About us

come + join us!

Hello from the Happies!

At Ella’s Kitchen we care about each other, we care about the world we live in and we care about making the absolute best food for tiny tummies.

We believe that if we’re all aligned towards a clear direction, grounded in the stuff we’re passionate about, then our team will thrive; free to deliver amazing results and feel rewarded doing it.

Website Images Dec Happies 02

At Ella’s Kitchen, we’re guided by our values. They set the tone of our culture and we look out for newbies who will be a natural fit to our values and complement and contribute to our business.

We believe to achieve strong business growth, we need to nurture our people, because happy people do the best work. So we invest in our people to be the best they can be and encourage a culture of leadership so that everyone feels valued and empowered.

We are always keen to meet brilliant people who believe in our mission and want to live and breathe our values.

The Happies
xxx

explore our current vacancies

Full time

Interim Production Planner (Helps Make It Run Like Clockwork) (FTC)

Fixed Term Contract

Fixed Term Contract until 31st December 2024 (with the potential to extend)

Responsible for:

Ensuring Ella’s are holding the right amount of stock in the supply chain, through accurate production forecasting and stock management by working collaboratively with our co-manufacturers.

Purpose of role:

Supporting the Clockwork (Operations) team deliver their strategy, by working with our out-sourced manufacturing partners and our internal Ella’s teams, to ensure we have the right stock in the right place at the right time, reducing cost whilst maximising availability, efficiency, and profitability.

Role activities / responsibilities:

  • Manage production requirements, and confirm forecast and production orders to Ella’s manufacturers, to ensure we are holding the right amount of stock. This includes aligning Ella’s production requirements with manufacturing capacity, availability of raw materials, and retailer demand fluctuations.
  • Develop strong working relationships with our manufacturers, taking on the role of influencer to ensure that we get the best outcome for Ella’s whilst still living our values with our suppliers. You will be the key operational contact for one of our biggest manufacturers and also for some of our other strategic partners.
  • Manage stock levels efficiently, minimising waste and cash tied into stock.
  • Support the development of new products by co-ordinating trials and availability of raw materials and packaging and contributing into project meetings.
  • Drive improvements to the planning process and the day-to-day management of the manufacturer
  • Track and report on supplier KPIs and find ways to drive improvement collaboratively
  • Day to day problem solving
  • Working collaboratively across the internal Ella’s teams to ensure clarity, accuracy and consistency of information flow
  • Live the Ella's values and engage our suppliers in the brand

You will need:

  • Ability to work well under pressure and demonstrate that you can adapt to the fast pace and variety of FMCG supply chain
  • Some production planning experience within in a Food or FMCG background would be preferable.
  • Excellent interpersonal, communication and collaboration skills
  • Ability and willingness to communicate effectively at all levels and provide support in a range of activities and tasks
  • Real strength in using MS Excel, with top-notch numeracy skills and attention to detail
  • Ability to build strong relationships, getting things done and resolving issues across the business and with suppliers
  • Passion and determination to succeed
  • Proactive and driven attitude with a natural aptitude for problem solving (and able to think differently when finding solutions)
  • Excellent organisational and time management skills
  • Ability to think logically, especially when it’s really busy
  • Demonstrable ability to live and breathe our values: We Want to Win, We’re Business Minded, We’re Childlike, We Think Differently, We’re Good to Each Other

It would be really amazing if you had:

  • Ability to speak a European language, preferably Spanish, French or Dutch
  • Experience in an FMCG environment

And What You’ll Get In Return:

  • Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway
  • Competitive salary
  • A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
  • A really awesome place to come to work … our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, but the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend
Full time

Interim Portfolio Manager (Babysitting Makes Friendly Stuff)

Contract

Full time, Monday – Friday 9am -5 pm

Maternity cover contract (starting end of May/early June)

Our Commitment To Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

At Ella’s Kitchen, we are committed to promoting and enabling a positive culture where everyone can be themselves and diversity of thought is welcomed.

