Packaging Developer

Little Moons are frozen and chilled mochi, a fusion of Eastern and Western cuisine – soft and chewy rice flour dough wrapped around balls of ice cream, cheesecake, or chocolate ganache to create a distinctive, bite-sized, and delicious dessert that’s bursting with flavour.

 

Their rollout across Europe has been pioneered by sister and brother duo Vivien and Howard Wong, who founded Little Moons in 2010.  The product’s roots are in high-end restaurants, but over the last five years retail packs have swept the ice cream category in grocery and food service.

 

The business has rapidly established mochi across Europe and will exceed £50m in revenue in FY21/22. Based on experience in the USA, mochi ice cream is likely to make up 2-3% of the total ice cream category within 1-2 years.

 

We are very proud of the culture that we have built at Little Moons. Not to stroke our own egos, but we are a great bunch of people—smart, passionate, interesting, and funny—who work hard to support and live our values, all the while keeping our mission in our forethoughts.

 

 

To help us pioneer a revolution in frozen and chilled sweet treats, we’re looking for a dynamic Packaging Developer to join our Innovation & Sustainability team. This role will be responsible for designing, developing and testing new packaging solutions for existing and future Little Moons products.

 

The perfect candidate will be a creative and an experienced deliverer of packaging innovation from concept to launch. They will be a materials and print fanatic, constantly enhancing their expertise and able to work collaboratively with suppliers for the best output. Whilst passionate about what packaging can do for both the product and brand, they’ll also be motivated by the challenge of ensuring it’s fit for market, balancing commercial, sustainability, and technical requirements. Responsible packaging use is their mantra!

 

• Deliver all aspects of packaging development i.e. material choice, structural design and print. Working with suppliers to design inspiring packaging and print solutions to project briefs and proactively feeding into the innovation pipeline (for both new and existing product development projects).
• Understand our packaging; know the technical properties and functionality of the packaging materials used, ensuring they are fit for purpose, and as sustainable as possible.
• Support feasibility assessments for the project portfolio, driving packaging process expertise. From trials, proactively flag opportunities in sustainability, cost optimisation and operations within packaging.
• Be the champion for responsible use, ensuring the priorities set out in the Little Moons Packaging Strategy are met.
• Lead and support collaborative supplier relationships to ensure the best innovations are brought to our business and utilised effectively in packaging development.
• Keep on the pulse of what’s new, relevant, and emerging in packaging (including an awareness of regulations), using this insight to answer project briefs.

• Industry experience, in a packaging development role
• Experience of delivering packaging solutions in the food Industry
• BSc degree, preferably in either food science, technology, material science
• Proven project management skills
• Flair for innovation, creativity and sustainability
• Experience working within brand guidelines
• A can-do self-starter attitude

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Little Moons is a fast-growing and dynamic business, the nature of which means roles and responsibilities can change and grow quickly and at scale. We never stand still for long, and for the right person this represents an opportunity to grow and evolve your role and responsibilities with us and to develop your career at pace.

 

We will provide you with as much support, guidance, and training as you need, and offer the below benefits to boot:

 

• Amazing family-friendly policies include having your birthday off, ‘Pawternity’ for anyone welcoming a new pet into the family, paid time off for moving home plus much more!
• We understand that mental health matters. We partner with GroceryAid to provide remote emotional support to team members
• Up to 4 weeks of paid sick leave
• Private health scheme
• Respect, trust, and honesty. Personal and professional maturity is important to us, and we keep each other honest
• Your holidays – We believe in finding your work-life alignment and encourage all staff to use their 25 days, plus public holidays

 

To be engaged, you must feel included and valued, so we have built, and nurtured, a culture where inclusiveness is not a buzzword, but a way of being.

 

Our approach to diversity is simple —it’s about embracing everyone, and everyone is welcome at Little Moons.   We are committed to welcoming everyone, regardless of gender identity, orientation or expression.   We are diverse in age, race, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, and perspective. Our diversity fuels our innovation, bring diversity of thought, and connects us closer to our customers and the communities we serve.