Senior Food Product & Technical Manager

Job Overview

Full time

Senior Food Product & Technical Manager

United Kingdom, Milton Keynes

3 days ago

Retail

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Job category:
Retail

Experience level:
Intermediate

Relocation available:
This role is not eligible for relocation

Travel required:

Up to 25% travel should be expected with this role

Job type:
Professionals

Job code: RQ105230

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Job Summary

We are seeking an experienced and forward‑thinking Senior Food Product & Technical Manager to lead the strategic development and governance of our food product portfolio across the retail network. This role plays a pivotal part in driving innovation, enhancing customer experience, ensuring high operational standards, and aligning product initiatives with broader business objectives. The ideal candidate will bring strong product leadership, commercial competence, agility, and data‑driven decision‑making, alongside the ability to oversee and handle technical and food‑safety standards through expert teams and partners.

Product Leadership & Strategy

• Lead the full lifecycle of food product development—from concept through launch—ensuring solutions reflect customer needs, commercial priorities, and operational feasibility.
• Develop clear product roadmaps and arguments that articulate value, differentiation, and long‑term strategic direction.

Food Safety & Technical Governance

• Oversee the governance of food‑safety and quality standards across retail food operations.
• Ensure compliance with relevant legislation through effective oversight, processes, and team leadership.
• Provide high‑level guidance on food‑safety risks and operational controls, ensuring teams implement safe, consistent, and legally compliant practices.

Agility & Continuous Improvement

• Champion Agility practices within product teams, fostering rapid iteration, continuous improvement, and collaborative problem‑solving.
• Promote adaptive ways of working that accelerate delivery and enhance product quality.

Customer & Data Insight

• Analyse customer data and market trends to see opportunities, optimise offerings, and guide strategic decisions.
• Translate insights into actionable product strategies that strengthen customer engagement and drive performance.
• Communicate insights clearly through effective visualisation and interpretation.

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Partner with retail operations, marketing, supply chain, and technical teams to ensure seamless integration and delivery of new food products and solutions.
• Promote digital collaboration tools to enhance communication, alignment, and cross‑functional efficiency.

Partnership & Commercial Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers, vendors, and technology partners.
• Lead negotiation planning and preparation to secure favourable terms and support long‑term partnerships.
• Contribute to commercial decision‑making through strong analytical and strategic thinking.

Retail Category & Territory Development

• Drive innovation within food‑related Retail Category Management by identifying new product categories and optimising existing ones.
• Support retail territory development by understanding market dynamics and operational requirements for new and existing sites.

Training & Capability Building

• Oversee the design and delivery of food‑safety, product, and operational training programmes for frontline teams.
• Promote knowledge sharing and mentor junior colleagues to strengthen organisational capability.

Industry Expertise & Advocacy

• Stay informed on food‑industry trends, customer expectations, and regulatory changes.
• Advocate for standard processes and ensure the organisation remains competitive and forward‑looking within the retail food sector.

Essential Qualifications And Experience

• Experience in senior product management or leadership within food service, hospitality, cafe and/or retail
• Excellent product development in both food and coffee - a real foodie!
• Demonstrated commercial competence with a history of driving business growth.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and presentation abilities.
• Deep understanding of customer‑centric thinking and the ability to translate insights…