Senior Marketing Innovation Manager

About Us:

At itsu, we're passionate about making healthy eating exciting, accessible, and affordable. As an Asian-inspired food brand, we’ve grown to over 80 restaurants across the UK and Belgium, while building a thriving grocery business that reaches customers across Europe and beyond. Known for our fresh, high-quality food prepared daily in every shop, we're on an ambitious growth journey. With plans to expand our store estate, accelerate our grocery presence, and continue investing in innovation, technology, and our people, we're shaping the future of healthy fast food.

itsu [ grocery ], where this role sits, extends the much-loved itsu brand beyond our shops and into supermarkets, health food retailers, online channels, wholesale partners, and international markets. Our growing product range includes customer favourites such as crispy seaweed thins, frozen gyoza and bao, brilliant'broth, rice'noodles, and miso'easy, bringing the taste and quality of itsu into homes around the world.

Joining itsu means becoming part of a fast-paced, innovative business with big ambitions, a strong culture, and a shared mission to help people eat beautifully every day.

About the role:

As Senior Marketing Innovation Manager, you will be the voice of the consumer across our innovation and renovation pipeline.

You'll lead consumer insight and market research, ensuring consumer needs are at the heart of product development, packaging, proposition and future growth plans. You'll be confident using a range of research methodologies and data sources to uncover meaningful insights, while balancing consumer feedback with commercial, category and customer requirements.

You'll have the ability to turn complex information into simple, actionable recommendations, knowing when to lean on data and when to apply sound commercial judgement & ‘gut feel’. Thriving in a fast-paced, founder-led environment, you'll be comfortable navigating ambiguity, influencing stakeholders and helping move ideas from concept to launch.

Key Role Responsibilities:

Consumer Insight & Market Research

• Lead all consumer research across NPD, EPD and future innovation projects.
• Manage the consumer research budget, forecasting and agency partnerships.
• Design and deliver qualitative and quantitative research programmes, ensuring methodologies are fit for purpose and findings are actionable.
• Bring together multiple sources of insight, including consumer research, retailer data, social listening and market trends, to identify opportunities and guide decision making.

Innovation & Go-to-Market

• Represent the consumer perspective throughout the innovation and renovation process.
• Contribute to key cross-functional forums including Gate Reviews, NPD meetings and Creative Reviews.
• Develop compelling product propositions and consumer-led recommendations to support successful launches.
• Ensure insight is effectively translated into product, packaging and communication decisions, delivering strong in-store and online execution.

Process Improvement & Team Leadership

• Continuously improve how consumer insight is embedded across the business.
• Identify and implement new research approaches, platforms and tools, including emerging AI-enabled solutions.
• Own and evolve key insight processes, including the Packaging & Design Checklist.
• Line manage one direct report, with the opportunity to help shape and grow the function over time.

You:

• You're naturally curious and passionate about understanding consumer behaviour, culture and what drives purchase decisions.
• You're analytical but pragmatic, comfortable balancing data, commercial realities and instinct to make recommendations.
• You're an excellent storyteller, able to distil complex information into clear, engaging and actionable insights.
• You're collaborative and build strong relationships across functions, working effectively with Brand, NPD, Sales and Commercial teams.
• You're highly organised, able to manage multiple projects simultaneously while maintaining attention to detail.
• You're proactive and always looking for better ways of doing things, whether through new methodologies, technology or process improvements.
• You're comfortable working in a fast-moving entrepreneurial environment where priorities can shift quickly and decisions need to be made at pace.
• You're confident influencing stakeholders at all levels and challenging thinking when needed to ensure the consumer remains at the centre of decision making.

Ideal Experience [this role doesn’t fit into a defined ‘box’, so open to different work backgrounds]

• Experience delivering consumer insight or market research programmes, including both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
• Strong experience interpreting research findings and presenting recommendations to a variety of audiences.
• FMCG experience preferred, with a good understanding of retailer and category data.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Brand, Innovation, Commercial and Sales teams.
• Experience managing research agencies, budgets and project timelines.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Salary
• Competitive Bonus Scheme
• 25 days holiday + Bank holidays (two bank holidays are interchangeable for other religious holidays)
• Health Insurance
• Company Pension Scheme
• Hybrid Working model: 3 days in the office, 2 days work from home
• 2 weeks work from abroad
• 50% employee discount in itsu shops
• Free itsu lunch when in the office
• Discounts at major retailers
• Salary sacrifice cycle and electric vehicle schemes
• Development & Growth opportunities

At itsu [grocery], everyone’s taste matters, and so does who’s behind it. We celebrate diversity and are an equal opportunities employer. Applications from all backgrounds are encouraged. If you need support or adjustments to apply, we’ll happily accommodate.