Job Description
Fresh Kitchen is currently recruiting for a Quality Manager to join the team onsite in Bicester on a 12-month fixed-term contract.
As Quality Manager, you will oversee the technical management of Fresh Kitchen and M&J Seafood, ensuring compliance with food safety, quality, hygiene, and legal standards through effective implementation, monitoring, and auditing of the Quality Management Systems (QMS). You will drive continuous improvement and enforce due diligence systems via regular audits, providing technical support and advice to the site team to ensure consistent system implementation.
You will manage supplier quality to ensure food safety, quality, and legal compliance in supplier/raw material approval, product setup, and incoming material quality control. Additionally, you will support the management of MSC, ASC, and BRC certification standards, ensuring ongoing adherence to quality, GMP, hygiene, and pest control requirements.
Your responsibilities also include conducting raw material intake checks, overseeing traceability and labelling accuracy, coordinating sample testing for internal and external assessments, and analyzing results for trends to maintain high product standards.
Key accountabilities:
* Continuously improve and enforce QMS through audits, technical support, and consistent system implementation.
* Support customer, regulatory, and third-party audits (BRC, MSC, ASC) and ensure compliance with quality, GMP, hygiene, pest control, and legal standards.
* Manage non-conformance investigations, complaints, raw material intake checks, traceability, labelling, and environmental monitoring.
* Maintain QMS documentation, review artwork and labels, manage product specifications, and coordinate internal/external sample testing including sensory and shelf-life assessments.
* Promote a food safety culture, manage product traceability and recall processes, and support food safety training.
* Develop and monitor internal audit programs, oversee the Quality Controller, and ensure effective communication with customers, suppliers, and production teams.
* Conduct specification reviews, product quality assessments, and data management using Assure and Nutritics; analyze KPIs and quality data for continuous improvement.
* Lead allergen management initiatives and support new product development and technical projects.
* Ensure compliance with health & safety standards, including PPE use, and lead by example.
About you:
To succeed in this role, you must hold a full clean driver’s license, have a Food Science or Technology degree (or equivalent), and ideally be HACCP Level 3 certified and an Internal/Lead Auditor qualified. Experience in high-risk manufacturing and seafood, including food safety and quality requirements, is essential. Knowledge of relevant food safety legislation, QMS, BRC standards, and audits is also required. Excellent communication skills, customer focus, organization, and effective project management skills are key. You should demonstrate tenacity, a desire to see tasks through to completion, strong planning and organizational skills, and high attention to detail. Previous experience with recipe management systems, developing and reviewing specifications, and artwork approval would be desirable.
What we offer:
* A competitive salary
* Pension scheme
* Generous holiday allowance of 25 days, with options to purchase additional holidays plus bank holidays
* Huge discounts on food and award-winning products through our staff shop
* Discounts on cinema tickets, shopping, and cashback on purchases through Sodexo
* Recognition awards and incentives
* Real career opportunities — being part of Sysco, the world’s leading foodservice business, opens a world of possibilities.
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