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Arla Foods are looking for a Technical Team Leader to join the QEHS team at our Dairy manufacturing site in Taw Valley. Situated in West Devon, Taw Valley produces award winning cheeses for our retail customers and the Technical manager will be responsible for all Quality and technical matters.

What will I get?

• Competitive salary
• 26 days and 8 bank holidays
• Annual Pay review
• Employer pension matched up to 6% (12% total contributory)
• X4 annual salary life assurance cover
• Flexible Benefits- buy up to 5 days annual leave, reward gateway scheme- discounts with various retailers via my benefit platform.
• Strong career development & training (internal and external training)
• Subsidized staff canteen
• Access to discounted Arla products
• Stunning rural location

What will the role involve?

Reporting into the site QEHS (Quality, Environmental and H&S) Manager, and deputising for them in all Technical related areas when they are not on site, you will manage a team, which includes the laboratory technicians. You will be responsible for developing the Quality function, ensuring it is aligned to Arla's vision and strategy.

• To Lead the development of a Quality culture within the site
• To develop Quality improvement plans and delivery of QESH KPI improvements which are aligned to Technical/Operational strategic objectives and specific retailer requirements.
• Ensure the site complies with all standards and policies including legislation and customer requirements across all aspects of Quality and Foods Safety, ensuring the site is always audit ready.
• Work with the site to deliver audit compliance, GMP improvements, and QESH improvement initiatives. Work closely with our customers and site to deliver a complaints reduction plan, and coordinate any complaints, finding root causes and putting appropriate corrective measures in place in line with a “100 year fix” mentality.
• Act as site lead and representative with external bodies such as the Trading standards, local authorities, dairy UK.
• Develop the site HACCP team to ensure the system is reviewed, implemented, and complied with.
• Taking the lead in developing a behavioural safety mindset
• Handling and resolving customer/site related QEHS issues. Provide support for operational issues.
• Identification and delivery of continuous improvement opportunities to improve the QESH systems and site performance.
• Managing the QEHS budget leading continuous improvement projects to reduce wate, improve efficiency and quality.
• Performance management and reporting of all staff within the team, including their training, coaching, career development and recruitment
• Taking the lead in group QEHS activities such as audits and projects in order to maintain all site accreditations and certifications.
• Other area of responsibility will include : Collation of complaint data and laboratory results, commissioning and validation results & resultant trend analysis, customer responses, technical reports, HACCP, pest control, micro trends and reports, process/product validations, coordinating training requirements, review of customer specifications, internal audits and traceability coordination, internal specifications (site and suppliers), document control.

What will I need?

You will need to possess exceptional leadership skills as well as an ability to build relationships with a variety of stakeholders. You will need to lead and drive Quality standards and improvements throughout the site and instil a culture of continuous improvements to improve year on year performance.

• Educated to degree level in Food Science or equivalent, with a proven track record as a Technical Manager in a Food or FMCG environment.
• You will have excellent people management skills and the ability to lead, coach and develop your team and influence the site to meet personal and business objectives.
• You must be confident to challenge at all levels across the management team and have a strong knowledge of Chemistry and Microbiology with an in-depth understanding of BRC, customer standards, and audit requirements.
• Dairy experience and knowledge of M&S and Waitrose customer requirements would be beneficial, but not essential.
• A high skills level across leadership, problem solving and project management is essential along with the ability to think on your feet and make decisions.
• Good IT skills are required with knowledge of SAP an advantage.

Excellent communication and influencing skills are essential, as is resilience and proactivity in a fast-moving environment. You will have strong relationship building skills; internally with the teams on site, with the internal Arla Technical community, and external bodies and customers.

Things We’d Love To Tell You About Arla

• We are a farmer- owned cooperative. That means we are committed to partnering with farmers so they are guaranteed a fair price for their milk.
• We experimented with poo powered trucks (google it- you won’t regret it), and built the world’s first ever 100% carbon neutral dairy. All as part of our ongoing commitment to combatting climate change.
• We are the producer of Lurpak, one of the world’s most iconic butter brands.
• We are a Danish business, operating across the UK, Europe, Asia, The Middle East, North America, South America and other regions across the globe.

Please apply using the link or reach out to Rachel McDaid, Senior Talent Partner, at [email protected]. The closing date for this position is Friday 7th April 2023.

We have a purpose for Good

At Arla, we strive to unlock the highest potential in each other while working together to create a sustainable future of dairy. We call it Stronger People Stronger Planet and it is deeply anchored in our organisation and founded on our commitment to respecting human rights, increasing access to healthy dairy nutrition, inspiring good food habits, and improving the environment for future generations. In order to succeed we need to hire people with a sustainable mindset. Could this be you?

BEWARE! RECRUITMENT FRAUD It has come to our attention that there are a number of fraudulent emails and fake recruitment campaigns on the internet from people purporting to work for Arla Foods. Learn more via this link.