S&A Produce is one of the UK’s largest independent strawberry growers. The Group, which also has berry-growing operations overseas, uses modern and innovative growing techniques to drive and support its year-round soft fruit business, supplying the country’s leading food retailers.
At our main packaging facility in Marden, Herefordshire, we store, pack, and distribute around 30 million units of UK-grown and imported produce each year. Our products are picked, graded, packaged, and delivered to customers within 24 hours, ensuring they remain as fresh, tasty, and natural as possible.
We are excited to offer the following permanent vacancy within our Marden Packhouse for an enthusiastic individual looking to join our dynamic and growing team:
Blueberry Line Manager
As a Blueberry Line Manager, you will be responsible for efficiently managing the grading and packing of blueberries to optimize performance and stock utilization. The role focuses on maintaining high efficiency within a hygienic, safe, and quality-focused production environment, ensuring compliance with food safety standards and meeting customer expectations.
The key responsibilities for this role are:
- Operate and monitor blueberry grading equipment to maximize raw material efficiency and minimize waste, while supervising a small team to ensure smooth, consistent operations
- Carry out regular checks and maintenance of equipment, promptly reporting any faults or performance issues to the production manager.
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date records related to production, quality, food safety, and equipment checks in line with company policies.
- Manage line performance against set KPIs.
- Always follow and promote best practices in hygiene, food safety, and health and safety standards.
The successful candidate will demonstrate the following skills and experience:
- Ability to work in a fast-paced food manufacturing and packing environment.
- Strong attention to detail with the ability to spot product defects and ensure compliance with specifications.
- A dynamic and flexible work ethic to react to high-volume seasonal demands.
- Good communication and teamwork skills to work effectively with production, QA, and technical teams.
- Basic mechanical understanding for troubleshooting minor equipment issues.
- Understanding of food safety, hygiene, and health and safety standards.
- Computer literacy for scanning and reporting tasks.
The role will operate on a 4-day-on, 3-day-off rotation. Working shifts are Wednesday - Saturday / Sunday - Wednesday; some flexibility may be offered within this structure.
Due to the nature of our industry, the suitable candidate must be willing to have a flexible approach to hours at the busiest times of year.
Job Types: Full-time, Permanent
Pay: £15.00 per hour
Benefits:
- Additional leave
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Health & wellbeing programme
- Life insurance
- On-site parking
- Referral programme
- Sick pay
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Marden HR1 3ET: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Work Location: In person
