Quality Assurance Leader — Food Safety & Compliance

Who is New England Seafood International?

New England Seafood International (NESI) was established in 1991 and is an importer and processor of premium fresh and frozen sustainable fish and seafood. NESI employs circa 850 people across three sites in the UK and imports a wide range of wild and farmed fish and shellfish from all around the world. We are part of the Sealaska Corporation, an Alaska Native corporation formed in 1971 and which is owned by 26,000 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian shareholders, who are all bloodline descendants of the first settlers to the Americas.

Our vision is to “show people how to enjoy fish every day” and we pride ourselves on our supply chain integrity, sustainable sourcing and high-quality product. Our values run through our business and are Respect, Customer Care, By Learning We Grow, Team Spirit and Integrity.

Reports to: Technical Manager

Location: Chessington, Surrey KT9 1TW

Salary: Depending on Experience

Shift pattern: Monday to Friday (Full site presence and Factory based)

Hours: 8:00am – 5:00pm

The QA Manager (Retail & Food Service) is responsible for ensuring all food manufactured on site is safe, legal, and meets agreed quality standards. The role supports delivery of the Technical Strategy and business objectives by leading food safety systems, managing risk, supporting audits, and developing the Quality Assurance team while driving a strong food safety culture across the factory.

• Proactively identify and elevate any potential or actual food safety, legality, integrity, or quality risks to the Technical Manager.
• Support the Technical Manager during incidents, withdrawals, recalls, or crisis situations.
• Lead and manage incident test scenarios, including planning, execution, and review.

• Support the alignment of site objectives with the Technical and Business Strategies.
• Contribute to personal development plans (PDPs) aligned with business goals.

• Approve traceability documentation used during audits.
• Present traceability audit results to external auditors.
• Ensure factory data and documentation are accurate and audit-ready prior to external visits.
• Support site management teams during external audits, customer visits, and regulatory inspections.

• Act as an active member of the HACCP and TACCP teams.
• Ensure HACCP, CCPs, QCPs, and OPRPs are validated, verified, and reviewed as planned.
• Support and update risk assessments and HACCP checklists relevant to factory operations.

• Ensure all products released from site meet customer specifications (brand, own label, and food service).
• Implement and manage positive release systems where required.

• Ensure controlled documents are correctly issued, implemented, maintained, and updated in line with amendments.
• Ensure site compliance with legal requirements, Codes of Practice, and industry standards, implementing changes via SOP or process updates.

• Lead or support investigations into food safety, legality, and quality issues, including contamination, hygiene failures, process deviations, and audit non-conformances.
• Ensure robust root cause analysis and effective corrective and preventive actions.
• Verify and confirm end-to-end traceability on a daily basis, including factory start-up checks.
• Close out non-conformances promptly and elevate serious breaches to the Technical Manager.

• Act as a subject matter expert, owning and delegating internal food safety training (e.g. HACCP, CCPs, OPRPs, internal auditing).
• Ensure training delivery supports compliance and continuous improvement.

• Maintain departmental KPIs and objectively challenge factory performance at site management meetings.
• Escalate sustained poor performance or emerging risks to the Technical Manager.

• Line management responsibility for site QA team, including holiday scheduling, performance reviews, and objective setting.
• Support the development of QA team competencies and…