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Posted 05 August, 2026
Tesco UK

Head of Healthy & Sustainable Diets - 12 month parental leave contract

Tesco UK
Welwyn Garden City Hybrid Full Time
Reference: 198166
About the role

This is a fantastic opportunity to join Tesco as Head of Healthy & Sustainable Diets on a 12-month parental leave cover contract, leading the development and delivery of Tesco Group's ambitious Healthy & Sustainable Diets strategy.

Working at the heart of the business, you'll partner with senior stakeholders across Categories, Customer, Insight, Communications and international markets to shape and champion a strategy that helps millions of customers make healthier and more sustainable choices every day.

In this high-profile leadership role, you'll be responsible for bringing the strategy to life across the organisation, driving engagement, influencing business-wide priorities, and ensuring progress against key goals and commitments is effectively measured and communicated. You'll play a pivotal role in accelerating Tesco's impact and maintaining our position as a leader in health and sustainability.

Reporting to the Group Sustainability Director and serving as an integral member of the Sustainability Leadership Team, you'll have the opportunity to make a lasting impact on customers, communities and the future of food.

What is in it for you
We’re all about the little helps. That’s why we make sure our Tesco colleague benefits package takes care of you – both in and out of work. Click Here to find out more!
  • Annual bonus scheme of up to 45% of base salary.
  • Car Cash Allowance.
  • Holiday starting at 25 days plus a personal day (plus Bank holidays).
  • Private medical insurance.
  • Retirement savings plan - save between 6% - 10% and Tesco will contribute 1.5 times this amount.
  • 26 weeks maternity and adoption leave (12 months service required at the qualifying date) at full pay, followed by 13 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Statutory Adoption Pay, we also offer 6 weeks fully paid paternity leave.
The above information is a shortened summary, refer to our policies for full details
You will be responsible for
Developing the short, medium and long term strategy and action plan for healthy and sustainable (H&S) diets.

  • Continuing to drive the healthy diets shift including developing the short, medium and long term strategy and action plans alongside the wider Group strategy
  • Bringing sustainable diets more into the plans including the short, medium and long term strategy alongside healthy diets
  • Engagement and communication of strategy across the business.
  • Influencing across the business in order to ensure HS Diets is a key priority where relevant.
  • Leading a cross functional team to deliver our Healthy Sales target and wider H&S diets strategy and plan.
  • Ensuring all teams across the business have access to the information and data they need in order to build, forecast, deliver and measure their plans.
  • Supporting group to build health data and measurement solutions for their markets.
  • Reviewing and communicating progress against the strategy.
  • Engaging with external stakeholders regarding our H&S Diets strategy, plans and progress, eg, investors, charity partners, foundations, academia, industry partners, suppliers.
  • Disclosing accurate progress reports against our external commitments
  • Oversight of the nutrition standards and additives requirements we work to on own brand
  • Oversight of the ingredient and innovation pipeline
  • Developing the team in line with Tesco's Winning Behaviours


You will need
  • Strong people leadership experience, with a proven ability to build, develop and motivate high-performing teams.
  • Experience creating and delivering large-scale strategic plans that drive measurable business and customer outcomes.
  • Strong analytical skills, with experience using customer, market and performance data to shape strategy and inform decision-making.
  • A track record of successfully leading cross-functional teams and influencing senior stakeholders in a complex organisation.
  • Excellent communication and engagement skills, with the ability to bring colleagues on a journey and drive alignment behind a shared vision.
  • The ability to balance strategic thinking with practical execution to deliver meaningful impact.
About us
You might know us as a supermarket, technology company or even for our award-winning mobile network. Truth is, we’re all of those things, and much more. Our colleagues work with one goal in mind, helping to make every day a little better for our customers, colleagues and communities all over the world. No two customers are the same, neither are our colleagues.
At Tesco, we champion a balance that lets you thrive both in and out of work. Spend 60% of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely. Whether you're just kicking off your career, juggling passions, or navigating big life events, we're here to support you. We always welcome a conversation about flexible working, so talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.
We're proud to be an accredited Disability Confident Leader, where everyone’s welcome. That’s why we commit to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you need support with your application, click here  for more information. And if you're interested in joining our team but don't tick every box, don't let that hold you back from applying.