Product Development Scientist - Functional Nutrition

Location: Twickenham, South West London (on-site)

Contract: Permanent, full-time (Monday to Friday)

Salary: £38,000–£45,000, plus performance bonus and up to £5,000 relocation support

Start date: Early October 2026

Reports to: Operations & Product Manager

KURK is a health and nutrition company making natural formulations to improve human health. We research, formulate, manufacture and sell our products — and we do it all from our own production facility and lab in West London. That means real science, real products, and full control from bench to shelf.

We're a small team at an inflection point: investing in new science and growing our product range. This hire will shape what comes next.

The role:

This is an experienced NPD role with genuine end-to-end ownership. You'll take new products from brief to launch — consumer and market research, formulation, bench trials, sensory work, costing, scale-up and commercial launch — and you'll help define how NPD is done at KURK, not just follow a process someone else wrote.

You'll work alongside our Operations & Product Manager, with direct access to the founder and real influence over the product pipeline.

What you'll do:

• Own NPD projects end to end: brief, research, formulation trials, sensory evaluation, costing and presentation to management
• Help design and embed KURK's stage-gate NPD process
• Manage external suppliers and manufacturers through development and scale-up: quotes, MOQs, purchase orders, lead times and factory trials
• Build the commercial case for new concepts — costing, pack formats, market and competitor analysis — ready for board-level sign-off
• Improve existing products — formulation, flavour and format — using customer feedback and market data
• Support production of KURK's product range: batch preparation, weighing to specification, quality documentation
• Help maintain the lab environment — hygiene, food safety and contamination protocols, stock and equipment

This is a hands-on role in a small company. Some days are formulation and strategy; some days are on your feet in the lab.

About you:

Essential

• Three to five years in a commercial NPD, R&D or product development role , with products you have personally taken from concept to launch. We will ask you to walk us through one of them in detail.
• Formulation and bench-trial experience, ideally across more than one format
• Experience coordinating external suppliers and manufacturers through scale-up
• Commercial instinct — you think about target price, cost of goods and manufacturing risk early, not at the end
• Working knowledge of food safety and quality systems (HACCP, GMP) and UK food regulation
• Self-directed: able to define the process, not only follow it
• A degree in food science, nutrition, chemistry or similar, or equivalent experience
• Able to work on-site in Twickenham, South West London

Desirable

• Liquids, emulsions, drinks or other functional formats
• Reformulation with measurable outcomes
• Nutritional labelling and claims under UK law
• Experience of a structured stage-gate process, or of building one

KURK is an equal opportunities employer. We welcome applications from all backgrounds.