Product and Ideation Manager

The Boots Company PLC; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 50,000 - GBP 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading beauty company in Nottingham is seeking a Product & Ideation Manager to drive innovation and growth. The role involves creating compelling narratives, overseeing product development, and aligning ideas with consumer needs. Candidates should have proven leadership in innovation, strategic foresight, and the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams. The company offers a vibrant work culture focused on beauty innovation, with various benefits including a retirement savings plan and flexible working options.

Benefits

Retirement Savings Plan

Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay

Discretionary annual bonus

Generous discount on products

Flexible benefits scheme

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in upstream innovation and category growth strategy.
• Ability to create inspiring briefs and emotionally compelling narratives.
• Experienced in leading suppliers and partners for breakthrough product ideas.

Responsibilities

• Deliver brand vision and innovation masterplan for growth.
• Support identification of market opportunities and emerging trends.
• Oversee product development and maintain alignment with brand strategy.

Skills

Leadership in innovation

Strategic foresight

Commercial astuteness

Collaborative leadership

Job description

Location: Nottingham

Contract: Permanent, Full‑Time

Recruitment Partner: Frankie McCallister‑Lyas

About the role:

Welcome to Soap & Glory Foresight & Ideation – an exciting team at the heart of the No7 Beauty Company. As customers are changing, so are we! We are consumer obsessed and focus on truly understanding our customers’ needs to develop world‑class products that build brand love. We lead and inspire belief working with cross‑functional partners in R&D, Insights, Packaging, Regulatory, Creative Fuel House, and Commercial to unlock high‑quality launches born from category‑leading R&D.

The Product & Ideation Manager is responsible for delivering the brand vision and big choices. They build a strong innovation masterplan with qualified concepts and big ideas that fuel brand growth. This role provides the stimulus for product development, consumer testing, and brand‑building activities ensuring the Generate and Create pillars are always supplied with the right input. The role balances foresight and creativity with commercial acumen, acting as both architect and guardian of the big idea from inception to launch.

Key Responsibilities:

Envision the Future

• Support the Head of to deliver the long‑term brand, category and innovation vision in an ever‑changing, highly competitive context while keeping a keen eye on the now. Spot emerging trends that can quickly be translated into salient propositions that drive brand love.
• Identify whitespace, foresight‑driven opportunities, and science‑led platforms to anchor the ideas for the Brands.

Set the Big Choices

• Responsible for creating ideation opportunities that can populate a winning innovation roadmap, laying out the strategic field guide for innovation and brand‑building efforts.
• Translate trends, insights, and brand purpose into clear opportunity spaces and compelling narratives and stories.

Stimulus for Development & Brand Building

• Responsible for providing ongoing stimulus for product development, consumer testing, and creative storytelling in generate and activate.
• Ensure emotional resonance of the idea and technical feasibility of the pipeline are aligned from the start.

Hypable Product Creation

• Act as a powerhouse for establishing new, buzzworthy product lines with attractive and ownable brand stories.
• Stay constantly inspired through cultural signals, social media, and the latest in product and commercial ideas.

Comms Brief Creation

• Craft the upstream strategic narrative that articulates “why now, why us.” for the Creative Brief through WPP Open.
• Ensure briefs inspire downstream teams and uphold consumer truth and brand distinctiveness from inception to execution.

Consumer Hook to Product Truth

• Translate emotional consumer insight into functional product truths that are desirable, feasible and ownable.
• Act as final product approver for Ideation, ensuring alignment with strategy and consumer needs.

Supplier & Partner Oversight

• Partner with Portfolio Delivery team to manage cross‑functional meetings, ensuring projects remain on track, and escalating any risks to relevant stakeholders – OTIF delivery of all touchpoints.
• Support the selection and management of key development partners (fragrance, formulation, packaging, design).
• Uphold standards of creativity, innovation and technical delivery.

What you’ll need to have:

• Proven leadership in upstream innovation and category growth strategy.
• Demonstrated ability to set the “big choices” and establish innovation masterplans.
• Strong strategic foresight and consumer insight application that generates breakthrough ideas that drive Brand Growth.
• Ability to create inspiring briefs and emotionally compelling narratives that create a catalogue of stories.
• Commercially astute, able to screen and translate the latest product and commercial ideas into scalable opportunities.
• Collaborative leader with gravitas to influence senior stakeholders and external partners.
• Experienced in leading suppliers and partners to deliver breakthrough ideas in product and design.

It would be great if you also have:

• A passion for all things beauty and bodycare, skincare or colour cosmetics.
• Previous experience on beauty category.

About No7 Beauty Company:

No7 Beauty Company is made up of five iconic brands – No7, Liz Earle, Soap & Glory, Botanics and Sleek MakeUP. We believe in creating the best in beauty for everyone – we’re innovators with a passion for challenging perceptions with ground‑breaking products, proven results and positive impact. We have built a reputation on scientific innovation, whilst being environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. We are an equal opportunity employer, empowering our team members to be their authentic selves as we share a culture where diversity, equity and inclusion are at the centre of everything we do.

Our benefits:

• Retirement Savings Plan
• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption leave pay
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Generous discount on our own brands and partner businesses
• Flexible benefits scheme including holiday buying, discounted gym membership, life assurance, activity passes and much more.

We have a great range of benefits in addition to the above that offer flexibility to suit you - go to no7company.jobs/working-here to find out more.

(Please note, any salary estimates given on third‑party sites are not provided or endorsed by No7 Beauty Company and may not be accurate)

What’s next:

If your application is successful, our in‑house recruitment team will be in touch to arrange an interview and to answer any initial questions you have. If you have not been successful on this occasion, you’ll be notified by email.

Where a role is advertised as full‑time, we are open to discussing part‑time and job share options during the application process. If you require additional support as part of the application and interview process, we are happy to provide reasonable adjustments to help you to be at your best.