Product Assistant

All the details

M&S Food is changing, and fast! We are undergoing one of the biggest transformations in retailing today to build a bigger, better, fresher food business. From Percy Pig to the freshest M&S Select Farms produce, we grow, source, and develop our own products to give our customers family-ready food that's unbeatable on flavour and innovation. We need motivated people who are ready to bring their whole self to work and give it their all in a fast-paced team committed to being the best. After all, this is not just food. This is M&S Food.

To assist the product development team in formulating, directing and delivering commercial product development for customers in line with category and project plans and business strategy.

We are looking for an individual with a design flair and passion for the non-food categories. An interest in the areas is a must and this role would suit an individual with a homewares, gifting or stationary background.

We have a flexible/hybrid approach - talk to us about part time or job share opportunities in this role, if it's meaningful to you, it's important to us.

What's in it for you

Being a part of M&S is exactly that - becoming a part and playing your part. We're an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and always evolving business built on core values.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special:

• 20% Colleague discount on most things from furniture, fashion and food.
• A first-class welcome to M&S with a tailored induction and a wide range of training schemes to help with your learning and development. Having options to progress is something we're proud of at M&S.
• Attractive annual bonus, based on company performance and personal objectives.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days!
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices website, including GymSave - that offers up to 25% off Gym Memberships and the option to become an M&S Shareholder using our ShareSave & ShareBuy Schemes.
• Charity Volunteer Day - A paid day away from work to support your chosen charity.
• A very generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• Every colleague at M&S has access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support - this includes access to our 24/7 Virtual GP, PAM Assist to support you & your family as well as many other schemes.

What you'll do

Your key accountabilities will include:

• Manage online photography and content process for Hampers & Food gifts ensuring all product imagery and information is correct and showcases the product for our customers.
• Examine the marketplace and competition to keep up to date with trends in homecare/cards & wraps and gifting, lifestyle and packaging that influence the customer, market and potential product direction supported with regular reporting to product development team.
• Assist in delivering the stage gate process, managing all product samples, both incoming and outgoing, product information for photographic shoots, quality benchmarking, supplier meetings, press requests, travel tests and product sampling.
• Collate product information, samples and build product displays to support all internal events, including category reviews and product forums, and all external events, including conferences and press shows.
• Support the product development team in creating and coordinating presentations, accurate and timely management information, range planning documents and competitor & directional insight.

Who you are

Your skills and experience will include:

• Highly organised at managing sources of information, systems and processes.
• IT skills in PowerPoint, Excel and Word.
• Automated New Product Development (NPD) systems.
• Positive, proactive and motivated mindset.

Everyone's welcome

M&S is ready to push boundaries to lead the retail industry into a greener, speedier, more inspiring digital era. That's why we're revolutionising how we work and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. There's never been a better time to be part of our team. Marks & Spencer aims to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make an immediate impact.

We are committed to an active Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy, which starts with our recruitment and selection process, and we are happy to talk flexible working.

If you consider yourself to require reasonable adjustments to any part of our recruitment process, we invite you to share those requirements with us when completing your application. We will make every effort to ensure your needs are met to provide a fair and transparent process of assessment.