Assistant Technologist - Beauty

Are you passionate about beauty, product quality and bringing innovative ranges to life? We’re looking for an Assistant Technologist to join our Beauty team at M&S, supporting the delivery of products that meet the high standards our customers expect across quality, safety, compliance, ethics and performance.

In this role, you’ll provide hands-on technical support across the department, working closely with Technologists, suppliers and cross-functional teams to help ensure our beauty products are delivered brilliantly from concept through to customer. If you’re detail-driven, curious, organised and excited by the fast-moving world of beauty, this could be the perfect next step for you.

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Take technical ownership of agreed products or ranges where appropriate, while supporting the wider Technology team and representing M&S externally with suppliers and internally across the department.
• Support the delivery of high-quality beauty products by reviewing product performance, analysing customer feedback, investigating quality issues and helping coordinate corrective and preventive actions.
• Work with suppliers and internal teams to drive continuous improvement, strengthen supplier performance and support great outcomes for our customers.
• Support supplier onboarding, technical reviews, performance scorecards, audits and follow-up activity, helping to maintain strong supplier relationships and robust governance across the supply base.
• Maintain accurate technical data, product specifications, PLM records, dashboards and KPI reporting to support clear decision-making and compliance with M&S technical standards.

Your skills and experience will include:

• Strong communication skills, with the confidence to work with technical, design, buying, supplier and global sourcing teams.
• Excellent organisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, work to deadlines and know when to make decisions or seek guidance.
• A data-led mindset, with the ability to analyse information, identify insights and support strategic thinking.
• Knowledge or experience of creating and maintaining product specifications.
• Olfactory or sensory evaluation training would be a bonus, but is not essential.

Working at M&S means being part of something bigger - helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.

Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:

• 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation.
• Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more.
• Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours.
• Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future.
• Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one.
• Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal.
• Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave.
• 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services.
• One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you.

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We are disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We are transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen. We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

To stay close to customers, our support teams are in the office three days a week as we believe that skills are developed through collaboration, and that spending time together makes us more creative and connected.