and transparent supply. And whoever we’re with, whatever we’re doing, we always make it real.

Product Information

Dairy

Dairy products have long been a nutritious part of diets worldwide. We keep dairy moving around the world with our supply chain expertise and on-the-ground capabilities. Our dairy supply chain and operations span 25 countries across 6 continents, with an estimated 300,000 cows producing the milk needed for our ingredients. Most of our dairy ingredients are sourced from a portfolio of manufacturers and suppliers across North America, South America, Europe, and Oceania.

ofi’s first dairy production facility is in Johor, producing filled milk powder and blended dairy ingredients. Our Malaysia plant is also the heart of dairy innovation, developing customized dairy solutions for fast-growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

ofi’s second dairy production facility is in Tokoroa, close to hundreds of quality dairy farms in the Waikato region – the heartland of New Zealand’s dairy industry. Today, we partner with more than 100 dairy farmers who supply raw milk to our plant.

We strive to provide solutions for our customers that deliver environmental benefits while minimizing industry challenges. Our biomass boiler and animal feed, formulated with almond by-product for dairy cows in New Zealand, are excellent examples of this ambition

Job Description

Position: Technical & New Product Development Lead

Location: ofi Dairy Processing Plant, Tokoroa, New Zealand

Role Purpose

Lead the end‑to‑end development and industrialisation of new and renovated dairy products from concept through pilot to plant scale‑up, delivering safe, compliant and commercially viable solutions for ofi’s customers and manage the New Zealand (NZ)-based dairy innovation team

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Focus: Own the Tokoroa new product and renovation pipeline and execution; align with global/category strategies.
Customer & Market Insight: Translate customer insights into robust product concepts and prototypes; provide authoritative responses to technical queries.
Project & Lifecycle Management: Plan and manage New Product Development (NPD) and reformulation timelines, gates and risk mitigations from brief to launch.
Cost & Scalability: Design for manufacturability and cost; influence launch costs and yields; generate cost‑savings via product and process efficiency.
Technical Innovation: Lead recipe/formulation work, pilot trials, shelf‑life studies, claims validation and documentation.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Sales/Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality/Regulatory and Procurement to deliver on briefs.
Specification Ownership: Own technical specifications for new/renovated products, linking specs to process conditions, stability and performance.
Regulatory & Quality and Food Safety (QFS): Ensure compliance with ofi QFS standards and regulatory requirements; collaborate with QA/RA to define controls and validation.
Customer Engagement: Prepare and present samples; run customer trials and plant validations with clear success criteria.
Pilot & Scale‑Up Leadership: Design and execute pilot trials; lead scale‑up plans and on‑site plant trials with Operations.
Operational Handover: Provide structured handover to Operations and sustain support during launch phases.
Manage the innovation team at dairy NZ.

Requirements

Qualifications & Experience

Minimum Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Food Science, Dairy Technology, Chemical/Process Engineering or related discipline.
More than 15 years in dairy/food R&D, process development or scale‑up, including significant plant trial leadership.
Strong understanding of dairy process technologies and unit operations (e.g., thermal processing, evaporation, spray drying, blending, CIP).
Working knowledge of QFS systems (e.g., HACCP, FSSC/ISO) and regulatory/label requirements.
Proficiency with design of experiments (DoE), statistical analysis and PLM documentation.
Proven project leadership, stakeholder management and communication skills.

Key Relationships

Global Dairy Innovation Head (Singapore) and broader Innovation/R&D community
Sales/Marketing and Sales & Marketing
Tokoroa Operations & Engineering, Quality/QFS and Supply Chain teams
Procurement and Finance

Success Measures / KPIs

On‑time, in‑full (OTIF) delivery of NPD and reformulation projects.
First‑time‑right pilot/plant trial success rates and launch yield attainment.
Compliance metrics (audit outcomes, documentation accuracy, spec right‑first‑time).
Validated cost‑savings and efficiency improvements.

Other Information

Work type: Full‑time, permanent; predominantly on site
Travel: Domestic travel for trials/customer engagements and periodic travel to Singapore/other ofi sites

ofi is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to racial or ethnic origin, color, age, religion or belief, sex, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Applicants are requested to complete all required steps in the application process including providing a resume/CV in order to be considered for open roles.