Head of Food (Product Development & Nutrition), Marro

Location: Hybrid, with 3 days per week in the West London office on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and 2 days working remotely; candidates should live within a comfortable commuting distance to London. Skills and leadership interviews include in-person stages.

Company

hirify.global develops fresh pet food, with Marro focused on fresh food and nutrition for cats.

What you will do

• Own Marro’s feline product development strategy, long-term range vision, product architecture and multi-year roadmap.
• Improve customer retention by analysing pause reasons, customer feedback and cat response data.
• Own palatability performance, define benchmarks, run rigorous measurement and compare products with internal recipes and the market.
• Lead formulation, processing, sensory and palatability trials, including hands-on kitchen work and product evaluation.
• Own the budget for trials, sensory testing, external specialists and research, and build business cases covering cost, margin, savings and customer benefit.
• Set product quality and claims standards while collaborating with Operations, Commercial, Brand, Marketing and external partners.

Requirements

• Deep expertise in feline nutrition, ingredients, formulation, processing, sensory science and palatability.
• Experience shaping product strategy and setting direction, not only delivering against an existing roadmap.
• Strong product judgment across nutrition, palatability, quality, customer expectations, manufacturing realities and cost.
• Ability to lead cross-functional work and influence senior stakeholders independently.
• Hands-on experience tasting food, running trials and evaluating products.
• Scientific curiosity and ability to work with specialists and turn evidence into practical product and process improvements.
• Ability to coach others, share expertise and challenge the status quo.
• Comfort with ambiguity, rapid execution and ownership in a startup environment.
• Degree or postgraduate qualification in animal nutrition, food science, sensory science or a related field, or equivalent depth of expertise gained through hands-on pet food experience.

Culture & Benefits

• Lean, close-knit product team with broad ownership and opportunities to develop and progress.
• Hybrid working with a collaborative West London office routine.
• Equity option package.
• 25 days of holiday plus 8 bank holidays, 5 additional paws days and one extra day per year of service.
• £500 personal learning and development budget, employee discount, subsidised private medical insurance and cycle-to-work scheme.
• Team socials and company-wide summer and winter parties.

Hiring process

• Remote initial call with a Talent Acquisition Partner.
• 90-minute in-person skills interview with an interview task, followed by a 60-minute remote behaviours interview.
• 45-minute in-person leadership interview; the process normally takes 3–5 weeks end to end.