Range Innovation Manager - 12 Month FTC

Nestlé; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private Healthcare through AXA

9 day fortnight

25 days of Annual Leave and 8 remote/w

Job summary

Tails.com is seeking an Innovation Manager (12 month FTC) to lead end-to-end projects in tailored dry dog food. You’ll own programs from insight to launch, coordinating nutrition, brand, operations and product development to bring new nutrition to life.

You’ll work with experts across teams to deliver high-impact innovations, strengthening the proposition as customer needs and science evolve. This role offers a dynamic, collaborative environment, with a focus on responsible pet nutrition.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering innovation or renovation within FMCG, food or consumer products.
• Ability to turn insights into new products customers value.
• Strong commercial judgment balancing customer benefit with business performance.
• Comfortable working across disciplines with experts and external partners.
• Excellent ability to manage complex projects from conception to launch.

Responsibilities

• Deliver end-to-end innovation and renovation across our tailored dry food range.
• Lead cross-functional teams through Stage Gate, launch and Hypercare.
• Develop robust briefs translating customer insight into product requirements.
• Collaborate with Brand, Nutrition, Regulatory to articulate credible product benefits.

Skills

Innovation management

Project leadership

FMCG experience

Commercial acumen

Cross-functional collaboration

Customer insight

Data-driven decisions

Stakeholder management

Job description

Who are we?

Hi, we’re Tails.com – we turn good days into great years for dogs and their humans.

Who are we?

Hi, we’re Tails.com – we turn good days into great years for dogs and their humans. We're working towards longer lives for millions of healthy, happy dogs by providing tailored nutrition that adapts to each dog’s unique needs. It all starts with a few simple questions about their age, breed, zoomie level and tastebuds. From there, owners can create a personalised meal plan that's delivered to their door every month. No guesswork, no overwhelm. Just exactly the right care for every dog, every day. It's pretty clever stuff. As a certified B Corp, being a responsible business is built into how we work – upholding high social and environmental standards to create better walkies for generations to come. Now, we’re cooking up big plans. Having created an entirely new category in dog food, we have the backing of Purina – one of the world’s largest pet food companies. You’ll join a bunch of smart people working towards these same goals (and a bunch of very smart office dogs, all working on their own thing).

Job Title

Innovation Manager (12 month FTC)

Reporting of the role

Reports to: Head of Innovation & Range

Overview Of The Job

The food we create is one of the most important ways we bring our purpose to life.

You’ll shape the heart of the Tails range

• Our tailored dry food is what makes Tails different. You’ll play a central role in continually improving the products thousands of dogs enjoy every day, while helping bring the next generation of tailored nutrition to life.

You’ll see your ideas become reality

• From first insight through to launch, you’ll own projects from end to end. It’s a role with real responsibility, where the decisions you make quickly become products in dogs’ bowls.

You’ll learn from the best

• Working alongside experts in Nutrition, Brand, Operations and Product Development, you’ll help shape the future of personalised pet nutrition while building your own capability as an innovation leader.

In The First Few Months, You Would Have

• Built strong relationships with colleagues across Innovation & Range, Nutrition, Brand, Operations, Commercial and our supplier partners.
• Taken ownership of innovation and renovation projects within the dry food portfolio, confidently leading them through Stage Gate.
• Developed a deep understanding of our tailored dry food proposition, the opportunities within the category and the priorities for the year ahead.
• Become confident using customer insight, commercial performance and Hypercare learnings to strengthen product development.
• Started identifying opportunities to improve both the products we make and the way we bring them to market.

Roles & Responsibilities

Deliver innovation and renovation across our tailored dry food range

• Lead end-to-end innovation and renovation projects across our personalised kibble portfolio. Build robust project plans, coordinate cross-functional teams and guide projects confidently through Stage Gate, launch and Hypercare.
• Take ownership of delivery, ensuring projects remain on track while balancing customer benefit, technical feasibility and commercial priorities.

Continuously improve our tailored dry food range

• Look for opportunities to make our personalised kibble even better.
• Work with Nutrition, Food Technology and supplier partners to improve recipes, ingredients and manufacturing processes, ensuring our range continues to evolve as customer needs, nutritional science and technology advance.

Build strong development briefs

• Translate customer insight, behavioural data and commercial opportunities into clear product briefs.
• Ensure every project starts with a well-defined problem to solve, a clear customer benefit and measurable success criteria.

Develop products customers (and their dogs!) love

• Partner with Brand, Nutrition and Regulatory to create clear, credible product benefits supported by robust claims.
• Help customers understand why our tailored approach matters and how each product contributes to their dog’s health and wellbeing.

Learn from every launch

• Successful launches are only the beginning - monitor product performance using customer feedback, retention, Voice of Customer, CX insights, quality metrics and Hypercare reviews. Use those learnings to strengthen future projects and continuously improve how we innovate.

Build trusted supplier partnerships

• Develop strong relationships with manufacturing and ingredient partners.
• Create clear expectations, hold suppliers accountable for delivery and work collaboratively to solve problems quickly when they arise.

What you will need

• Experience delivering innovation or renovation within FMCG, food or another consumer products business.
• A genuine curiosity about customers, with the ability to turn insight into products people genuinely value.
• Strong commercial judgement, balancing customer benefit with business performance when making decisions.
• An appreciation for brands and the role products play in building long-term customer loyalty.
• Confident working across disciplines, building trusted relationships with technical experts, commercial teams, brand marketers and external partners.
• Able to bring clarity to complex projects, make well-reasoned recommendations and maintain momentum when priorities compete.
• Comfortable using evidence to guide decisions, learning from customer feedback and post-launch performance to continually improve products.
• Naturally collaborative, with the confidence to challenge constructively and influence without direct authority.

Nice to have

• Experience within pet nutrition.
• Experience in a D2C, subscription or e-commerce business.
• Experience working with highly personalised products or services.

A few of our core benefits

• Private Healthcare through AXA
• A 9 day fortnight - our office is closed every other Friday!
• 25 days of Annual Leave and 8 additional remote working days

For more information on our benefits, perks and what makes us unique, please visit our website here

Our Commitment

We’re proud to be an active equal opportunity employer. We want to give everyone a fair chance to join us in changing the world of pet food for good. We do this by conducting a structured recruitment process for all candidates, as well as actively promoting our roles to communities that are under-represented at Tails.com.

During your interview process you’ll meet some of our team with varying levels of responsibility and experience. We want to give every candidate a fair interview process and if you need any reasonable adjustments made, please let us know.