We give a full and fair consideration to all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity.

If you need reasonable adjustments made to the recruitment process, please let us know so we can support you in the right way.

Purpose of role:

To deliver maximum range productivity of the 12 months to 5 years (Toddler + Pre-schooler) portfolios for UK and core ATW (International) markets; create products which ooze Ella’sness and deliver what’s best for little ones. Manage and deliver the portfolio plan and new product development (NPD/EPD) plan for both the UK and our core ATW markets. To drive the portfolio management process for your specific portfolio and implement the agreed recommendations for your portfolio including:

  • Set the strategy – Work with the wider team to set the strategic direction of your portfolios in line with the corporate strategy and gain buy-in from the Ella’s leadership team.
  • Portfolio Management – Review and drive the performance of the current portfolio through the portfolio management process. Making recommendations to drive sales and efficiency of the 12 months to 5 years portfolio.
  • Innovation pipeline - Support the discovery team to create a 3-year NPD pipeline funnel for UK portfolio, and work in conjunction with ‘Making Friends and deals Around the World’ (International Marketing + sales Team) to roll out products for core markets.
  • Deliver NPD – deliver an innovative, on-brand, on-time, on-budget and commercially sound product funnel from concept through to launch and post-launch review.
  • Discontinuations – recommend and lead the process, working with Deals (Sales) and Clockwork (Operations) to minimise customer disruption and potential write-off.
  • Use the appropriate tools available to make the best decisions for consumers and minimize risk to the business.

Role activities / responsibilities:

Portfolio Strategy (Master Plans)

  • Support the Group Portfolio Manager on setting the 1–3-year strategic direction of the 12 months to 5 years portfolios, seeking out inputs from a wide range of sources (E.g. Ella’s Business strategy, retail landscape, consumer insight, category dynamics, range performance, innovation potential) to inform and shape the plans.
  • Champion the 12 months to 5 years portfolios in IBP forums to ensure we have the right resource and capabilities to deliver the strategy.
  • Bring the strategies to life during brand planning/Assembly/Sales briefings and in any other relevant forums to ensure the business is aware of and excited about them.

Portfolio Management

  • Own the portfolio management inputs and analysis for your UK/ATW portfolio to make proactive recommendations on changes to the range aligned to the portfolio strategy as part of the portfolio management process.
  • Proactively reach out to other teams for relevant portfolio planning inputs. Use this alongside your knowledge of our brand to make recommendations that optimize your portfolios and SKU productivity in both the short term (12m) and to feed into the longer term rolling 3- year innovation plan to support the Ella’s Kitchen 8-year business strategy.
  • Feed into the benchmarking process with requirements for your portfolio to support your recommendations for EPD and NPD changes
  • Own and deliver the inputs for your portfolio going into the pipeline meeting, to get the maximum engagement and alignment from the business, keeping projects running on time and on brief.
  • Support the Deals team in sell-ins as necessary on new products and existing portfolio

Innovation (NPD/EPD)

  • Work with the Senior Innovation manager and the rest of the discover team to ideate off agreed insight platforms and create a 3 year pipeline that aligns with the business master plans. Input into immersion and ideation sessions and support in creating, crafting, and testing ideas and platforms.
  • Work with the innovation team and wider commercial teams to create compelling NPD briefs, for product and pack, that deliver against strategy, offering consumers something that is better than the current market offering, with a real + unique Ella’s point of difference that they will love! Deliver these to the pipeline forum and champion them to wider business.
  • Act as the friendly stuff innovation champion in the discover team to support the rest of the team in delivering NPD pipelines for their own portfolios
  • Champion our consumers by keeping them front of mind and keeping projects on brief – be Kids First always
  • Work with Assistant Product Manager to ensure relevant benchmarking and competitor review is completed during NPD + EPD projects as required
  • Deliver against our ‘business minded’ commercial guidelines for SKU productivity in your portfolio. Confirm fit to strategy and business requirements (SOP/margin/COGs targets)
  • Lead projects from ideation through all term (project lead), championing them through the process, presenting all requirements to pass each term, making clear recommendations to key stakeholders and ensuring the sign off process is achieved on time
  • Own the reporting of the P+L through our product term process for your specific portfolio, working with Sums (Finance) to write the recommendation to pipeline.
  • Work closely with the Junior Product Manager to ensure that EPD projects are aligned to the portfolio strategy and achieve the desired outcomes for the range.
  • Manage the ‘launch and love’ process for all products 12 months – 5 years, ensuring the consumer proposition, USP and key messages are clearly understood + communicated and reviewed against post-launch

