Quality Assurance Manager
Location: Birdham, West Sussex
Hours: 39 hours per week
Working Pattern: Monday to Thursday, 7:00am – 5:15pm. Occasional Friday working will be required on a rolling rota to support warehouse overtime.
About Montezuma's
At Montezuma's, we're passionate about creating extraordinary chocolate while maintaining the very highest standards of food safety and quality. We're looking for an experienced and enthusiastic Quality Assurance Manager to join our Technical team at our Birdham factory.
This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys leading a team, driving continuous improvement and ensuring products meet the highest quality standards. You'll work closely with colleagues across Production, Engineering, Planning and Customer Services, playing a key role in protecting our brand and delivering exceptional products to our customers.
The Role
Reporting to the Technical Manager, you'll lead our Quality Assurance team and help maintain and continually improve our Quality Management System (QMS). You'll ensure the site consistently meets BRCGS, retailer, Soil Association, Fairtrade, legal and company requirements while fostering a positive food safety and quality culture throughout the business.
What You'll Be Doing
- Leading, coaching and developing the Quality Assurance team to deliver high standards every day.
- Supporting the continuous improvement of our Quality Management System.
- Leading BRCGS, customer, retailer, Soil Association, Fairtrade and third-party audits, ensuring the site remains audit-ready at all times.
- Managing the internal audit programme and ensuring corrective and preventative actions are completed effectively.
- Acting as HACCP Team Leader, reviewing and maintaining the HACCP system.
- Maintaining accurate quality documentation and ensuring records are always up to date.
- Investigating quality issues and non-conformances, identifying root causes and implementing effective corrective actions.
- Monitoring compliance with food safety, quality, legal and customer requirements across the site.
- Verifying GMP, hygiene standards, quality checks and product monitoring activities.
- Supporting product release activities to ensure products meet specification before despatch.
- Managing customer complaints, ensuring investigations and responses are completed promptly.
- Supporting Customer Services with technical and quality-related enquiries.
- Assisting with New Product Development (NPD) trials and technical approvals.
- Supporting Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) verification from a food safety and quality perspective.
- Monitoring quality KPIs, identifying trends and driving continuous improvement projects.
- Working closely with Production, Engineering, Planning and other departments to improve quality, efficiency and operational performance.
- Deputising for the Technical Manager when required.
What We're Looking For
We're looking for someone who is passionate about food safety and quality and enjoys working collaboratively to achieve excellent results.
You'll ideally have:
- Experience in a Quality Assurance or Quality Management role within the food manufacturing industry.
- Strong knowledge of BRCGS standards, HACCP and food safety management systems.
- Experience leading audits and working with retailer standards.
- Excellent investigation and problem-solving skills with experience of root cause analysis.
- Previous experience leading or supervising a team.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Excellent communication skills and the confidence to work with colleagues across all departments.
- A proactive approach with a passion for continuous improvement.
What Success Looks Like
In this role you'll help ensure:
- The site remains fully compliant and audit-ready throughout the year.
- Our Quality Assurance team continues to develop and perform at a high standard.
- Food safety, quality and GMP standards are consistently maintained.
- Customer and retailer requirements are met or exceeded.
- Continuous improvement becomes part of everything we do.
Additional Responsibilities
- Follow all company policies, procedures and safe working practices.
- Comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and all relevant health and safety requirements.
- Report any food safety, legality, authenticity or quality concerns immediately.
- Carry out any other reasonable duties appropriate to the level of the role.
Why Join Montezuma's?
At Montezuma's, quality is at the heart of everything we do. You'll join a friendly, supportive team where your ideas are valued, your expertise makes a real difference, and you'll have the opportunity to help shape the future of our quality systems while producing chocolate we're proud of.
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Chichester PO20 7BT: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Application question(s):
- What is your salary expectation?
- How many years experience in a Quality Assurance or Quality Management role within the food manufacturing industry, do you have?
Work Location: In person
