Role: Head Of Food Safety Location: London, SE1 0EN (1 day working from home).
Hours: Full-Time / Permanent
Salary: Competitive + Bonus Scheme
About the role…
Join LEON as our Head of Safety and Technical.
In this role, you’ll shape the safety and quality of our food for our UK grocery business and Restaurants in the UK and Europe. You'll confidently lead a talented team to develop and deliver LEON’s safety systems and embed a culture of continuous improvement, best practice and resilience.
If you're an experienced technical and food safety expert with an appetite for fast-paced, values-driven work —we want to hear from you!
About LEON…
At LEON we want to make it easy for everyone to eat and live well. We serve naturally fast food that’s good for you and kind to the planet. Where does it say in the rule book that fast food can’t be good for you?
Duties & Responsibilities:
Safety & Compliance
Develop and lead LEON’s company-wide food safety, quality, and compliance standards.
Set safety and technical policies and procedures, ensuring they are future-fit, scalable, and aligned with regulatory and industry best practice.
Be the key point of contact for external regulators, Primary Authority, auditors, and legal food safety matters.
Restaurant Food Safety
Oversee food safety, hygiene, health & safety, pest control, and allergen processes across all LEON restaurants.
Manage and refine our internal and external audit programmes, embedding accountability and action plans at every level.
Champion food safety culture across restaurants, supporting General Managers and Ops teams with training, insights, and coaching.
Supplier and Specification Management
Collaborate with NPD and Operations to ensure new products, ingredients, and processes are safe and deliverable by the operations team.
Lead supplier technical approval and ongoing compliance, including onboarding, auditing, and performance management.
Own the technical integrity of product specifications — ensuring our food meets all safety, nutritional, allergen, and customer-facing requirements.
Build and maintain strong, values-led relationships with suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors.
Oversee technical governance for LEON’s grocery product range — including food safety, packaging compliance, labelling, claims, and retailer standards.
Act as the gatekeeper for all food and non-food products, ensuring robust technical approval processes are in place from development to launch and then maintained.
Candidate Requirements:
At least 5 years of senior-level experience in a food safety, technical, or quality assurance role.
A strong background in food service, retail, or manufacturing.
Expertise in HACCP, QMS, GFSI, allergen management, food safety legislation, and ethical sourcing.
Lead Auditor certification (or equivalent) and hands-on auditing experience.
Strong people management and development skills.
Excellent communication and influencing skills.
Strong systems, reporting, and data analysis capabilities.
Passion for food and sustainability.
Flexibility to travel across the UK and Europe as required.
Benefits & Rewards:
~ Competitive Salary & Performance Based Bonus Scheme
~33 Days Holiday (including bank holidays)
~1 Day Work from Home
~ Bupa Healthcare
~ Company Pension
~ Casual Dress
~ Employee Life Assurance
~ ASDA Discount Card - 10% off all ASDA stores
~ Smart Health - 24/7 online GP access, health checks and health and wellbeing support
~ Employee Assistance Programme - access to our Wellbeing Centre which offers emotional & practical support including free financial advice
~ Learning & Development - access to our Learning Hub, the most extensive online course library in the world to support you with every step of your career
~ Free Eye Test
~ As much LEON food as you can eat, plus 60% food discount for your friends & family when you’re not working
About LEON…
At LEON, we are on a mission to revolutionise fast food. Where does it say in the rule book that fast food can’t be good for you? LEON was founded because we wanted to prove that it was possible to offer food that is both delicious and nutritious! The goal is to make it easy for people to eat well on the high street, and we aspire to achieve this in every major city worldwide!