Quality Manager – Food Manufacturing
Location: Northampton
Salary: £42,000 per annum
Hours: Mon - Fri 7am -5pm/6am - 4pm
Sector: Chilled Food
A fast-growing, family-run food manufacturer is seeking a proactive Quality Manager to join its on-site technical team. This is a key factory-based role for someone who wants to drive meaningful, daily improvement within a fast-paced chilled environment. You’ll help lead the site toward audit-ready excellence, ensuring all products remain safe, legal, authentic, and consistently high in quality.
The Role
Working as part of a small, supportive technical team, you’ll provide hands-on quality leadership within a busy production site. You will be a central figure in maintaining and elevating standards, supporting major third-party audits, and shaping a strong food safety and quality culture throughout the factory.
Key Responsibilities
Support delivery of successful third-party audits (e.g., BRCGS, Red Tractor, Organic, BMPA).
Ensure the Quality Management System is fully embedded within factory operations.
Drive continuous improvement across hygiene, GMP, fabrication, housekeeping, and finished product quality.
Lead complaint and non-conformance investigations, identifying root causes and driving reductions against KPIs.
Update and improve procedures in line with legislation, customer expectations, and certification requirements.
Conduct internal audits, close out actions, and maintain audit-ready status.
Lead factory tours and customer/third-party audit visits.
Maintain Quality Attribute Sheets to underpin product consistency.
Develop and implement factory Quality Action Plans and quality-focused CI initiatives.
Support supplier performance through raw material monitoring and non-conformance management.
Contribute to the development of QACCP and verify quality controls across all areas.
Coach, develop, and support QA/QC personnel to strengthen capability.
Provide factory-based training on quality and food safety best practice.
Deputise for the Site Technical Manager when required.About You
The successful candidate will be:
Experienced in managing quality within a food manufacturing environment (high-risk chilled experience advantageous).
Confident working in a fast-moving factory setting with the ability to influence behaviours.
Familiar with supplying into retail and foodservice customers.
Experienced in major certification audits and maintaining standards such as BRCGS.
Analytical, organised, and committed to continuous improvement.
Ambitious and on a professional development path toward a future Technical Manager role.
Reliable, proactive, and able to build strong cross-functional relationships.What’s on Offer
Strong exposure to audits, standards, and customer/supplier engagement from the outset.
Opportunities to contribute to site-wide improvement initiatives within a supportive, family-driven culture.
The chance to make a visible impact daily and influence long-term technical standards.If you’d like to shape quality within a growing manufacturing site and thrive in a hands-on, improvement-focused environment, this is an excellent opportunity to take the next step in your technical career