Are you a career-driven Technical or Quality professional ready to take the next step? We're recruiting on behalf of a well-established food manufacturer in the East Midlands, known for producing a wide range of high-quality products for major UK customers. They're now looking to appoint an Assistant Technical Manager-a key hire that sits at the heart of the site's Technical team and forms part of the business's succession planning. This position reports directly to the Senior Technical Manager and comes with a clear development path into a Technical Manager role. What makes this opportunity stand out? You'll be joining the flagship site of a well-invested food group, producing a wide variety of high-quality products for major UK customers. You'll lead and support site-wide food safety and quality systems, while also managing key relationships with customers and internal stakeholders. The business is focused on internal development and ready to invest in someone who wants to take the next step. What You'll Be Doing: Lead and develop the QA team, building capability and driving smart working practices. Own and maintain the site-specific Quality Management System (HACCP, TACCP, allergen management, internal audits, non-conformance, etc.). Represent the site during customer audits and confidently manage technical relationships. Support the NPD process, attending factory trials and launches to ensure a smooth transition into production. Monitor quality KPIs and complaints, identifying trends and implementing effective improvements. Collaborate across departments to embed a strong food safety and quality culture. What you'll need: Experience in food manufacturing technical/QA roles, with strong knowledge of BRCGS and retailer COPs. Strong working knowledge of BRCGS, food safety legislation, and retailer COPs. Experience managing or developing a QA team. HACCP Level 3, TACCP trained, and ideally a Food Science degree. Confident communicator who enjoys customer interaction and team development. Ambitious, curious, and keen to grow into a Technical Manager role. As you know over here at Zest we like to do things properly and always want to keep you, the candidate in the loop. Applying to this 'one of a kind' role you give Zest permission to hold your information. If you want to know more about how Zest look after your personal information please visit our privacy policy on the website (url removed)