Head of Innovation
KFC · Woking
Our estimate of how close this job is to decisions about what protein a business sources, specifies, buys and serves. How we score
Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
This role owns the pen on KFC UK&I's three-year Menu Vision and decides which new products, platforms and collaborations get built, tested and scaled across a chicken-led QSR chain serving over 1000 restaurants. Every "start, stop, accelerate or deprioritise" call on the Innovation portfolio is a decision about what volume of chicken, and potentially what proportion of plant-based or lower-impact options, reaches millions of customer occasions a year. The advert gives no indication this employer currently frames any of that around sustainability or protein diversification, so anyone taking this seat would be pushing a case that isn't yet part of the brief, not executing one that already exists. Still, few seats in UK food retail touch this much menu-level decision-making, and someone who builds credibility here is positioned to influence KFC's future product mix, and later, similar seats at other major food brands, with more leverage over the food system than most roles ever offer.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
What you'd build
- Multi-year menu/innovation portfolio strategy
- Stage-gate innovation systems (test, learn, scale)
- Commercial business-case development for new products
- Cross-functional leadership across Food, Brand, Commercial, Supply Chain
- Senior stakeholder and franchisee influence
Where it can lead
- Director of Food and Innovation
- VP Menu Strategy
- Chief Marketing Officer
Roles at this level set the enterprise-wide menu and category strategy that determines overall reliance on animal-based versus plant-based protein across a brand's entire estate.
About the role
KFC UK&I is hiring a Head of Innovation based at its Restaurant Support Centre in Woking, sitting within a 50-strong Marketing team spanning Brand, Digital, Strategy, Corporate Affairs, Food Quality and Innovation. The role owns the three-year Menu Vision and the customer occasions KFC wants to win, translating customer and cultural insight into an 18-36 month roadmap and guardrails for Food, Brand, Commercial, Digital and Operations teams. The postholder owns and prioritises the Innovation portfolio across core menu optimisation, value innovation, scalable platforms, calendar innovation, collaborations and longer-term pipeline, making start/stop/accelerate/deprioritise calls balancing customer opportunity, commercial return, restaurant complexity and resource, and building the case for KFC's biggest bets. They create the innovation system taking ideas from insight through test, learn and scale, setting stage gates, leading decision forums, making go/no-go calls, and turning strategy into briefs. The role partners with Commercial and Finance on opportunity sizing and business cases, represents UK&I as a lead market for KFC globally in shaping Menu Vision, partnerships and future innovation priorities, and leads and coaches the Innovation team while deputising on major Customer Strategy and Menu Growth agendas with senior leaders and franchisees. Candidates should bring around 10+ years' experience across innovation, food, menu, brand or customer growth within a fast-moving consumer business, ideally in QSR, FMCG, retail or hospitality, with experience owning multi-year innovation or portfolio strategy, strong understanding of customer behaviour and occasions, commercial confidence in business case development and investment trade-offs, experience running stage-gate innovation systems, and strong cross-functional and senior stakeholder leadership. Closing date 22 October 2026.
We added this one ourselves, from the employer's own advert.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- menu strategy
- innovation portfolio management
- stage-gate process
- test and learn
- business case development
- commercial strategy
- cross-functional leadership
- stakeholder management
- customer insight
- portfolio prioritisation
- P&L / investment sizing
- franchisee relationship management
- brand strategy
- QSR experience
- FMCG experience
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Frame your pitch around commercial growth, portfolio risk management and customer relevance rather than sustainability per se - this employer wants innovation that drives margin and occasion share, so build any plant-forward or alternative-protein case as a new value proposition or hedge against supply and cost volatility in chicken. Worth building food-carbon footprinting literacy and protein-transition commercial case-making, since a 10+ year QSR/FMCG CV with demonstrated portfolio ownership and stage-gate delivery experience is what this employer is explicitly screening for.
You apply directly with the employer. We just link you to their advert, and we don't see anything you send them.