Opportunity North East (ONE) is the private sector’s response to North East Scotland's long-term economic challenges. ONE is industry-led and privately funded. It invests in achieving business growth and safeguarding and creating high-value jobs in the region's key industry sectors. The North East of Scotland is home to a thriving and growing food, drink, agriculture and seafood sector with big ambitions to maximise new products, technology, and market opportunities. Following a restructure the new role of Director of ONE Food & Drink has been created, this role will be responsible for industry development across the sector, which will include operating ONE SeedPod, the soon-to-open food manufacturing and innovation hub. ONE SeedPod will position Aberdeen and the north east as a beacon of the UK and international food and drink industries. It will be a destination of choice for scaling businesses, attracted by the buzz of excitement generated by like-minded companies developing innovative market-focused products, using the most up-to-date market intelligence and deploying leading-edge technology in production solutions. The Role This role will work with ONE Food, Drink & Agriculture Chair Stanley Morrice, ONE SeedPod Chair David Kilshaw, and Opportunity North East Chief Executive Jennifer Craw to lead the development of a world-leading food and drink economy in North East Scotland and accelerate company growth, innovation, and internationalisation. Leading an established team of industry experts and further developing the ONE SeedPod delivery team. The Director will lead the development and delivery of an integrated activity programme to build the food and drink sector ecosystem and promote strong industry partnerships in a wide variety of contexts. Of initial focus will be leading the start-up operational phase of ONE SeedPod, developing customer relationships and the value proposition for users and tenants to ensure an ongoing viable home for the Food, Drink and Agriculture Sector in the region. This is a truly unique opportunity for a senior leader to build on their commercial food and drink industry experience in a customer-focused and entrepreneurial environment, with the chance to significantly impact the future of Scotland's food and drink sector. Candidate Requirements As an experienced and passionate food and drink industry leader, you will have the career profile capable of driving the development of a world-leading food and drink economy in North East Scotland. Your experience should include Director level roles in the food and drink industry, ideally with exposure across a variety of functions and markets. You will have a track record of working with a range of senior stakeholders, ideally in a similarly complex entrepreneurial ecosystem, and a strong knowledge of what world class food and drink businesses look like. You will be commercial and business-minded with strong delivery focus, able to manage competing priorities effectively. As a brilliant communicator and natural connector, you will have the passion and empathy to help food and drink industry founders and business leaders succeed. At a personal level you demonstrate an entrepreneurial, ambitious and self-motivated approach in everything you do and lead by example. Application: Please contact Louise Gibson at New Town Partnership who is leading this search on behalf of Opportunity North East, by calling 0131 210 0020, or apply with your CV on LinkedIn or to officemanagernewtownpartnership.com.