Head of New Product Development (Food)

Fortnum & Mason; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious retail company in Westminster is seeking a Head of NPD for Food to drive product innovation initiatives. This role requires over 5 years of experience in product management, a customer-centric approach, and strong leadership skills. Responsibilities include creating an innovation strategy, managing product development, and cultivating a culture of creativity. Benefits include a competitive salary, generous discounts, and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Store and restaurant discount up to 40%

25 days holidays plus a day off for your birthday

Subsidised staff restaurant

Opportunities for personal and professional development

Excellent pension scheme

Qualifications

• Experience with sourcing and driving innovation within a company.
• Ability to manage multiple product lines and work as part of a team.
• Some food technical aptitude and background.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute an innovation strategy aligned with business goals.
• Lead the innovation journey from concept to implementation.
• Define key performance metrics to evaluate the success of innovation initiatives.

Skills

Product management

Team management

Sourcing innovation

Customer insight analysis

Presentation skills

Education

5+ years of experience in product and buying management

Retail experience

Job description

The Head of NPD, Food, is responsible for driving and managing product innovation initiatives aligned to our company strategy. And through fostering a culture of creativity, ensuring that the retail business stays at the forefront of innovation, by identifying new category/cross category product opportunities, delivering sustainable and profitable growth. The role will work closely with key interfaces (as below) and in particular, alongside Marketing to ensure a clear product and product communications plan (18-36 month time frame), allowing all dependent functions to plan accordingly. Reports to: Director of Buying - Food, Wine and Spirits Key interfaces: Buying, Marketing, Design, Food Technical & Sustainability, Merchandising.

What You’ll Do:

Strategic Vision and Planning

• Develop and execute a forward-thinking innovation strategy, seamlessly aligning it with our overarching business goals and customer/channel strategy, embedding food innovation at the heart of our business.
• Identify emerging market trends, evolving customer behaviours, and untapped opportunities to shape our competitive edge.
• Create and maintain a dynamic innovation roadmap to steer the future direction of food initiatives, ensuring alignment with business priorities.

Product Development Management

• Lead the innovation journey from concept generation through to implementation, fostering collaboration across the Innovation Forum, Directors, and Buyers.
• Design clear frameworks and criteria for brainstorming, evaluating, and prioritizing food innovation ideas and cross category initiatives.
• Drive the effective delivery of innovation projects by securing appropriate resources and building compelling business cases when required.

Culture of Innovation

• Instill a culture of curiosity, bold experimentation, and continuous improvement within the buying team.
• Promote knowledge sharing and cross-functional collaboration, breaking silos to spark collective creativity.
• Empower teams to champion new ideas by providing insights into their rationale and potential impact.
• Nurture relationships with external stakeholders, including networks, chefs, startups, artisans, suppliers, and industry leaders, to bring fresh perspectives and expertise.

Customer-Centric Approach

• Keeping the customer at the centre through prioritising innovation that enhances their experience, fulfils their evolving needs and is aligned to their missions.
• Utilise market research and customer insight to guide our innovation strategy and product development.
• Deliver innovation that creates measurable value and long-lasting customer relationships.
• Deliver a quality strategy, in collaboration with food technical.

Measurement and Impact

• Define key performance metrics to evaluate the success of innovation initiatives and ensure alignment with organisational goals.
• Champion innovation projects that deliver tangible, measurable value for both the business and its customers.
• Ability to work collaboratively with others.
• Ability to inspire others, helping them to embrace new ideas.
• The ability to communicate effectively at all levels of an organisation.
• Demonstrate a passion for delivering high quality, innovative products and ranges, with Customer at the heart.
• Experience with sourcing and driving innovation within a company and bringing new latest product trends to the market.
• Demonstrable experience in working in fast-paced environment and development.
• Background in food, design and managing product life cycles is desirable.
• Understanding of marketing/product positioning and the translation of customer insights into compelling propositions.
• Strong presentation skills.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in product and buying management.
• Some food technical aptitude and background, with the ability to understand, explain and coach internal and external customers.
• Ability to manage a team, multiple product lines and operate as a team player.
• Retail experience.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• A generous store and restaurant discount of up to 40%.
• 25 days holidays (excluding bank holidays) and an extra day off for your birthday.
• A fantastic subsidised staff restaurant which uses Fortnum's ingredients.
• A range of opportunities to develop and grow personally and professionally.
• Excellent pension scheme.