Application Group Manager – Harare

About the role

Nestlé Zimbabwe is seeking an Application Group Manager to lead innovation, renovation and process optimisation activities at its Harare factory. The role combines product development, manufacturing excellence and technical training to ensure high‑quality, cost‑effective food products.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the Application Group (AG) team to deliver innovation & renovation (I&R) projects, ensuring quality, cost and timeline targets.
• Drive process optimisation and efficiency improvements to reduce COGS and production costs.
• Oversee compliance of new, renovated and existing products and maintain master data (specs, BOMs, SAP‑RM, nutritional data).
• Provide manufacturing assistance for line commissioning, optimisation and operator training.
• Organise and deliver technical training programmes for production staff and develop succession plans for the AG team.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Process Engineering or Chemical Engineering.
• 5–8 years of experience in product development or R&D within the food sector.
• Management exposure across R&D and technical functions.
• Familiarity with Nestlé product technology centres and factory environments.

Required skills

• Process optimisation
• Product development
• Research & development (R&D)
• Manufacturing process improvement
• SAP‑RM for master data management