Packaging

  • Own the delivery of packaging (design + pack format) for your portfolio through the terms process, striving for right first time, continually improving the process as needs be to get there.
  • Brief design agency (look, feel and structure of packaging), leading the process from concept development to artwork release, from design agency to repro, making recommendations and gaining inputs and approvals from the right stakeholders at the right time. Act as final approver for print ready artwork at repro stage.
  • Work closely with Safely (Technical) to confirm packaging format, ensure that all cutter guides are approved and to input marketing copy into the GRID process as required. Ensuring sign off from relevant stakeholders.
  • Own packaging naming and claims, completing legal checks on time. Use ‘Making Friends Around the World’ for local knowledge on international packs.
  • Work with the translation house and International Distributors to ensure all translations are completed on time and implemented correctly in line with brand and legislation requirements.
  • Attend print runs as required to approve packaging on press
  • Ensure your packaging projects come in on time + on budget. Manage the packaging and capex budget reporting in the trackers, completing monthly reviews with Sums (Finance). Liasing with all the other team members on their project costs and updating accordingly.

Market and Consumer awareness

  • Develop a deep expertise of the UK marketplace, retail dynamics, consumer and shopper behaviour via consumer + category insights, relevant press + store visits, industry relevant events etc.
  • Use insights in our core markets and work in conjunction with distributors, to ensure your products are loved by consumers across the world.
  • Support Senior Product Manager and Senior Innovation Manager on insight projects using all the available insight tools (E.g. Brand Health Check, U&A, pen portraits, Vypr etc.) and other data sources from internal teams.
  • Make recommendations and share insight with key stakeholders and wider Ella’s family as appropriate to drive your projects forward, delivering against consumer needs

Process Improvement

  • Represent the Friendly Stuff team in the CREW forum to support continuous improvement of the School of NPD process. Act as the rep for Friendly Stuff to implement new processes for projects
  • Work closely with the other teams (e.g. Category/Sales/technical) to improve ways of working and processes between our team and theirs.
  • Support on continually improving the packaging and artwork process with the technical team.

You will need:

  • Ability to embrace, embody and exude all that is special and unique about Ella’s Kitchen
  • Solid Portfolio management and innovation experience from an FMCG branded environment
  • Knowledge of NPD with a successful record of developing products from concept to launch across different markets
  • Experience of using data and insights to guide product development
  • Experience of managing packaging design, from brief through to approval
  • Be truly Business Minded in your approach to projects and portfolio management
  • Naturally creative, with an imaginative approach to innovation, product development and problem solving
  • Great commercial skills with the ability to analyse P&Ls and make informed decisions
  • Excellent influencing skills – the ability to persuade stakeholders of the commercial and brand value of our product proposition
  • Demonstrable ability to live and breathe our values: We Want to Win, We’re Business Minded, We’re Childlike, We Think Differently, We’re Good to Each Other

And What You’ll Get in Return:

  • Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway
  • Competitive salary
  • A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
  • A really awesome place to come to work … our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, but the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend
Full time

Junior Shopper Marketing Manager (Helps Makes Friends in Shops)

Purpose of role

To drive Ella’s Kitchen sales and associated category growth in our retailer accounts through the implementation of shopper and online strategies, which ultimately drive the 3 Ella’s Kitchen strategic business pillars. To influence Ella’s Kitchen becoming the favourite food brand of little people up to 5 years.

