Communication and People Management skills

• Ability to lead, motivate and develop a team of professional technologists
• Coordinate with all departments and managers and represent the team at senior management and Group level
• Influence decision making to ensure food safety and quality needs of the business are being met
• Ensure that the company is kept aware of legislative & customer constraints on the business and any standards in terms of quality and food safety and integrity are adhered to

Department Management
• Incorporating Group KPI targets and objectives into Plant system and ensure they are measured, monitored, and achieved
• Ensure effective communications of customer requirements to the Operations team and ensuring their compliance
• Work with the Innovation team for the successful launch of new products into production, and for product and process improvement projects
• Budget Controls – Agree and manage the annual budget for the department
• Strategic review of technical information- review of results and trends, analysis of same and action, taking appropriate actions when required to ensure criteria met and to make improvements to the process, plant and systems as necessary
• Champion training and development of staff in the areas of food safety or quality, for example: Induction, Hygiene & Cleaning, Food Hygiene, HACCP, Allergen Awareness, Taste Panel training
• Lead the implementation of plant wide Process & Quality System Improvements, working with the relevant departments to ensure multi-disciplinary approach
• Recognise and implement opportunities for Quality improvement in both manufacturing and business processes

QMS & HACCP Systems
• Lead the site HACCP team, challenging processes food safety systems and maintaining and reviewing the plan as required
• Lead the site TACCP team, challenging the integrity of all systems from a vulnerability and food defence perspective
• Ensuring that the procedures, process documentation and systems in use comply with customer and best practice requirements, maintaining and reviewing when driven by
improvement, audit and customer requirements etc
• Responsible for the implementation of the internal audit programme to ensure Quality System Compliance
• Leading the management of external audits for food safety and quality audits for customers, governing bodies (e.g., BRC, DAFM and their representatives, M&S, Tesco, Waitrose (Retail) Greencore, 2SFG (Manufacture), Brake Bros, Yum Brands (Foodservice))

Customer Management and Service
• Implement and maintain detailed specifications and quality standards for all finished products, knowledge of various software programmes used by customers required (Micros, Hamilton Grant, FIND, etc)
• Ensure that internal specifications for the factory are developed and maintained
• Responsibility for the management of queries or complaints from customers in a timely manner, involving other teams where needed
• Meet with customers and represent the company’s technical expertise when needed as part of customer service or as part of investigation of issues
• Be a key member of the business development team, helping to forge new relationships and build on existing ones

Supplier Management
• Ensure the supplier management process is maintained with detailed specification, risk assessment, audit and approval records for all raw material, packaging or miscellaneous suppliers and complies with customer and best practice requirements
• Review and evaluate suppliers to give feedback on performance and quality on a frequency that reflects their risk, size, and complexity
• Travel to conduct supplier audits as necessary as part of new approval, ongoing review or in response to issues
• Manage the approval of new raw material, packaging, or miscellaneous suppliers
• Keep buying team appraised of supplier behaviours / quality of service / goods as part of review

Tester Programmes
• Ensure raw material, process and finished product evaluation, validation and verification is completed as required within production, leading the team to solve issues as they arise
• Risk assess and lead implementation of microbiological, chemical, and physical testing schedules in accordance with agreed programme
• Deal with non-conformances (internal and external) and drive root cause analysis in a timely and comprehensive fashion, involving all relevant disciplines, and using learnings to drive continuous improvement
• Management of quarantined product, ensuring product traceability and safety is maintained
• Shelf-life analysis management as required for ambient, chilled, and frozen products