Food & Coffee Developer
Location: Cheltenham (min. 3 days a week)
Reporting to: Director of Food and Coffee
Salary: £36-40,000
Contract Type: Full Time
Job Purpose
To be the Technical lead for the business, ensuring food safety, legality and quality, alongside compliance with customer, legislative, and company requirements. You will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and improving technical systems and standards to ensure operational excellence, continuous improvement, and audit readiness.
Key Responsibilities
* Lead all technical and quality assurance activities across the site.
* Act as the main point of contact for external auditors, regulatory bodies, suppliers and key customers on technical matters.
* Manage and maintain food safety and quality systems, including HACCP, traceability, allergen risk assessments.
* Maintain and manage the technical relationship with our food suppliers, to ensure the safety, quality and legality of all ingredients.
* Ensure every product has an up-to-date specification set and every product specification meets customer and regulatory requirements.
* Responsible for the legality and the updating of all Soho ingredient labels and the published food information, including online platforms, packaging artwork and in store communications to be compliant with Natasha's law.
* Responsible for the legality and accuracy of the allergy matrix, ingredient cards and the publishing of allergen information.
* Manage the nutritional data of all raw materials and finished products.
Required Qualifications and Experience
* Minimum 5 years' experience within a Technical function within the food industry. Retail experience would be preferred
* Expertise of working with a range of different food categories with strong knowledge of UK food regulations
* Qualified to a relevant Food Science, Food Technology or Microbiological degree standard or equivalent
* Level 4 HACCP certified
Skills and Competencies
* Strong communication skills.
* Excellent attention to detail and problem-solving abilities.
* Proactive and solutions-focused mindset.
* Good IT skills (Microsoft Office, QMS platforms).
* Ability to work under pressure and manage multiple priorities.