As Innovation Director, you will be accountable for both product and process innovation and the establishment of all procedural requirements. You will act as a catalyst for creation of new categories and support the Commercial teams in fully exploiting market opportunities both in the retail and commercial sales channels. The appointee will motivate, champion and inspire the function to be best in class for innovation. You will provide strong leadership and manage and manage the delivery of the short, medium and long-range innovation strategy, ensuring plans are aligned to commercial imperatives and that the R&D function is seen as pivotal to business success. This opportunity is about the entire innovation cycle from discovery, through to launch and post-launch assessment, ensuring solid business cases and project plans are in place, with agreed budgets and timescales.

To be considered you will have a strong track record of achievement in leading product development within a food manufacturer/retailer; one renowned for the success of its innovation pipeline and quality of underlying processes and systems. We will also be looking for a clear understanding of how to implement best practice procedures and systems, to ensure the integrity of the NPD process, optimise turnaround times on new products and maximise return on resources employed. This business an is all about sustainable growth so we require an individual who has direct experience of building high performance R&D teams, creating a sense of pace and urgency around innovation and a strong sense of shared vision. It is also essential you have demonstrated the ability to develop excellent relationships at a senior management level with other business functions, in particular Marketing, Operations and Sales, and also with customers.

You will also play a key role in brand as well as own label development so it is essential you appreciate insight management as well as category marketing. A foodie? Unquestionably but a foodie with strong leadership ability and the skills that will allow you to drive growth in the wide categories this client is involved with.

Ref SRJ6706