At Valeo Foods UK we bring together a family of much-loved UK food brands supported by the scale and ambition of a global investment partner. From Kettle’s bold crunch to Rowse’s natural sweetness, through to Matthew Walker and Barratt Sweets, our portfolio blends heritage, craft and category-leading innovation.
Alongside our branded portfolio, we are also one of the UK’s largest suppliers of private label products, partnering with major retailers to deliver quality and category expertise that meets the needs of millions of households every week.
As a business, we’re on a journey of transformation. We’re strengthening our operations, driving quality and investing in our people. It’s an exciting, fast-moving environment where heritage meets new thinking, and where every colleague contributes to shaping the future of food across the UK.
Join us and play your part in building the next chapter of some of Britain’s most loved brands.
Job DescriptionWe are currently recruiting for a Quality Manager to join the team in Blackpool. You will champion a collaborative food safety and quality culture within the QA and operations team providing leadership and direction to the Quality Assurance team and drive continuous improvement in how we manage food safety and quality.
Leadership and Management
- Lead the way in promoting cross functional working to make food safety and quality everyone’s responsibility.
- Provide leadership and direction to the QA team ensuring that how we manage food safety and quality is effective and continuously improved
- Develop and coach the QA team and set clear objectives and agree training and development needs.
- HACCP - Team Leader/member and HACCP maintenance and evolution
Standards and compliance
- Ensure factory compliance to customer policies, policies and external certification.
- Set and ensure compliance to GMP and factory standards through training, education, validation and governance of Non-conformance close outs.
- Drive right first time approach to production
- Governance to ensure incidents are managed effectively through effective data driven investigations with a clear understanding of root cause and implementation of sustainable actions.
- Manage the internal audit program to ensure continuous improvement of standards and quality.
- Ensure the Pre-requisite program is effectively managed and challenged
- Oversee allergen management & risk assessment, verification and validation.
- Customer interface and coordinate customer activity through the team.
- Ensure effective performance KPI’s are embedded within the quality department.
- Management of site standards, hygiene audits & GMP.
- Management of non-conformances & internal concessions
- Ensure effective investigation, communication and reporting of customer complaints
- Degree or equivalent in Food Science or related discipline.
- Experience in FMCG or similar environment, and with experience of managing teams
- HACCP Level 3 qualification
- Experience in retailer quality systems
- BRC Compliance and audits aware.
- Project management skills
- Matched pension scheme up to 10%
- Death in service
- Cycle to work scheme
- Retailer discount platform
- Staff discount
- And plenty more!
Skills Required
- Degree or equivalent in Food Science or related discipline
- Experience in FMCG or similar environment, and with experience of managing teams
- HACCP Level 3 qualification
- Experience in retailer quality systems
- BRC Compliance and audits aware
- Project management skills
What We Do
We are a leading producer and innovator of high quality, category-defining branded food products that have a proud history that dates back to 1845. At Valeo Foods, we are passionate about food and our portfolio of over 20 iconic food brands, which includes Jacobs, Batchelors, Kettle, Rowse Honey, Balconi, Schluckwerder, are tried and trusted by consumers across Ireland, UK and Europe for their quality, wholesomeness, nutrition and fun. We are a diverse business that combines food production, brand development and innovation, distribution and sales. We are Ireland’s largest ambient food supplier to the grocery trade, a major supplier to the food service market through Valeo Professional, and an increasingly prominent supplier to the UK market and a range of European Markets now. We are focused on the continued development of our excellent portfolio of category defining food brands as we look to expand our footprint across Ireland, UK, Europe and beyond with our latest acquisition in North America. We are committed to delivering quality food products through continued innovation and excellence in manufacturing. This commitment ensures that our brands retain a market leading position in each of their respective categories. We continue to recruit people with the best skills and expertise across a range of areas including manufacturing, food science, research and development, nutrition, distribution, sales, operations, marketing, human resources and finance, and aspire to be a best in class employer, focused on developing and empowering our people.
