Technical Manager

Technical Manager

Location: Kent | Permanent Position

Lead Quality. Drive Excellence. Shape the Future.

Are you an experienced Technical Manager looking for an opportunity to make a genuine impact within a fast-paced food manufacturing environment?

We are seeking a passionate and proactive Technical Manager to join a successful and growing food business. This is a pivotal leadership role, responsible for ensuring the highest standards of food safety, quality, legality, and compliance while driving a culture of continuous improvement across the site.

Reporting directly to the Head of Technical, you'll be the technical lead on site, managing a dedicated team and acting as the key point of escalation for all technical matters. You'll play a crucial role in maintaining customer confidence, delivering audit excellence, and supporting operational success.

What You'll Be Doing

As Technical Manager, you will:

• Lead and maintain the site's Quality and Food Safety Management Systems.
• Champion food safety, quality, legality, and compliance throughout the manufacturing process.
• Lead the HACCP team and ensure robust control measures remain effective and up to date.
• Take ownership of customer, regulatory, and certification audits, including BRC and retailer visits.
• Drive site performance through KPI management, trend analysis, root cause investigations, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Act as the primary escalation point for technical, food safety, and quality issues.
• Manage customer complaints, non-conformances, and out-of-specification investigations, ensuring effective corrective and preventative actions.
• Build strong relationships across Operations, Engineering, Hygiene, NPD, and external stakeholders.
• Develop, coach, and inspire a team of technical and quality professionals.
• Support the Head of Technical and provide leadership cover when required.
• Play a key role in crisis management, risk assessment, and food safety culture programmes.

About You

We're looking for a driven and knowledgeable technical professional who thrives in a challenging manufacturing environment.

You'll ideally have:

• A qualification to HND level or above in Food Technology or a related discipline.
• Proven Technical Management experience within food manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP, food safety, quality systems, and food legislation.
• Experience working with major UK retailers and customer codes of practice.
• A successful track record of leading BRC, customer, and regulatory audits.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong leadership capability with experience managing and developing teams.
• A hands-on approach with a passion for driving standards and continuous improvement.

Experience within chilled food manufacturing or ready meals would be highly advantageous.

Why Apply?

This is an exciting opportunity to join a business where quality and innovation are at the heart of everything they do. You'll have the chance to influence site strategy, lead major improvement initiatives, and develop your career within a supportive and ambitious environment.

If you're a motivated Technical Manager looking for your next challenge, we'd love to hear from you.