We are looking for a Technical Manager to coordinate and maintain the activities required to ensure all Bigham’s food is safe and legal Responsible for promoting and driving improvements to the site food safety culture A key member of the site leadership team responsible for driving technical agenda and exceptional quality standards in the kitchen Main Responsibilities Key Aspects of Job: Working in the areas listed below with the site leadership team, managers and other cross-functional teams to ensure our food is kept delicious, safe and legal, supporting innovation and developing a collaborative empowered technical team. GENERAL TASKS: Site leadership team member responsible for driving technical & quality agenda across the business Responsible for food safety as well as promoting and developing food safety culture Champion quality strategy and build buy in cross functionally to drive continuous improvement in our food PRODUCTION RELATED Responsible for promoting the QA culture through auditing, training and development of our operations team. Responsible supporting GMP program including improvements in GMP scores for the site working in collaboration with production Responsible for compliance on non-conformances, concessions and extensions as well as driving continuous improvement on any trends Responsible for translating site QMS into working practices in production, ensuring that these are trained and assessed accordingly to BRC requirements Responsible for instilling best-in-class food safety culture across the kitchen (including support team), including building surveys and actions plans to drive continuous improvements. Responsible for supporting production to drive initiatives on “best of both (BOB)” material waste and labour improvements where quality isn’t at risk SUPPLIERS Work with procurement and Central Technical Team to ensure supplier quality strategy is managed accordingly on site Ensure all raw materials used on site have specifications in place and have been signed off before use. Responsible for supporting all BOB activity linked to the delicious food meeting (DFM) on supplier cost saving initiatives NFD Work with NFD to ensure that recipe change process is diligently followed for all associated change projects Technical lead on artwork approvals for all EFD activity TECHNICAL TEAM: Responsible for the management and development of the technical team driving improvements in GPTW engagement scores Responsible for leading site quality and technical KPI’s to agreed targets Responsible for leading site BRC audits and delivering consistent high standards so the kitchen is audit ready at any time Responsible for site quality systems and documentation to the required standard. Being the HACCP team leader - responsible for maintaining and improving safety standards across the kitchen Responsible for food safety strategy and driving improvements in food safety culture Responsible for Quality strategy building cross-functional alignments on projects to drive exceptional quality standards Lead and drive key quality projects First response team lead for site and associated incident management team involvement for any incidents Escalation cover for out of normal hours including some weekends on a rota (phone only) Food Safety, Legality, Integrity and Quality Responsibilities Responsible for ensuring food safety, legality, integrity and quality is not compromised and site procedures are followed during day-to-day activities. For ensuring that site processes and procedures comply to all external safety, legality and integrity requirements and company quality requirements The Ideal Candidate EXPERIENCE 5 / 6 Years plus experience in Food Manufacturing, specifically within Technical/Food Safety Experience in Ready Meals advantageous Management of teams QUALIFICATIONS Food science/technology related degree IT proficient (Microsoft office and Windows environment) HACCP Level 3 Food Safety Level 3 Internal audit or lead auditor trained SKILLS Excellent communication skills and people skills (line management preferred) Excellent time-keeping and organisational skills Ability to prioritise duties to complete tasks efficiently in a timely manner Attention to detail Flexibility and ability to work in a fast-changing environment Available to work outside of normal hours and bank holidays if required Clear and concise written skills Ability to be proactive and drive improvement ATTRIBUTES Cultural fit with Bigham’s extolling our virtues of passion & pride, respect, goal focussed, collaboration and daring Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate at all levels Maintain confidentiality Ability to work independently, prioritising and organising work load to ensure that key tasks are completed to specified deadlines Ability to work under pressure and cope with stressful situations Ability to identify and articulate procedures to improve and put forward ideas accordingly A good team player