Team Lead, Product Management – Granulates & Inclusions
Meet Our Recruiter
Jamie Pickup
About the Role
We are supporting a global natural ingredients business with the appointment of a Team Lead to take commercial and strategic ownership of a growing portfolio of granulates, drops, inclusions and related dried ingredient solutions.
The portfolio serves customers across bakery, confectionery, snacks, cereals and other food applications, combining natural raw materials with advanced drying and processing technologies.
This is a senior product management position with both portfolio and people leadership responsibility. You will define the strategy for the category, lead its continued development and work across sales, R&D, supply chain, pricing and regional product management to deliver profitable international growth.
The business unit is expanding faster than originally anticipated and is investing significantly in its product management capability. As a result, this opportunity offers considerable scope to influence the direction of the portfolio and build a longer-term leadership career within the organisation.
The Role
You will take responsibility for the global strategy, commercial performance and continued development of the portfolio.
This will include:
- Defining and implementing the global strategy and business development plan for the product category
- Leading, developing and supporting a team of product management professionals
- Taking ownership of the portfolio across innovation, pricing, supply chain, positioning and lifecycle management
- Identifying new market, application and customer opportunities
- Monitoring revenue, margin, market share and wider commercial performance
- Working closely with sales teams to convert market opportunities into sustainable growth
- Leading market and competitor analysis to guide portfolio and investment decisions
- Acting as the commercial owner of innovation projects through to launch and commercialisation
- Supporting customer meetings, technical briefings and international presentations
- Coordinating regional product managers and ensuring the portfolio remains aligned across different territories
- Working closely with R&D, operations, supply chain, pricing, marketing and market intelligence teams
- Developing internal product knowledge through training and regular portfolio communication
- Continuously improving product management processes, systems and ways of working
About You
The successful candidate is likely to bring substantial experience within food ingredients, bakery, confectionery, beverages or a closely related B2B market.
You should be able to demonstrate:
- Significant experience in product management, commercial management, sales or marketing within the food or ingredients industry
- A strong customer-facing and commercial background
- Experience developing product or category strategies and translating them into practical growth plans
- A clear understanding of portfolio management, pricing, margins and product lifecycle decisions
- The ability to identify and evaluate opportunities using market, customer and competitor insight
- Experience working across sales, R&D, supply chain and other international functions
- Previous people leadership or meaningful responsibility for developing and coordinating others
- Strong presentation and communication skills with both internal and external audiences
- The ability to operate effectively within a global, matrixed organisation
- Willingness to travel internationally for customer meetings, internal collaboration and market development
Experience specifically within freeze-dried ingredients is not essential. More important is strong knowledge of the relevant food markets, combined with the commercial judgement and curiosity to develop a specialist portfolio.
Relevant academic backgrounds may include food technology, business administration, food science or a comparable discipline. However, practical industry experience and market knowledge will carry equal weight.
The Opportunity
You will join a successful and rapidly growing business unit with an established international footprint and a strong peer group across global and regional product management.
The role offers:
- Genuine ownership of an internationally important product category
- The opportunity to shape portfolio, pricing, innovation and growth strategy
- Direct leadership responsibility within an expanding team
- Significant exposure to senior leadership, customers and international markets
- A supportive environment with extensive product and technical expertise
- Longer-term progression into wider product, commercial or business-unit leadership
The position is expected to operate on a hybrid basis, normally with three days per week in the office. Germany is the preferred location, although a UK base may be considered where there is a strong fit with the business and portfolio.