Product Innovation & Fresh Range Development Manager
We are seeking a passionate and commercially driven Product Innovation & Fresh Range Development Manager to join our Food Innovation Team.
This exciting role will focus on shaping, developing and evolving fresh food ranges for convenience retail customers across Ireland. The successful candidate will play a key role in identifying emerging food trends, developing innovative product concepts, and delivering scalable fresh food solutions across our retail brands.
Working across cross-functional teams, this role will lead the development and rollout of new fresh food ranges and concepts — from insight and ideation through to in-store execution — ensuring our retail partners deliver best-in-class fresh food experiences that drive sales, profitability and customer loyalty.
This position offers a unique opportunity to influence the future direction of fresh food within convenience retail while working in a fast-paced, commercially focused environment.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead the development and evolution of fresh food ranges across BWG retail brands, ensuring they remain competitive, commercially strong and aligned with customer needs.
• Identify and translate consumer trends and market insights into innovative food concepts and scalable retail solutions.
• Manage product and range development projects from concept to multi-store rollout, including trials, financial evaluation and post-launch review.
• Collaborate with internal teams including Commercial, Retail Operations, Marketing, and Supply Chain to deliver successful product launches and initiatives.
• Develop and grow strategic partnerships with fresh food concessions and franchise operators.
• Support retail partners in delivering best-in-class in-store execution across fresh food departments.
• Design and deliver training programmes, workshops and learning resources to support store teams in implementing new food concepts.
• Maintain and continuously improve core fresh food ranges, ensuring quality, consistency and strong commercial performance.
• Lead improvements in packaging, labelling and product presentation to enhance customer appeal and operational efficiency.
Experience Required
• Relevant experience managing a fresh food department in a retail or food service environment.
• Proven experience in product development, food innovation, or retail range development.
• Experience delivering new food concepts from idea through to multi-location rollout.
• Strong project management experience with the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
• Experience developing and delivering training programmes for store teams.
• Experience managing project budgets and commercial performance analysis.
• Strong operational understanding of high-volume food service environments.
• A third-level qualification in business, food, or a related discipline (or equivalent experience).
Skills & Capabilities
• Strong passion for food innovation, consumer trends and retail excellence.
• Excellent communication, presentation and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong commercial awareness with the ability to translate ideas into profitable retail solutions.
• Ability to influence and collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams and retail partners.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• A proactive mindset with a proven ability to drive innovation and deliver change.
Part of BWG Group, BWG Foods is a leading retail and wholesale business. It owns and operates the SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE, LONDIS and XL brands in the Republic of Ireland, working in partnership with independent retailers with over 1,000 stores serving local communities right across the country.
BWG Foods Wholesale Division owns and operates 21 cash and carry locations across Ireland trading under the Value Centre, 4 Aces and Better Deal brands. It also comprises BWG Foodservice, along with Corrib Foods and William’s Gate, which together service over 14,000 customers across the hotel, restaurant, pubs and catering sector, as well as a number of Gala stores.
As owners and operators of these leading retail and wholesale brands, retailers receive the benefit of years of retail expertise and support from BWG tailored to meet the ethos of each brand and their individual needs.
BWG Foods has relationships with more than 650 suppliers, dealing directly with approximately 14,000 customers in the retail, foodservice and licensed sectors. Over 1,850 people are directly employed by BWG Foods, with a further 23,000 people employed in local communities across the country through BWG’s partnership with independent retailers in SPAR, EUROSPAR, MACE, LONDIS and XL. The stores serve in excess of one million shoppers every single day.
As a verified member of Origin Green, the world’s first national sustainability programme, BWG Foods, is committed to making a positive contribution to the environment, and also to the local communities in which BWG and its retailers operate.
