Technical Manager (Food Manufacturing)

Job Introduction

As Technical Manager you’ll ensure the safety, quality and legality of all products supplied by Tillery Valley, through the consistent delivery and continual improvement of site standards, whilst working to reduce waste, minimise environmental impact and drive a zero harm health & safety culture.

You’ll also drive improvements and cost savings whilst developing a robust succession and staff development program for the technical, QA and hygiene teams across site.

Part of Sodexo, a global facilities business, Tillery Valley Foods Limited, is the UK’s leading producer of chilled and frozen prepared meals to the UK healthcare sector covering the complete menu requirement in hospitals, care homes and home services. We also work with clients in the education, local authority and food service markets.

Role Responsibility

• Monitor and drive compliance across the site with all aspects of food safety, quality and legality
• Lead and manage the technical, QA and hygiene teams; driving performance to ensure the highest quality service is delivered to the business
• Manage all aspects of the quality management system, HACCP and GMP auditing
• Act as first point of contact for external agencies such as EHO, TSO, and certification bodies
• Drive continuous improvement in technical and customer KPI’s – including customer complaints, microbiological performance, adherence to specification
• Act as a first level decision–maker for product and process non-conformances ensuring senior management are informed of key issues in a timely manner
• Establish and develop strong relationships with suppliers to deliver consistent vendor assurance; conduct compliance audits to monitor performance
• Ensure all quality and microbiological analysis is conducted in accordance with testing schedules and all results are reviewed against specification and responded to in an appropriate manner
• Manage the waste budget and oversee the waste management practices on site - segregation, storage and removal of all waste.

The Ideal Candidate

• Educated to degree level in a food or science-related discipline
• Competent professional with proven experience of managing and leading a technical team within a high risk food manufacturing environment
• Working knowledge of BRC, ISO standards, MSC
• Qualified to HACCP Level 3, Food hygiene level 4 and internal auditor trained
• Strong leader with proven experience of driving improvements in site standards
• Experience of budget management and reporting
• Proven experience of managing waste segregation and recycling services
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to engage and motivate staff at all levels.

Package Description

As part of our commitment to improving the quality of life for our employees, Sodexo offers a Flexible Benefits Scheme, allowing you to tailor a reward package to suit your needs but includes a technology scheme, private dental insurance, travel insurance, gym membership, Gourmet card, private medical insurance and the ability to purchase or sell annual leave. We also have a Sodexo Discount scheme, which offers employees and their friends and family the opportunity to benefit from over 1,200 discounts from top retailers both online and in-store.

Band B - Competitive salary, plus benefits you would associate with a leading global services organisation - including flexible benefit fund, (healthcare, dental plan etc.), bonus and pension scheme

40 hours per week, predominantly 9am-5pm with occasional changes to shifts as required by the business. Flexibility is a must.                   

About the Company

In the UK and Ireland, Tillery Valley Foods employs some 400 employees to deliver chilled and frozen prepared meals to hospitals, care homes and local authority premises. Established 31 years ago, the company feeds 1,500,000 vulnerable people every week, at more than 200 sites from it’s own production site based in Wales.

Tillery Valley is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sodexo UK Ltd; which in turn is part of one of the largest integrated facilities management companies in the world. It provides services to clients at over 2,000 locations in the corporate, healthcare, education, leisure, defence and justice sectors within the UK.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process.