Product Development Manager

Job description

Why join us
Joining Sainsbury's as a Product Development Manager in the Fresh Food for Later Team sector means becoming part of a dynamic team at the forefront of identifying new trends and bringing innovative products to our customers. With a strong focus on quality, you will have the opportunity to shape and drive the innovation strategy for your category, working collaboratively with cross-functional teams and suppliers. At Sainsbury's, we value passion, energy, and a commitment to delivering excellence. You will have the chance to make a meaningful impact on our product offerings, ensuring they are of the highest quality and meet our customers' needs. With a strong emphasis on teamwork, strategic planning, and project management, this role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to the growth and success of our brand in a fast-paced and ever-evolving industry. Join us and be part of a company that values innovation, embraces new challenges, and strives for continuous improvement.

What you'll do
As a Product Development Manager for the Food for later division at Sainsbury's, you will play a vital role in identifying new trends and opportunities to launch innovative products that resonate with our customers. Working closely with cross-functional teams and suppliers, you will be responsible for shaping and driving the innovation strategy for your category area. This includes developing and delivering the product plan, ensuring compliance throughout the gated process, and utilising insights to inform strategy and product briefs. As the custodian of customer quality measures for Sainsbury's Brand, you will champion product quality, benchmark against competitors, and address customer dissatisfaction. Additionally, you will lead the creation and delivery of product briefs, drive innovation in ingredients and packaging, manage the design generation process, and contribute to longer-term strategic planning. You will also be accountable for customer-facing product information accuracy and contribute to category supply base management and supplier strategy. With your expertise in product development, commercial acumen, strong communication skills, and ability to analyse complex data, you will drive the success and growth of our Fresh Meals range.

Who you are
As a Product Development Manager for Sainsbury's, you are a highly experienced professional with a genuine passion for innovation, trends, and delivering exceptional products to meet the needs and desires of our customers. With a strong background in product development, whether in the retail, manufacturing, or food service industry, you possess a deep understanding of the end-to-end process, from ideation to market launch. Your commercial acumen, excellent communication skills, and ability to analyse complex data enable you to shape and drive the innovation strategy for your category, collaborating effectively with cross-functional teams and suppliers. With your strong project management and planning skills, you ensure that all product development initiatives align with quality standards, compliance requirements, and customer expectations. You are a strategic thinker, delivering long-term product plans and contributing to the development of supplier strategies. Overall, you play a vital role in driving market growth, enhancing the customer experience, and establishing Sainsbury's as a leader in the confectionery industry.

We are committed to being a truly inclusive retailer, so you’ll be welcomed whoever you are and wherever you work. Around here, there’s always the chance to try something new - whether that’s as part of an evolving team or somewhere else across the business - and we take development seriously and promise to support you. We also recognise and celebrate colleagues when they go the extra mile and, where possible, offer flexible working. When you join our team, we’ll also offer you an amazing range of benefits. Here are some of them:
 
 Starting off with colleague discount, you'll be able to get 10% off at Sainsbury's, Argos, TU and Habitat after 4 weeks. This increases to 15% off at Sainsbury’s every Friday and Saturday and 15% off at Argos every pay day. We've also got you covered for your future with our pensions scheme and life cover. You'll also be able to share in our success as you may be eligible for a performance-related bonus of up to 20% of salary, depending on how we perform.  
 
 Your wellbeing is important to us too. You'll receive an annual holiday allowance, and you can buy additional holiday. We also offer other benefits that will help your money go further such as season ticket loans, interest free car loan of up to £10k, cycle to work scheme, health cash plans, pay advance (where you can access some of your pay before pay day) as well access to a great range of discounts from hundreds of other retailers. And if you ever need it there is also an Employee Assistance Programme, you will also be eligible for private healthcare too.

Moments that matter are as important to us as they are to you which is why we give up to 26 weeks’ pay for maternity or adoption leave and up to 4 weeks’ pay for paternity leave. 
 
 Please see www.sainsburys.jobs for a range of our benefits (note, length of service and eligibility criteria may apply).