Senior Agronomist and Resillience Lead

We’re reshaping our Food business to broaden its appeal, protecting the magic our customers love while modernising everything else. That means outstanding quality, high sourcing standards, and market-leading innovation remain at our core, while we transform our supply chains, improve our stores, and deliver better value. We’re looking for motivated people ready to bring their whole self to work and thrive in a fast-paced, ambitious team. After all, this isn’t just food… this is M&S Food.

As Senior Agronomist and Resilience Lead, you'll take ownership of the agronomy approach to resilience across Produce, working with category teams, growers, suppliers and technical specialists to drive best practice and influence future strategy. You'll be responsible for leading key technical workstreams, supporting category resilience plans and representing Produce within wider resilience projects across the business.

Alongside resilience leadership, you'll own a category supply base, helping to shape sourcing, varietal and innovation plans that support quality, consistency and availability. Working closely with suppliers and growers, you'll use your technical expertise and industry knowledge to deliver solutions that support both customer expectations and business objectives.

This role will suit an experienced agronomist who enjoys combining technical expertise with strategic influence, building strong partnerships and leading work that has visibility across multiple teams and disciplines.

Due to high interest, this role may close earlier than advertised. We recommend applying as soon as possible.

What you'll do

  • Lead the Produce resilience agenda, shaping strategy, influencing decision making and helping embed resilience principles across the supply chain.
  • Own a category supply base, developing trusted partnerships with suppliers and growers to deliver exceptional quality, consistency and availability.
  • Drive sourcing, varietal and innovation plans that support long term category performance and keep quality at the heart of the customer offer.
  • Collaborate with commercial, technical and category teams to solve challenges, identify opportunities and deliver key business objectives.
  • Represent Produce within wider resilience programmes and across the industry, bringing expert agronomy insight to strategic discussions and decisions.

Who you are

  • Bring a degree level technical qualification or significant relevant industry experience within the food sector.
  • Combine strong agronomy expertise with a sound understanding of horticultural production and grower relationships.
  • Influence, engage and build credibility with a wide range of internal and external partners.
  • Develop strong supplier and grower partnerships that create value for customers and the business.
  • Understand customer needs, brand values and the commercial importance of sustainable supply.

What's in it for you?

Working at M&S means being part of something bigger, helping to deliver quality, value and service to millions of customers every day. We’re inclusive, fast-moving and always evolving, with a strong sense of purpose and a focus on doing the right thing.

Here are just a few of the benefits that make working here even more rewarding:

  • 20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation
  • Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more
  • Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours
  • Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future
  • Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one
  • Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal
  • Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave
  • 24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services
  • One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you

Everyone’s welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together.

If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.

#LI-DNI

#Hybrid

Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

No other job posts for this day.

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...