Strategic Development Manager

Ko wai mātou – About us

Foodstuffs Own Brands is part of the wider Foodstuffs whānau, owned by both Foodstuffs co-operatives. We're the national team behind more than 2500 private brand products — including some of Aotearoa's most recognised grocery brands, most notably Pams. We're customer-driven in everything we do, driving a strategic Foodstuffs' Private Brand portfolio from conception to consumption!

Te Tūranga – About the role

As our Strategic Development Manager, you'll play a key role in shaping and delivering private brands that customers keep coming back for, while making it easier for our banners to win every day. Reporting to the Head of Product & Development, you'll lead a highly capable team of Product Developers through collaboration leadership of our product development strategies, programme and innovation pipeline.

What you'll do

• Own our product development strategy, programme and pipeline, focusing on the most strategic opportunities for our customers and banners
• Champion global, customer, flavour and emerging category insights to drive innovation, renovation, rationalisation and range improvement
• Make commercially sound recommendations that balance customer value, quality and cost
• Lead NPD range proposals and contribute to category strategy
• Influence and align stakeholders across both co-operatives, supply partners and internal teams
• Lead the sensory programme and oversee the Product Development Kitchen
Lead, coach and develop a high-performing team

He kōrero mōu – About you

We're looking for a commercially savvy product development professional with a proven track record of delivering successful packaged goods within an FMCG and/or retail environment. Bringing strong food science expertise, you'll have a sound understanding of New Zealand food regulations and food codes, enabling you to confidently guide products from concept through to launch while ensuring quality, compliance and consumer appeal.

You’ll be highly skilled at turning market insights into winning products, with experience using tools such as AC Nielsen, Dunnhumby and Mintel to identify trends, understand customer behaviour and uncover growth opportunities. Equally comfortable working strategically and operationally, you'll be an effective project manager who can lead multiple workflows, influence stakeholders at all levels and coach others to achieve outstanding outcomes.

Above all, you're a genuine foodie with a passion for creating products that customers love. You understand what it takes to win both at the shelf edge and around the dinner table, combining consumer insight, commercial thinking and creative flair to bring innovative products to market that deliver real value for customers and the business.

Ngā painga - What we offer

We’re committed to providing awesome experiences for our people, including offering a range of benefits

• Free carparking - we’ve got over 1,000 carparks including EV plugs
• Southern Cross plans for you and your family
• Onsite café with subsidised meals, mini mart, 5% discount at our retail stores
• Flexible working options, a day off on your birthday, lots of fun on site activities
Inhouse learning and development programmes and courses, flu vaccinations, and social network groups (we call them Tribes)

Experience awesome. Achieve awesome. Be awesomely you.

We’re proud to have a focus on Diversity & Inclusion here at Foodies and welcome courageous behaviour, encourage togetherness, inspire our people to be their best selves in our Foodies whānau.

We encourage you to apply with all your awesomeness and welcome your diverse background, including any disability, additional health and mental health needs, and/or neurodiversity.

If you require accessibility support to ensure you can fairly access our recruitment process, please reach out to [email protected] . Accessibility support could include interview location, sign language interpreter, assistive technology.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses and identifying potential inconsistencies or verification signals in application materials based on available information. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.