The Simmance Partnership Limited
Category Insights Director - Innovation & Trend Champion wanted

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Category Insights Director – Innovation and Trend Champion Wanted
London HQ, hybrid working
Salary around £120,000, plus full executive benefits package
Our client, a £700m UK subsidiary of a global branded food giant at £20bn, is on the hunt for an outright Category Insights Champion, someone with the creative mind to turn insights, from the study of adjacent categories, into revolutionary innovation and NPD. This will only relate to those already making their mark in the FMCG world of food and drink brands, with brand icons that win consumers' hearts and minds every day.
You will be the visionary to design, pioneer and lead, exclusively, new category insight pathways to build on the idea of 'adjacency'; this is a business-critical mission, deliberately created to supplement growth and market share way beyond the current brands' portfolio.
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I’m in my final year doing Economics and I don’t know whether to apply for grad schemes now or do a masters first. What do you think?
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Also worth knowing: most autumn 2026 applications are open now. Timing matters more than you think.
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Graduate Consultant — 2026 Scheme
Why you're a good match
StrongYour economics background and your summer at a regional bank line up with what PwC looks for on the consulting scheme. Applications close in four weeks.
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Why you're a good match
You’ve got the grades and the economics background, and your bank internship is exactly the experience this scheme looks for. Apply soon — deadlines close within the month.
Experience fit
Your summer at the bank plus your econometrics coursework map directly to the day-one responsibilities on this scheme — client modelling, market briefings, and deal support.
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Restless and frustrated by the lack of enterprise in your current category insights leadership role, one thing is for sure about this appointment… you are on your way to game-changing career success! You have the ambition to lead an iconic, brave, new role and thinking, with the backing of a portfolio of instantly recognized ambient food brands in a £4.5bn fast-changing, competitive category.
This is an inspiring, yet unusual, appointment in shaping future new product development, as seen through the eyes of Insights. A role comprising hands-on category strategy with a real output focus on innovation and trend development which will put you right at the heart of the UK enterprise, as well as the parent company’s newly created global Growth team.


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Thinking and acting with fearlessness must be your natural MO. You will be expected to act as the category insight authority to champion new product growth. Your combined technical skill and experience over 10 years in big blue-chip as well as progressive food and drink companies equip you to succeed. You’re respected as someone who is an inspiration to a large crowd, a creative thought-leader who can make things happen.
This successful company rewards performance, they respect people who have clarity of vision and unreservedly know how to deliver incremental results. This is a chance now to prove yourself in a demanding, vibrant, fast-paced environment, and get noticed for making a difference.
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