Senior Product Developer

Ready to shape the future of food? At Waitrose & Partners, we don't just sell products, we craft food experiences. We are relentlessly focused on being the UK's most loved, trusted, and innovative own brand, setting the industry standard for Quality and Sustainability. We are looking for a visionary Product Developer to drive the creation of high-quality, differentiated 'Own Brand' products. This role is the commercial heart of development, demanding you balance culinary creativity with strategic retail reality.

Salary - £62,000- £90,000 per annum based on skill and experience

Contract type - This is a temporary /secondment position until July 2027

Working pattern/flexible working - 35 hours per week. The Partnership has adopted a hybrid working approach, meaning you'll be able to work a mixture between the office and home based upon your personal needs whilst balancing the needs of the business.

Location - Bracknell Head Office 3 days per week, with supplier visits required as and when.

Interviews - for this role we are looking for interviews to be held end of June/ Early July

The Category the successful candidate will look after will be Meat poultry, fish dairy and eggs.

Key responsibilities

• Develops and delivers new & improved innovative, quality focussed and differentiated products, aligned to Own brand values whilst understanding and managing the commercial implications of development in the grocery environment.
• Builds, strengthens and owns the NPD relationships between Waitrose and suppliers within the projects being worked on. Ambassador of Own Brand values.
• You will work closely with the cross functional category teams in Waitrose trading, external suppliers, Customer Insight, Chef & Innovation, Own Brand & NPD programme teams, Technical & Quality, Packaging, Design & Repro, Legal, Compliance & Policy, Nutrition & Agriculture, & PR, depending on projects & according to RACI.

Essential skills/experience you’ll need

• A passion for product.
• Previous product development experience within Manufacturing or Retail.
• Experience in launching major NPD/Brand projects.
• Proven track record of high quality, commercially successful product development & supplier management. Strong creative skills in food, grocery, Horti.
• Good analysis skills and capable of analysing sales & insight data.

Closing Date: June 21, 2026

Pay: £62,000.00 - £90,000.00 Annual

Contract Type: Temporary

Hours of Work: 35

Job Level: Partnership Level 5

Where You'll Be Working: Bracknell Campus, Doncastle Road, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 8YA

We’re the largest employee owned business in the UK and home of our cherished brands, John Lewis and Waitrose. We’re not just employees, we’re Partners, driven by our purpose to build a happier world. As we look to our future, there’s never been a more exciting time to join us.

We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.

At Waitrose, we LOVE food, and we’re all about creating truly extraordinary shopping experiences by sharing our passion with our food loving customers.