Factory Technical Manager

Job Description Factory Technical Manager Food Manufacturing | Milton Keynes | £65,000 - £75,000 + Benefits

Some technical roles are primarily about maintaining standards. This one gives you considerably more to get your teeth into. I’m working with a large food manufacturing business in Milton Keynes looking for a Factory Technical Manager to take a key leadership role within a busy, fast-paced, short shelf-life manufacturing operation. There’s scale, complexity and plenty of challenge. You’ll be responsible for technical performance across multiple shifts, leading an established QA team while working closely with Operations, Engineering and the wider Technical function.

And this isn't a team that needs rescuing. The QA team are experienced and operating well, which means your job isn't to spend every day firefighting or micromanaging them. Instead, you'll have the space to look at the bigger picture. Where can standards improve? Why are issues happening repeatedly? How can Technical work more effectively with Operations? What needs to change to improve complaints, non-conformances, food safety performance and the overall quality culture?

That’s where they want this person to make their mark.

• Leading and developing the QA team across the operation.
• Working closely with Operations and Engineering to improve quality and food safety performance.
• Taking ownership of investigations, root cause analysis and corrective actions around more complex issues.
• Driving continuous improvement across Technical and the wider factory.
• Leading customer and third-party visits and making sure the site is audit-ready every day.
• Playing a key role in HACCP, Listeria management and the site's wider food safety culture.
• Supporting new product launches and making sure changes move successfully from development into production.
• Deputising for the Technical Manager when required, including exposure to site, group and customer meetings.

This isn't really about finding somebody who ticks every box on a job description. It is about finding someone who can operate effectively in a demanding manufacturing environment. You'll need experience within Technical or Quality in short shelf-life food manufacturing and, importantly, you'll have led people across more than one shift. They want someone who has dealt with difficult technical issues before Someone who can work through a problem, bring the right people together and see it through rather than needing somebody above them to provide all the answers.

What matters more is your ability to learn quickly, lead people, influence Operations and demonstrate where you've made things better rather than simply maintained what was already there.

For someone ambitious within Technical, there’s quite a lot here. You'll get exposure to the scale and complexity of a large food manufacturing operation. You'll inherit a capable team rather than spending your first six months fixing one. You'll have enough autonomy to make changes and build a track record of delivering measurable improvements. And you'll work closely with and deputise for the Technical Manager, giving you exposure to responsibilities beyond the normal Factory Technical Manager remit.

Longer term, they're also looking for someone with the capability and ambition to continue progressing within the Technical function. So this could be a particularly good move if you've built a strong foundation in Technical and now want a role that stretches you, gives you greater visibility and helps prepare you for the next level.