Head of Food Activity
- Team
- Food
- Store
- London Support Office
- Location
- London, Greater London
- Contract type
- Permanent
- Position type
- Full Time
- Salary
- Competitive + Benefits
- Closing date: 10th October 2025
How We Hire
Everyone is welcome at M&S. No exceptions. It’s your background, abilities and differences that make you, uniquely you. And when you’re part of M&S, that individuality has the potential to make waves.
About the role
This section tells you all you need to know about the position and its responsibilities, outlining everything we hope to see in a successful candidate.
Summary
We’re reshaping our Food business to broaden its appeal, protecting the magic our customers love while modernising everything else. That means outstanding quality, high sourcing standards, and market-leading innovation remain at our core, while we transform our supply chains, improve our stores, and deliver better value. We’re looking for motivated people ready to bring their whole self to work and thrive in a fast-paced, ambitious team. After all, this isn’t just food… this is M&S Food.
All the details
This is a pivotal role at the heart of M&S Food. You’ll be accountable for delivering our full Food Group activity plan—from new product launches to packaging and artwork. You’ll lead cross-functional teams, manage complex timelines, and drive high performance across every stage of the product development pipeline. If you’re ready to take ownership, shape outcomes, and deliver excellence from concept to shop floor, this is your opportunity to make a lasting impact.
Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.
What you’ll do
- Lead the delivery of all Food Group activity, making sure products and projects move smoothly through development.
- Manage product and packaging timelines, spotting and solving issues early.
- Oversee the artwork process, working closely with legal and graphic partners.
- Improve systems, data and reporting to support technical delivery.
- Drive consistency and collaboration across teams to meet shared goals.
Who you are
- You’ve led complex programmes in fast-paced environments and delivered results.
- You’re confident working with people at all levels and building strong relationships.
- You’re a clear communicator who can influence and challenge constructively.
- You’re a skilled leader with experience managing teams and critical paths.
- You’re organised, resilient and comfortable solving problems with data and creativity.
What’s in it for you?
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
Everyone’s welcome
We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re 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.
#LI-DNI
Being an in-person business
We're at our best when we're close to customers, and for many of us at M&S, that means working in store every day.
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. It also means we can solve problems as soon as they arise, learn and grow as a team, build trust, and get closer to our colleagues.
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Make Your Mark
Opportunities to be heard
Your voice matters here. You can share your ideas ‘Straight to Stuart’, our CEO, or get involved in our BIG (Business involvement Group). Our colleague networks are also great places to find support, listen to each other and encourage debate.
Experience the business
We’re passionate about our customers and colleagues. To get closer to our customers we work in our stores 7 days per year. That way we can see how operations run and look for ways to do better each day.
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Benefits
How to Apply
Here’s what to expect at each stage of the application process. This can change depending on the role you’ve applied to. If you need any reasonable adjustments made at any stage, let us know and we can help.
Send us your application
Fill in our short application form and hit submit.
Online assessment
We’ll invite you to take part in an online assessment. This could be before or after your interview.
In-person assessment centre
We’ll invite you to an in-person assessment centre for an interview. This process may differ depending on the role you’ve applied to.
Decision
After we’ve decided, we’ll be in touch. If you’ve been successful, we’ll officially invite you to join the team and let you know the next steps.
Head of Food Activity
- Team
- Food
- Store
- London Support Office
- Location
- London, Greater London
- Contract type
- Permanent
- Position type
- Full Time
- Salary
- Competitive + Benefits
- Closing date: 10th October 2025
- Reference: 102454