Assistant Product Developer

We are recruiting for a Assistant Product Developer to join our team here at Harrods. Our Product Development team are tasked with developing the best new food products for our Harrods Own Label brand, specifically across our Fresh Food offering plus bakery.  

About the role

As an Assistant Product Developer, you will work closely with our internal teams and external providers to bring the Harrods Own Label vision to life: focusing on our meat, fish, juices, cheese, charcuterie and bakery range. Your main focus will be to manage the critical path of said produce, to ensure it arrives in line with key deadlines and seasonal trade.  

You will be tasked with collating trend reports for your category to ensure our offering is the best in class: this includes comp shops, attending trade shows, buying samples and testing new products from competitors to benchmark against our existing range and to influence upcoming ranges. You will also work closely with our insight team to analyse sales data to ensure the trends and newness in the external market is relevant to our customer demographic. 

In this role you will also be responsible for:

• Supporting the product development function in developing new and innovative products and packaging concepts to exceed business expectations and drive category plans. 
• Assisting in the generation and maintenance of critical paths for projects with all key stakeholders to guarantee successful product launches and ensuring the NPD process is adhered to. 
• Creating project summaries – send out weekly reports to the team to update on progress against key stages within the gated process for all projects. Summarise new product launches to relevant stakeholders. 
• Managing the quality benchmarking process to ensure best-in-class execution and providing summary outputs to the relevant category teams. 
• Managing weekly product review forums, ensuring products and/or packaging are available for sign off.

Within this role, you will be expected to be in the office at least three days a week in addition to weekly domestic travel. 

About You 

The ideal candidate will have a wealth of experience within New Product Development. Whether your experience is within a large department store or standalone brand, you will be familiar with managing the critical path across your category. You will have both exceptional communication skills as well as time management skills, able to thrive in a fast moving environment, think on your feet and adapt to changing priorities. 

Work experience within the food or retail industry is not required, though we are looking for someone who is passionate about the Fresh Food category  (meat, fish, juices, cheese, charcuterie and bakery) – you will be able to demonstrate this through your industry knowledge and commercial acumen. 

You will also:

• Be able to build strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Have both creative flair and brilliant organisational skills. 
• Be able to manage small projects from inception to completion. 
• Understand our customer profile. 
• Be proactive, solution lead and passionate about food. 

About Us 

Already one of our most renowned departments, Buying is evolving as part of our major business-wide transformation. We keep Harrods at the forefront of luxury retail by identifying brands that match consumer tastes and supporting our journey to become the world's leading luxury retail emporium.

 
Our Promise to You 

At Harrods, we believe that nothing is impossible. We drive ourselves and inspire others to always push for more and this passion to exceed is what sets us apart. We are proud to be a place where standing out means being yourself. 

In return, you'll enjoy a package that includes: eligibility for a competitive bonus, 25 days holiday, your birthday off, up to 33% Harrods discount and a 50% Business Clothing Allowance. You will also have the opportunity to join our generous pension scheme, in addition to strong long-term career potential and development support. 

Uniquely You 
At Harrods, we believe the personality and authenticity of our people sets us apart. We celebrate and invite applications from all cultures, backgrounds, tastes and experiences and are proud of our culture where people from all walks of life can grow and thrive. What makes us unique is what makes us exceptional. 

If you want to know more about our people, our culture and careers opportunities search #TogetherHarrods on LinkedIn, Facebook or follow us on Instagram, @togetherharrods