Little Moons are frozen and chilled mochi brand, 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.
About the Process Development Manager:
To help us pioneer a revolution in frozen and chilled sweet treats, we’re looking for a dynamic Process Development Manager to join our Innovation & Sustainability team. This role will lead all feasibility assessments for new products and packaging, as well as design and validate new processes for our future innovation.
The perfect candidate will be a creative and experienced deliverer of great tasting products at scale. They will see process as a solution rather than a barrier, and be motivated by the challenge of balancing commercial, technical and manufacturing requirements to find the best way forward. They will have a hands-on approach, learning from those who make the products everyday whilst applying science to validate theory. Making ideas a scalable reality is their obsession!
Key Responsibilities:
- Lead product and packaging process development, from the initial concept phase through to factory implementation, delivering against the defined brand, consumer and business requirements
- Develop and maintain in-depth knowledge and understanding of internal manufacturing capabilities and processing parameters, and how these influence key product attributes. Know the critical transformation parameters that require control to manufacture quality products repeatably and efficiently
- Manage all factory trials, pre-production trials and product launches, working with a cross-functional team to ensure they are delivered effectively. To include product validation and statistical process control for costing and capacity modelling, issuing trial reports and leading post-trial assessments.
- Troubleshoot issues highlighted during trials (including those from new equipment installation), working closely with Production and Engineering teams to find solutions
- Input into feasibility assessments for the project portfolio, proactively flag risks which could hinder project delivery on time and in full
- Project manage and work with Engineering and Production teams to design, refine, install and commission new processes for innovation
- Keep on the pulse of what’s new, relevant, and emerging in manufacturing technologies, using these to inform better process solutions and / or reverse engineer products to feed into the innovation pipeline
Key Requirements:
- Process Development experience in a food manufacturing environment
- Experience of working with ice cream, dairy and/or fresh desserts is highly desirable
- Bachelor’s degree, preferably in food science, technology or engineering
- Understanding of Lean Sigma methodology and Continuous Improvement initiatives
- Knowledge of equipment qualification and design verification
- Proven project management skills
- Understanding of HACCP and site technical standards
- Flair for innovation
- A can-do attitude
Some of the benefits of working here include:
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.
All applicants must have the right to work in the United Kingdom.
To make your application, please send your CV to careers@littlemoons.co.uk
We look forward to hearing from you!
