Are you a food scientist with practical experience in food retail and/or manufacturing? Do you want to join a dynamic company and support our growth with your technical expertise and eye for quality?

Bayley & Sage is growing, and we currently have an exciting opportunity for a Technical Manager to join our team based in SW London.

We are retailers of premium fresh food. We prepare our own range of salads, sandwiches, dips, soups, meal pots and breakfast pots and ready meals in our in-house Production Kitchen. We currently supply freshly prepared meals and ready to eat items to 13 Bayley & Sage stores, which will require a more focused approach to quality and technical management in our business. We are also growing our range of own label products procured through our supplier base.

About the role

Reporting to the Commercial Director, the purpose of this role is to manage the day to day food safety of all products through the development, implementation and ongoing management of robust, food safety and quality systems. You will ensure that our sites meet the legal and regulatory requirements as well as customer and industry standards in Food Safety and Quality Management, and to ensure audit-ready standards every day. You will work together with the Production, Operations, Logistics and Buying teams to ensure due diligence is carried out and we are compliant with all relevant legislation and regulations. You will act as principal contact for the EHO and all food regulatory matters including HACCP, all external audits and labelling for allergens, and you will lead on the implementation of Natasha's Law for the business. You will also be responsible for ensuring that a food safety culture is fostered throughout the company.

Key Responsibilities

Accountable for Quality and Food Safety across the estate, ensuring full compliance with Company Quality, Food Safety, Legal, Health & Safety and Environmental requirements.

To ensure all our sites meet the legal and regulatory requirements as well as customer and industry standards in Food Safety and Quality Management, and to ensure audit-ready standards every day

Work together with Production, Operations and buying teams to ensure we deliver the right quality and standards every time, without compromise

To ensure all instore labelling requirements are delivered effectively and are compliant with regulations pertaining to retail food law

To control all sites quality activities in line with technical, operational, financial and other targets

To support the technical requirements of any sister companies where technical support is required on a formal or ad hoc basis as required

To ensure our food safety culture is maintained by achieving the right balance between organisational needs and providing the safest, highest quality products for our customers

About you

Experience in a senior technical role in food manufacturing, retail or service
People management experience
HACCP/Pest Control experience
Budget management
Systematic problem solving
Influencing and challenging
Ability to manage customers and enforcement authorities
You will have a Food science/Food technology background or equivalent qualification.
Site technical experience in a food manufacturing business would be desirable e.g. RTE, Fresh produce, FMCG, food to go etc., as well as a working knowledge of Retail and Food Service technical standards and shelf life extending techniques such as sous vide, MAP and pasteurisation.
Customer-facing experience working with own-branded, high quality products prepared directly for the customer would be ideal and a background working with NPD would be a great advantage.
You will also have retail experience (desirable) and microbiology and analysis experience (desirable)
You will have excellent interpersonal and communication skills as well as a good understanding of Microsoft packages, in particular working with Office 365 (Excel, SharePoint, PPT)
You will ideally be qualified to HACCP and Food Safety Level 4
Health and Safety knowledge (desirable)

What we offer

Basic salary, up to 45 K depending on experience

Pension scheme

28 days holiday

40% store discount

Bayley & Sage is committed to building an inclusive and diverse workforce. We believe a diverse team is a successful team. We want to offer opportunities to people from all backgrounds irrespective of age, disability, gender and transgender status, race and ethnicity, religion and belief (including no belief), marriage or civil partnership status or sexual orientation. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of background.