Assistant Innovation Manager

Premier Foods; St Albans; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Premier Foods is seeking an Assistant Innovation Manager to drive innovation strategies and manage new product development projects. This role involves identifying scalable opportunities, leading projects from concept to launch, and utilizing rapid innovation techniques to ensure market success. Join a leading British food company committed to inclusion and sustainable growth.

Benefits

Bonus

Up to 7.5% pension

Life assurance

Wide range of training opportunities

Employee discount scheme

Qualifications

• Successful experience within a leading FMCG or brand-led organization.
• Experience in innovation development and project ownership.

Responsibilities

• Identify scalable innovation opportunities and support pipeline strategy development.
• Own NPD projects from concept to launch, including business case development.
• Apply rapid innovation techniques to deliver 'test & learn' ideas.

Skills

Results-driven

Solution-oriented mindset

Ability to influence stakeholders

Autonomy

Innovation development

Project ownership

Job description

Assistant Innovation Manager - Central team

Permanent

Premier Foods is on an exciting journey transitioning from turning the business around to becoming an ‘outperformance business’ through accelerated growth. Innovation is at the core of our strategy and key to long-term sustainable growth. Our strategic innovation initiatives include:

• Growing our core UK business with Fewer, Bigger, Better Innovation and increased marketing investment
• Expanding into new whitespace categories within the UK, such as Ice-creams and Breakfast

We aim to accelerate international growth by strengthening existing markets and exploring new ones, supported by an inclusive and diverse organization with a future-focused ESG agenda. Central Innovation is a high-profile team focusing on whitespace expansion to deliver continued outperformance, discovering and delivering game-changing ideas at an accelerated pace. This role offers significant autonomy and an opportunity to shape our innovation strategy.

What we need from you...

• Bring positive disruption by challenging the status quo
• Be results-driven and tenacious, with a solution-oriented mindset; harness big data to identify opportunities and influence stakeholders
• Take high accountability and work autonomously to deliver results credibly and swiftly
• Be action-oriented, able to cut through complexities to enable delivery
• Be responsibly daring, unafraid to take calculated risks and engage key stakeholders
• Have successful experience within a leading FMCG or brand-led organization
• Possess a mix of innovation development and project ownership experience

What you'll be doing...

• Impact & Influence the Innovation Pipeline: Turbocharge whitespace ideas by expanding heritage brands into new categories, identifying opportunities in categories, channels, and markets, and creating scalable ideas with meaningful potential.
• Lead and Land Your Whitespace Ideas: Own ideas from concept to launch, understand key performance drivers, work independently, and leverage internal and external capabilities.
• Deliver with Agility and Pace: Use rapid innovation models to land ideas in market within 3-12 months, propose effective wow moments, and adopt a 'fail fast and pivot quickly' mentality.

Responsibilities

• Identify scalable innovation opportunities and support pipeline strategy development
• Own NPD projects from concept to launch, including business case development, influencing timelines, leading project meetings, and supporting validation and insights
• Design briefs, review recipes with R&D, manage budgets, and support external sell-ins
• Apply rapid innovation techniques to deliver 'test & learn' ideas and ensure successful pipeline delivery

What we offer you in return...

• Bonus
• Up to 7.5% pension
• Life assurance
• Wide range of training opportunities
• Employee discount scheme

Ready to apply...?

Click apply, submit an up-to-date CV tailored to this opportunity. We look forward to hearing from you.

A great British food company

Premier Foods is one of Britain’s biggest listed food companies, employing over 4,000 colleagues across 13 sites. Many of our brands have been part of UK life for over a century and are found in 90% of British households.

We believe in inclusion, authenticity, and individuality, providing equitable opportunities for all colleagues to bring their true selves to work. Our culture is welcoming and inclusive.