Role activities / responsibilities:

  • Develop our annual media plans in Morrisons, Boots, Waitrose and Ocado in close collaboration with the deals, friends and category teams; ensuring they are both strategic and creative! Align plans with retailer event calendar to drive against category vision metrics via increased footfall.
  • Ensure all shopper activation delivers against the shopper strategy, to win the buying decision.
  • Understand each retailer‘s strategy and how we can partner to deliver it.
  • Tie media negotiations into overall account commercial agreements to make savings on rate cards . Be all over budget management; keeping a track of spend, processing POs and invoices promptly.
  • Support and help to activate key strategic and NPD projects as directed by Senior Makes Friends in Shops.
  • Work closely with the Helps Make Friendly Stuff who is responsible for uploading and developing all our product images. Ensure our online presence through retailer contacts, BrandBank and our e-commerce platform is within the set out optimised imagery guidelines and agreed product descriptions. Manage the Brandbank contract and relationship.
  • Work with deals and category teamies to identify and implement ecommerce best practice and future opportunities.
  • Inspire our agency partners and comms team to always think about the Ella’s shopper within strategy and campaigns. Partner with them to drive implementation of our plans and ensure that comms and trade plans are aligned.
  • Research, recommend and share new in-store and retailer media developments + ideas, to help us deliver “cool stuff” in-store and through .com.
  • Embrace, embody + exude all that is special and unique about Ella’s Kitchen and make sure this comes to life in the barns by acting as a brand ambassador + ensuring the brand is always being portrayed in the best way possible
  • Dig in to the data and work with the category team after a campaign to understand the impact it delivered to Ella’s and take learnings forward into future plans.
  • Work with your Shopper Marketing Teamies, Product and Brand team to develop best-in class NPD launches in to the market.

You will need:

  • Shopper marketing experience and a good understanding of the UK retail environment
  • Ideally digital skills in e-commerce or advertising
  • Strong attention to detail and excellent organisational skills
  • Creativity and ability to ‘think differently’
  • Ability to juggle and prioritise tasks
  • Fantastic communication skills
  • Drive and initiative to be a self-starter
  • A relevant degree (or equivalent qualification)
  • A real passion for the Ella’s brand and willingness to throw yourself into a varied and busy role
  • Demonstrable ability to live and breathe our values: We Want to Win, We’re Business Minded, We’re Childlike, We think differently, We’re Good to Each other

And what you’ll get in return:

  • Bucket loads of training and development, supporting your career pathway
  • Competitive salary
  • Discretionary bonus scheme
  • A Box of Treats, including private medical, dental, pension, life assurance, 25 days holiday and the ability to buy more, high street discounts, amazing wellbeing events, Give It A Go days… to name but a few!
  • A really awesome place to come to work … our beautiful Barns in the Oxfordshire countryside, but the flexibility to achieve a good work/life blend
Say Hello

speculative applications

The role

We're always looking for passionate, creative and innovative people to come and work with us at Ella's Kitchen.

If we aren't currently advertising for a role that's right for you, you can submit a speculative application and we'll hold your details in our Talent Pool for 3 months. If we've got any roles that we think might be of interest to you, we'll be in touch!

our box of treats

Our team are super-special and in return for all the hard work they do everyday, everyone gets a ‘Box of Treats’ to help make every day that little bit brighter and easier! Goodies to look forward to when you join Ella's Kitchen:

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

25 days holiday plus bank holidays

Healthcare

health cash plan

Free Ellas products for family friends

free Ella's products for family + friends

Weekly Bootcamp Yoga

weekly bootcamp + yoga

Annual Wellbeing Calendar

annual wellbeing calendar

Much Much More

and much, much more...

1 / 6
Discover More
Barn cta

working at Ella's

We know that happy, healthy people do the best work so we work reeeally hard to be a tip-top employer focussing on understanding the whole person.

Team sign

meet our team

Take a peek behind the scenes to see what it's like working at Ella's Kitchen!