Technical Controller

Job Description

Salary: Competitive salary

Benefits: Company share save scheme, matched pension scheme, Life insurance up to 4x salary, car allowance

Location: Greencore Desserts Newark, Jessop Way, NG24 2ER

Ways of Working: Site Based

Hours of work: Monday - Friday

Contract Type: Permanent

Why Greencore?

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we’re one of the UK’s leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better.

As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we’re proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

Our site in Newark, Nottinghamshire, one of our largest flagship sites, specialising in chilled desserts, including trifles, creamcakes, and choux pastries for a number of the UK’s major retailers.

The site employs over 1,800 people and operates in a fast-paced, high-volume production environment.

This is a fantastic opportunity to lead our Technical function and set the technical agenda for the site, ensuring robust standards across food safety, quality, legality, microbiological control, hygiene, HACCP, customer requirements and technical governance.

What You’ll Be Doing

Operate effectively in a large, complex and fast-moving manufacturing environment, balancing immediate operational challenges with longer-term technical strategy.

Ensure relevant standards, HACCP based as appropriate, are communicated, understood and applied to meet Food Safety, Quality and Legality, and customer specified requirements. The standards must be documented and maintained within a recognised system.

Lead and fully understand the site HACCP and have involvement in the evaluation of risk and defining controls, prior to the introduction of a new process, product or raw material. To ensure that the requirements of HACCP are implemented, maintained and achieved.

Provides leadership and ownership for the quality management systems associated with the production of food to the agreed safety, legal and quality standards.

Leads the business with management of technical audits, hosting audits as appropriate. Drives a culture of “fit to manufacture every day” readiness through the daily operational teams. Manages response & close out of non-conformance reports from audits as required.

Lead, motivate and inspire the technical team in line with Greencore Values to achieve personal development and continuous improvement.

Develop and implement effective KPIs that measure, trend and identify issues to be communicated both internally and with customers. Develop and agree action plans using root cause analysis to deliver continuous improvement.

Provide practical support and drive to promote a Quality Assurance culture in the Business. Provides specialist technical knowledge to enable the Business Unit to exploit manufacturing, NPD and commercial advantage whilst ensuring the required standards of Food Safety, Quality and Legality are met. As part of the site leadership team, ensures operational team promotion of a Quality Assurance culture within the factory environment.

Take the lead in defining and implementing the customer technical agenda across site, management of customer technical expectation and delivery of relevant KPI and improvement plans where required through the effective use of positive relationships.

Support the site in the delivery and launch of new and existing product development and operational improvement. To play an active part in the NPD process, utilising technical expertise to deliver the technical standards expected.

Ensures a safe working environment exists for all employees within the technical function, and that as a minimum, the standards set out in the site processes for Health and Safety.

Effectively manage communication on all technical matters with customers, both internal and external, and suppliers to develop relationships and ensure that Greencore Technical opinion is considered and respected

What We’re Looking For

Experience in leading a large complex team across the technical function.

Lead technical teams in high-risk/high-care chilled food manufacturing, ideally short shelf-life products.

Strong multi-retailer experience with an understanding of major UK retailer technical standards, codes of practice and expectations.

Proven experience of leading retailer, BRCGS and other third-party audits, including managing corrective actions and maintaining sustained audit readiness.

Strong practical knowledge of HACCP, microbiological risk management, environmental monitoring, hygiene and pathogen control within a high-risk manufacturing environment.

Experience managing significant food safety incidents, technical escalations and root-cause investigations, with the judgement to make appropriate product safety and business decisions.

Experience leading and developing a sizeable multidisciplinary technical team, creating accountability and a strong food safety and quality culture.

Able to influence at senior level and work effectively with Operations, Engineering, Hygiene, NPD, Supply Chain and Commercial functions.

Confidence dealing directly with retailer technical teams, building credibility and managing challenging technical situations.

A strong track record of using technical KPIs, trend analysis and root-cause investigation to drive measurable continuous improvement.

We’re not all the same at Greencore and our differences help us to make every day taste better for all our stakeholders. We truly put our people at the core and are proud of our diversity.

What You’ll Get In Return

Competitive salary and job-related benefits

Holidays

Competitive matched pension contributions

Life insurance up to 4x salary

Company share save scheme

Greencore Qualifications

Exclusive Greencore employee discount platform

Access to a full Wellbeing Centre platform

Enhanced parental leave and menopause policies

Throughout your time at Greencore, you will be supported with on the job training and development opportunities to further your career.

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