About us

We're a truly international company, fourth largest in our industry and operating across 119 markets. An inclusive, innovative global FMCG business supported by 26,000 employees. As we embrace a new era of growth, we are transforming. Our ways of working and culture are driven by a challenger mindset, constantly questioning the status quo where people can bring their best selves to work. Our agility and collaboration are driving our ambitions, innovation and success all supported by our award-winning development programmes that creates exciting and rewarding career opportunities for all.

As we move forward, our consumers will be at the heart of what we do, evolving to needs and expectations and committing to a more meaningful contribution to harm reduction by building a successful NGP business. Integral to our long-term success is our sustainability strategy, behaving responsibly and supporting our ambitions, all underpinned by high governance.

Encouraging inclusion at local levels and supporting a developing and robust diversity agenda globally, we’re fully committed to creating and maintaining an environment that celebrates and respects difference.

The Role

The role of Formulation Technologist is to develop next generation formulation and product technologies which are required for the company’s ambitious innovation programme and growth plans. They will be responsible for also managing small teams of technicians.

Additional Information

The Imperial Brands business is going through a major transformation, with a new CEO setting an ambitious and exciting vision for the future. One major change is the creation of a new Chief Consumer Office (CCO) – a central function which covers Innovation, Insight, Marketing and Portfolio Management and Imperial’s next-generation propositions (NGP).

The Innovation function forms a critical part of this CCO structure. The department will be organised around key innovation capabilities, with one Innovation team delivering across all categories (Combustibles, EVP, HTP and OND). The role of Innovation will be to enable Imperial to deliver consumer-centric, commercially viable innovations that are aligned with the business strategy. Innovation will achieve this through:

• Delivering R&D activities: End-to-end technical design and delivery of innovation products and packs, leveraging both in-house capabilities and external parties to facilitate the launch of category-led, consumer-centric innovations into market.
• Developing partnerships: The Innovation function will collaborate closely with Procurement to build strong relationships with partners and third parties to underpin a lean and agile delivery model that enables speed to market.
• Facilitating development of the innovation funnel: Guide Imperial to make the right business decisions about innovation projects through identifying future technical solutions and supporting cross-category generation, qualification and prioritisation of solution opportunity areas based on consumer, competitor and market insights.
• Stewarding the innovation pipeline and process: The Innovation function oversees Imperial’s innovation process, from Ideation to Launch. The Process and Governance pillar of the Innovation function owns this enterprise-wide process and drives continuous improvement to ensure more efficient and effective delivery of innovation. The team will also manage the portfolio of projects through the stage gates, ensure adherence to the relevant branches of the process and run the governance forums to ensure timely, insight-led decision making and OTIF delivery.

To have impact on the innovation programme, the Technologist needs to demonstrate curiosity, broad and deep technical skill-set, collaborative mindset, excellent influencing and team building skills.

Principal Accountabilities

• Design formulations to meet project and category requirements, using tools such DoE.
• Planning work, leading project work streams, reporting and communicating to Formulation Lead, Process Lead and other stakeholders as required
• Support the process technologist with formulation design, testing and manufacturing processes for production of intermediate and finished materials and products
• Lead the preparation of samples for a range of formulation types (e.g. slurries, liquids, granules, powders) using development scale equipment.
• Lead the preparation of prototypes for assessment analytically, via sensory, employee panels or consumer studies, including oral products e.g pouches, HTP products e.g. sticks and EVP products e.g liquids and pods or any other Novel prototypes
• Ensure IP and commercially sensitive information is protected
• Raise A-forms for new and novel ideas, support IP team around technical requirements
• Raise, review and approve documentation required to produce and formulations and prototypes e.g. pre and post approval of manufacturing or testing protocols
• Create, review, and/or approve documentation within the quality management systems (ARAS/PLM & local) to ensure work is performed safely and to the appropriate quality standards, this includes, policies, standards, SOPs, work instruction, etc
• Collaborate with and support project stake holders to improve project outcomes; reduce costs, anticipate challenges, provide solutions and make decisions
• Develop strong relationships within Innovation & Nerudia teams, globally across Imperial and externally with partners and suppliers
• Provide ongoing support across the categories as required e.g. EVP, HTP, OND.
• Ensure all work conducted is documented in laboratory notebooks and/or protocols, approve work prior to start and review work upon completion
• Contribute ideas and opinions to project discussions and team meetings, lead and organise meetings as required
• Manage the process for raising COSHH and risk assessment for new materials and processes prior to undertaking any work
• Ensure staff undertaking the project work have read and understand COSHH and risk assessment prior to undertaking any work 
• Manage, prepare and/or approve the preparation of protocols for routine and/or complex activities e.g. pod filling, prototype preparation, design of experiments as required
• Manage, prepare and/or approve the preparation of technical reports to document and record findings of work completed. Conclude and summarise work performed and make recommendation for next steps. Publish /present work to project teams and stakeholders
• Manage, prepare and/or approve the preparation of larger pilot production studies in preparation for full scale manufacture.

Additional Accountabilities

• Manage, prepare and report the assessments of formulation characteristics, physical and analytical to determine the acceptability of formulations and prototypes.
• Apply knowledge to develop and implement appropriate test methods to support formulation and prototype assessment
• Manage dispatching and logistics of materials, equipment and prototypes to factories, lab networks, consumer studies, etc
• Manage the sourcing materials, maintaining stock of formulation consumables, book materials into logs on receipt
• Manage the Maintenance of all formulations laboratory areas and equipment to an appropriate standard, conduct self inspection and house keeping checks
• Work according to documented procedures, policies and safety standards.
• Contribute and lead team meetings
• Ensure stock management is maintained when using materials e.g. tobacco logs
• Perform corrective and preventative maintenance on associated equipment as required or arrange for it to be performed.
• Suggest and implement ideas for continuous improvement
• Maintain individual training and train others as required
• Manage a small team of Formulation Technicians e.g. providing work requirements, 1:1’s, performance reviews, return to works, etc

Key Relationships

Internal

• Mechanical & Physics, Electronics & Firmware, Discovery, CTI, Design and Formulations Teams
• Innovation
• Project Managers
• Insights
• Procurement
• MSC Realisation
• Legal/IP
• Categories
• MSC, Quality and Regulatory teams
• Packaging Development Teams
• Product Development
• Project Teams as required

External

• Partners
• Suppliers
• Flavour houses
• Equipment suppliers
• Analytical services

Education, Qualification, Skills and Experience

Essential

• BSc in Chemistry or Equivalent OR
• Experience in product formulation
• Experience in laboratory scale synthesis, purification and reaction mechanisms
• Planning and completing scientific work to agreed standards
• Time management, excellent report writing skills, problem solving communication and team working skills
• Ability to breakdown complex problems into achievable goals and provide effective solutions

Desirable

• Line Management Experience

What We Offer:

Imperial Brands offer a competitive package of salary, bonus scheme, pension and 25 days holiday (with an additional 4 days on top to cover the Christmas period and bank holidays) and hybrid work.

Next Steps:

Interested applicants should apply with their CV highlighting their suitability for the role.