Product Strategy & Ideation Senior Specialist

Tony’s Chocolonely is committed to ending exploitation in cocoa. We are an impact company that makes chocolate, not a chocolate company that makes impact. Through Tony's Open Chain (TOC), mission allies like Albert Heijn, Ben & Jerry's, Jokolade, and Aldi have embraced a fairer, more transparent supply chain for their chocolate too.

Job description

We are seeking a Product Strategy & Ideation Senior Specialist to lead the "what’s next" for a defined product segment within our global portfolio. In this role, you will own a strategic area, for example seasonals or snacking, and shape its future direction. You will explore where the biggest opportunities lie, identify what consumers will be excited about in the coming years, and turn those insights into a roadmap that guides Tony’s growth.

You will be immersed in insights, trends, data and cultural shifts, translating them into ideas with real potential. From there, you develop these early sparks into sharp, inspiring concepts that feel exciting for consumers and meaningful for the brand. You are the link between the upstream strategic exploration and the downstream execution: ensuring ideas are insight-led, commercially viable and creatively strong.

You collaborate closely with the R&D team, shaping territories and pushing thinking further. Once a concept becomes a project, you work with Project Managers who are in the driving seat throughout the execution phase. You monitor progress and safeguard the core of the concept, ensuring the final product delivers on the original intent while embracing practical constraints.

This role is central to keeping our innovation funnel healthy and future-focused. Your strategic vision, consumer-first approach and ability to turn ambiguity into clarity will help Tony’s deliver tasty, surprising, on‑trend products and packaging that strengthen the brand and drive commercial success. You will be part of a sub-team of four and report to the Product Strategy & Ideation Manager.

All wrapped up, in this role you will

• Identify long-term consumer-led growth territories for your assigned product segment by leveraging insights, data and market trends.
• Create a multi-year product vision and strategy that strengthens Tony’s brand, consumer relevance and commercial performance.
• Build an insight-led innovation funnel with concepts that delight consumers and deliver a triple win for the consumer, the category and Tony’s.
• Translate early ideas into sharp concepts with clear insights, benefits, claims, price points, flavours or ranges and visual direction, supported by a top-down business case.
• Prioritise and refine concepts, aligned with the product roadmap and resource availability.
• Maintain strong collaboration with markets to ensure concepts meet local needs and have strong commercial potential.
• Monitor project execution while Project Managers lead the process, ensuring the golden thread of the concept stays intact.
• Support timely, as agreed and on-budget delivery by contributing to decisions on proposition, product samples, packaging and naming.
• Collaborate with Brand and Creative teams on packaging, campaign briefs and storytelling elements that bring the concept to life.
• Analyse the existing portfolio to identify improvements, renovation opportunities or potential delists, and transition agreed changes to the Delivery team.
• Foster excellent cross-functional collaboration and advocate for the work of the Product Strategy & Ideation team across the organisation.

Job requirements

Our new flavour

• 7+ years of experience in Product Strategy, Innovation, Category Management or Brand Management within FMCG, preferably food.
• Proven experience building product strategies and roadmaps using data, insights and trends.
• Ability to move from insight to idea to concept, translating thinking into actionable, commercially strong propositions.
• Strong analytical mindset with the ability to work with tools like Nielsen, Kantar or PowerBI and to translate data into clear business cases, including target cost prices and margin expectations.
• Excellent communication, storytelling, stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Strategic thinking paired with the ability to roll up your sleeves and get practical when needed.
• Passion for brilliance and innovation balanced with respect for reality and potential financial and manufacturing constraints.
• Eagerness to work in a fast-paced scaleup environment and deal smoothly with the changes that come with a growing company.
• Data-driven decision-maker who utilizes data to identify areas of improvement and make objective, informed decisions.
• Believe wholeheartedly in Tony’s purpose.

Our benefits (the icing on the cake)

At Tony's you will get the opportunity to be part of something extraordinary; first and foremost, by making real impact in the world but also enjoying the nice benefits we provide as you help us succeed. We’re dedicated to enabling all Tonys to grow and develop their careers and therefore we offer training programs, regular feedback cycles, coaching and a generous L&D budget. We also offer a wide range of additional benefits, including a luxurious vega-lunch, company bonus, minimum of 28 holidays, inspirational team updates, unforgettable events like the Tony's Carnaval and unlimited chocolate.