Head of Health Innovation

Tesco; Welwyn Garden City; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK grocery retailer is seeking a Head of Health Innovation to drive their health-focused food strategy. This leadership role involves overseeing product development for health and nutrition, ensuring compliance with food standards, and collaborating across teams. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in food innovation and a strong understanding of UK nutrition policies. A qualified professional in Nutrition and Dietetics is preferred. This role offers a blend of office and remote working.

Benefits

Annual bonus scheme up to 45%

Car Cash Allowance

25 days holiday plus personal day

Private medical insurance

Retirement savings plan

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in food innovation or product development.
• Proven leadership in health-focused food innovation.
• Deep understanding of UK nutrition policy and food standards.
• Experience influencing at Exec level.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Tesco Health & Nutrition innovation agenda.
• Ensure product development meets evolving regulatory standards.
• Monitor market and competitor landscape for health innovation.
• Represent Tesco in cross-industry working groups.

Skills

Food innovation

Leadership

Commercial acumen

Project delivery capability

Understanding of nutrition policy

Education

Qualified in Nutrition and Dietetics

Background in food science or public health

Job description

Tesco UK • Shire Park, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire • Permanent • Apply by 01-Dec-2025

At Tesco, we're committed to helping our customers lead healthier lives. As Head of Health Innovation, you'll lead the development and delivery of our health-focused food strategy, ensuring we continue to offer delicious, nutritious, and affordable food for everyone. You'll shape Tesco's product innovation agenda to drive transformation in health and wellness-balancing taste, value, quality, and sustainability.

This is a critical leadership role in driving Tesco's ambition to be a leader in healthy and sustainable diets, while keeping innovation at the heart of our offer.

What is in it for you

We're all about the little helps. That's why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you - both in and out of work. Click Here to find out more!

• Annual bonus scheme of up to 45% of base salary
• Car Cash Allowance
• Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Retirement savings plan - save between 6% - 10% and Tesco will contribute 1.5 times this amount
• 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (after 1 years' service) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave

You will be responsible for

Innovation Strategy & Health Leadership

• Lead the Tesco Health & Nutrition innovation agenda across all relevant Own Brand categories, with a focus on HFSS reformulation, clean dec, functional foods, plant-based, and calorie reduction.
• Own and deliver a robust, customer-led innovation pipeline aligned to strategic health goals and future-facing trends.
• Ensure product development meets evolving regulatory standards and contributes to Tesco's Healthy Little Differences Plan and net zero ambitions.
• Proactively identify emerging customer need states and whitespace opportunities through trend analysis, consumer insight, and cross-category collaboration to shape future innovation.
• Explore adjacent and disruptive health territories-such as personalised nutrition, microbiome-supporting products, and mental wellbeing-to futureproof the portfolio and lead in new growth spaces.

Product Development & Delivery

• Lead cross-functional squads (Product Development, Technical, Nutrition, R&D, Buying) to deliver health-led innovation at pace and scale.
• Embed health, quality, and sustainability criteria into the product lifecycle-from concept to shelf.
• Partner with Sustainable diets, Brand, the Consumer Insight team, and external food tech partners to develop next-generation food solutions.

Customer & Commercial Impact

• Champion customer health insight, using data to inform decisions and identify opportunity areas (e.g. family nutrition, brain development, clean dec, functional snacking, meal solutions).
• Drive growth through customer-trusted, healthier propositions that don't compromise on taste, price, or convenience.
• Monitor market and competitor landscape to ensure Tesco stays at the forefront of health innovation.

Stakeholder & External Engagement

• Represent Tesco in cross-industry working groups and external bodies (e.g. IGD, FSA, BRC) from a food innovation perspective.
• Collaborate with government, academics, and NGOs to shape the broader food and health ecosystem.
• Influence senior leaders internally, securing buy-in and investment in the health and innovation agenda.

Team & Culture Leadership

• Inspire, coach, and develop a team of developers, nutritionists, and innovation leads.
• Embed an innovation-first mindset across food teams, championing agility, experimentation, and continuous learning.
• Model Tesco's values: no one tries harder for customers, treat people how they want to be treated, and every little help makes a big difference.

You will need

Essential Experience

• Extensive experience in food innovation, product development, or category management, ideally in a major retailer or FMCG brand.
• Proven leadership in health-focused food innovation (e.g., HFSS reformulation, plant-based, low/no products).
• Deep understanding of UK nutrition policy, labelling laws, and food standards.
• Commercial acumen with strong project delivery capability across multiple categories.
• Experience influencing at Exec or Director level and leading cross-functional innovation teams.

Preferred Qualifications / Experience

• Qualified in Nutrition and Dietetics with registration from a recognised professional body
• Background in food science, nutrition, or public health.
• Experience working with start-ups, academic institutions or emerging food technologies.
• Familiarity with Tesco's Own Brand model and supplier collaboration processes

#LI - EF1

#LI - Hybrid

About us

You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we're all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues.

At Tesco, we champion a balance that lets you thrive both in and out of work. Spend 60% of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely. Whether you're just kicking off your career, juggling passions, or navigating big life events, we're here to support you. We always welcome a conversation about flexible working, so talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.

We're proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Leader, where everyone's welcome. That's why we commit to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you need support with your application, click here for more information. And if you're interested in joining our team but don't tick every box, don't let that hold you back from applying.