Published on www.monsterindia.com 05 Jun 2025
Job Summary
To identify, evaluate, and drive the successful development and launch of commercially sourced food and beverage products under the KDD brand, working with third-party manufacturers. The role supports the strategic goal of expanding KDD's market presence and revenue through incremental volume that bypasses in-house manufacturing constraints.
Roles & Responsibilities
Commercial Product Development
To identify, evaluate, and drive the successful development and launch of commercially sourced food and beverage products under the KDD brand, working with third-party manufacturers. The role supports the strategic goal of expanding KDD's market presence and revenue through incremental volume that bypasses in-house manufacturing constraints.
Roles & Responsibilities
Commercial Product Development
- Identify white spaces and growth opportunities for commercial products aligned with KDD's strategic goals
- Prepare and present Commercial Product Feasibility Forms capturing concept rationale, preliminary costing, and market potential
- Work closely with external manufacturers to develop, test, and finalize products for launch
- Collaborate with the R&D, Quality, Supply Chain, Sales, and Marketing teams to ensure alignment across all functions
- Identify and assess suitable co-manufacturers or private label vendors
- Lead negotiations and ensure clarity on quality standards, IP rights, MOQ, lead times, and SLAs
- Monitor vendor performance, ensuring reliability, innovation, and compliance
- Act as project manager for all commercial product initiatives, using tools such as MS Project
- Lead periodic reviews with cross-functional stakeholders to track development, timelines, and decision gates
- Coordinate closely with Finance, Legal, and Procurement on contracts, IP, and landed cost calculations
- Translate consumer insights into viable commercial product ideas
- Collaborate with Brand and Trade Marketing teams to position and support the product effectively in the market
- Support packaging development, storytelling, and claim substantiation efforts for the new products
- Work with the Supply Chain team to map logistics scenarios, including cost-to-land models, shelf-life implications, and warehousing needs
- Explore and recommend optimal sourcing geographies or vendor clusters to reduce lead time and logistics risk
- Bachelor's degree in business, Marketing, Food Technology, or Supply Chain. MBA preferred
- Minimum 8 years' experience in commercial product development in the FMCG/Food industry, ideally with experience in co-manufacturing or private label management
- Demonstrable experience in launching successful products through third-party partnership
- Fluency in Arabic and English is a must.
- Deep understanding of the commercial product lifecycle
- Strong vendor management and negotiation skills
- Working knowledge of intellectual property rights and product ownership clauses
- Familiarity with cost modeling including landed cost components
- Project management expertise with use of modern collaboration tools
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