Job Overview
This is a unique and exciting opportunity to join Newberry at a pivotal stage of growth and transformation. As the business continues to scale across both production and supply chain operations, this role will play a critical part in shaping, strengthening, and future-proofing the Company’s technical function.
The Head of Technical will lead the Company’s end-to-end technical function across site production and the full supply chain, ensuring that food safety, legality, quality, and customer compliance are embedded into every decision across the business. A key element of this role is driving a strong and sustainable food safety and quality culture, ensuring that expectations are clearly defined, consistently understood, and effectively implemented from senior leadership level through to the shop floor.
The role holds ultimate accountability for maintaining audit readiness and protecting the business from technical, brand, and customer risk across both the UK site and abroad operation. Operating within a business that currently holds two BRC AA* certified sites, the postholder will be responsible for maintaining and enhancing these standards as the Company continues to grow.
As the Company’s accountable technical lead, this role will set the direction for food safety, legality, and quality across the organisation. The postholder will lead technical decision-making at a senior level and take ownership of escalation management during significant incidents, ensuring clear, proportionate, and well-judged responses that protect both the customer and the business.
The role will directly lead two Technical Managers (Supply Chain Lead and Production Lead) and, through them, provide leadership and direction to the wider Technical and Quality Assurance teams. A key focus will be ensuring alignment, consistency, and capability across both areas, creating a joined-up technical function that supports operational delivery while driving long-term continuous improvement.
Technical Governance
- Own the end-to-end technical strategy and standards across the business (production and supply chain).
- Be the accountable technical lead in senior meetings; provide clear, evidence-based advice and decisions.
- Hold final accountability for technical outcomes when issues occur (e.g., significant complaints, audit non-conformances, food safety incidents).
- Ensure full compliance with food law, customer codes of practice, retailer standards, and due diligence expectations.
- Provide oversight and assurance of HACCP effectiveness across sites and suppliers; ensure robust validation and verification.
- Ensure allergen management, labelling compliance, claims substantiation, and traceability/recall readiness.
Audit Excellence
- Own the BRC AA* agenda and customer audit performance; set audit strategy and readiness rhythm across departments.
- Lead the response to major non-conformances and ensure corrective and preventive actions are embedded and effective.
- Lead and embed the “audit ready always” culture, not just pre-audit activity.
Supplier Assurance Leadership
- Set the supplier assurance model including risk segmentation, audit programme, technical approvals, and raw material QAS/spec governance.
- Oversee supplier performance, technical risk escalation, and corrective action closure with commercial support.
- Ensure imported/raw material controls are appropriate to risk (country, commodity, history, vulnerability).
Production Leadership
- Ensure the site QMS is robust, user-friendly, and embedded through operational leadership.
- Oversee hygiene standards, environmental monitoring (where applicable), foreign body controls, and QC routines.
- Lead the technical agenda for new equipment and controls that support food safety and customer compliance.
Incident Handling
- Lead high-risk complaint investigations, customer escalations, and technical incident management.
- Own crisis readiness: mock recalls, incident playbooks, escalation routes, decision logs, and customer communications oversight.
- Ensure the organisation learns from incidents through structured root cause analysis, trending, and prevention.
Capability and Commercial Balance
- Own the technical operating model across both areas and ensure it functions as one system.
- Lead and coach the Technical Managers, setting expectations, priorities, and a joined-up operating model.
- Be the accountable owner for technical outcomes and the technical voice at senior level.
- Set strategy, standards, governance, and prioritisation across competing demands.
- Lead high-severity incidents, customer confidence issues, and major audit risk.
- Develop capability, succession, and consistency across sites and teams.
- Develop technical talent pipelines and training plans, ensuring the function is scalable for growth.
- Set cross-site ways of working and standardisation (UK/Poland where applicable).
- Provide pragmatic technical leadership that protects the customer and brand while understanding commercial impact.
- Partner with Production, Engineering, Planning, and Commercial so technical risk is visible early and managed well.
As a senior member of the leadership team, the postholder will also play a key role in supporting wider business initiatives, transformation programmes, and strategic projects beyond the day-to-day technical function.
This role operates within a dynamic environment, and responsibilities will evolve in line with business priorities, requiring flexibility, adaptability, and a proactive approach.
Experience
- Significant experience in food manufacturing technical roles in both site manufacturing (QA, CCP control, production interaction) and supply chain (audits, specifications, and raw materials).
- Strong working knowledge of BRCGS (ideally at AA/AA*), HACCP (implementation and verification), Retailer/customer standards and Food legislation (UK / EU / export where relevant).
- Has personally led External audits (BRC and customer), major non-conformance management and high-risk complaint/incident investigations.
- Has operated in environments with Multiple customers / private label.
- Experience changing or improving technical culture within a transforming business.
Pay: £70,000.00-£80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company pension
- Cycle to work scheme
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Work Location: In person
