Here at innocent, we’re on a mission to make it easier for everyone to get more fruit and veg into their bodies. We started back in 1999 and since then we’ve gone from selling a few smoothies at a music festival to becoming one of Europe’s biggest drinks companies with around 1,000 people (and the B Corp seal of approval).
It’s nice to be able to say things like that but we’re not patting ourselves on the back just yet. We want to show everyone that it’s possible to be a successful business while looking after people and the planet too, so we’re trying to get better in pretty much every way. And that’s where this job comes in.
What you'll be doing
This is a 12-month placement starting in June 2025, ideal for a placement student as part of their sandwich course. And a great place if you are interested in consumer goods, retailers and shopping habits or a career in the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry.
First things first, what is 'category’? A 'category’ is the fancy term for a group of similar products, like the ice cream category, the cereal category, or our personal favourite - the juice category.
Category management is all about analysing data to understand why people buy a particular category and brand, and how to get them to buy more.
If you have ever wondered what happens to all the information from your loyalty cards, and think you would get a buzz from using data to help answer business questions, this could be the role for you.
As our category assistant you’ll be in charge of the businesses regular reporting, tracking our sales performance and doing analysis to answer specific business questions, such as what time of year do our drinks perform best and when should we shout about them?
You'll have
- Great Excel skills: comfortable with pivot tables, formulae and functions.
- Strong attention to detail: you’ll be able to spot errors in a sea of numbers and identify key trends.
- Experience with Microsoft PowerPoint: confident to create and present data in summary tables, charts and graphs.
- Ability to play as part of a team: you get a buzz from helping others.
- Interest in FMCG and demonstrate an aptitude for understanding retail, supplier and shopper dynamics
- Effective prioritisation skills: able to juggle multiple tasks and deliver on time.
- Be an effective communicator and networker as you’ll need to attend internal meetings to discuss big projects, get a wider business context, and to share some of your work.
- A desire to get involved: we’ve got loads of fun things always going on and opportunities to help out other teams (think social media, events etc).
You'll get
- We're committed to paying the London living wage of £28,357 a year (the fixed amount for placement).
- To experience our great work culture with flexible/hybrid working.
- Lots of great training to develop you for your future careers.
- To work within a fun and high performing team.
- To understand how the country’s leading juice business really ticks.
- To make a real difference with your work eg. presenting in front of different stakeholders and influence the businesses decisions.
- Exposure to a variety of fun and interesting projects.
- A chance to join lots of clubs such as sports teams or cheese club.
- All the free smoothies you can drink.
We want innocent to be a great place to work, so we do lots of stuff to make people feel at home and try to make sure everyone’s career is shaping up the way they want it to. There are plenty of opportunities to have a go at something new or take things further.
In exchange for helping us do business in the right way, you’ll get a solid rewards package that includes a salary (phew), private healthcare, a target-based bonus, and a bunch of other nice things like a day off on your birthday. And yes, you get free smoothies.
We also know that not all our drinkers come from the same background, or think the same – so why should we? At innocent, we want to be a great place to work where a diverse bunch of people from all backgrounds can turn up and thrive. When we hire, we want all the juice, bits, and pulp that make you who you are.
Even if you don’t think you can tick all the boxes, if the job sounds right for you, come and throw your hat in the ring.
Probably best to get your skates on though, as we might close this early if we get loads of applications.