A leading food manufacturing business is seeking an experienced Hygiene Manager to take ownership of site‑wide hygiene operations and drive the highest standards of food safety, quality and compliance across a high‑volume production environment.
This is a key leadership role, responsible for developing and delivering robust cleaning and sanitation strategies, ensuring audit readiness, and safeguarding product integrity across a complex, fast‑paced site. You’ll lead a dedicated hygiene team, shape long‑term hygiene programmes, and support day‑to‑day operational delivery.
The role is based on‑site in Cambridgeshire, operating Monday–Friday within standard office hours. While there is no weekend working expectation, the site runs 24/7, so visibility across all shifts is required.
What you’ll be doing
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Lead, motivate and develop the Hygiene Team, driving high performance and accountability.
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Own hygiene KPIs and deliver improvements across H&S, GMP, training, labour planning and CI.
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Ensure all cleaning, sanitation, allergen controls, validations and verifications meet the requirements of:
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BRCGS Food Safety
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FSSC 22000 (future implementation)
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Internal Cleaning & Sanitation Standards
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Act as the operational hygiene lead during internal and external audits (BRC, customer, FSSC, EHO).
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Build a strong service culture, ensuring production areas consistently receive equipment and environments cleaned to specification.
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Support new equipment introductions, factory upgrades and hygienic design improvements.
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Work cross‑functionally with Engineering, Technical and Planning to ensure equipment cleanliness, availability and reliability.
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Lead gap analyses against internal sanitation standards and ensure actions are prioritised and closed.
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Drive continuous improvement, embedding a Kaizen approach across hygiene operations.
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Develop improved cleaning methods (wet, dry, foam), validation processes and sanitation documentation.
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Promote a strong food safety and allergen‑control culture across the site.
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Coach, train and develop team members, ensuring capability and succession.
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Partner with agency providers to maintain an efficient and engaged hygiene workforce.
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Lead regular communication and briefings to align teams to short‑, mid‑ and long‑term plans.
Who you are
Essential
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Experienced Hygiene Manager (or equivalent) within food manufacturing.
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Strong working knowledge of:
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BRCGS Food Safety
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FSSC 22000
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HACCP
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Allergen management
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Hygienic design
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Cleaning validation & verification
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Confident leading teams in a high‑care, high‑risk or fast‑paced FMCG environment.
Desirable
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Experience delivering compliance standards or large‑scale sanitation gap analyses.
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Knowledge of hygiene‑related construction, upgrades or project work