Category Technical Lead: Food Safety & Quality

Asda; Ledston; Hybride; GBP 65 000 - 80 000; Plein temps

Avantages offerts par ce poste

Discretionary bonus

Pension up to 7%

Car allowance £5,700

Colleague discount 15%

Wellbeing services

Inclusion networks

Parental leave policy

Résumé du poste

Asda is hiring a Category Technical Manager to lead Fresh Core Chilled, Bakery & Counters category quality and safety. You will ensure own-brand products meet food safety, legality, and quality standards, while driving supplier collaboration and innovation across a fast-paced retail environment.

You will work with suppliers and cross-functional teams, own due diligence, governance, and audits, and mentor the technical team.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing complex food categories and supplier networks.
• Strong technical expertise in food safety, quality management and regulatory compliance.
• Knowledge of manufacturing environments and standards (BRCGS and HACCP).
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.
• Commercial awareness and customer focus.

Responsabilités

• Lead and support supplier partners to deliver safe, legal and high-quality products for customers.
• Act as the technical lead for category areas, supporting the Lead Technical Manager in delivering the business strategy and driving technical innovation.
• Champion Asda's technical standards both internally and externally, ensuring products consistently meet quality and compliance expectations.
• Develop and implement quality improvement plans with suppliers to drive product excellence and customer satisfaction.
• Build strong relationships across the supply base, driving continuous improvement and proactively managing quality and compliance issues.
• Use category and supplier knowledge to identify opportunities, mitigate risks and add value to the wider business.
• Conduct strategic supplier risk assessments and support category plans through effective technical governance.
• Lead the management of product incidents in line with Asda's incident management processes.
• Participate in the technical on-call rota, including occasional weekend support where required.
• Drive investigations into customer complaints and dissatisfaction, working with suppliers and internal stakeholders to implement corrective actions.
• Use horizon scanning and risk intelligence to anticipate future challenges and strengthen category resilience.
• Support continuous enhancement of technical frameworks that protect customers and uphold the Asda brand.
• Support the delivery of Asda's trade plans and own-brand innovation pipeline.
• Partner with Trading and Customer Planning teams to bring innovative, customer-focused products to market.
• Lead the technical delivery of new product development projects, ensuring products launch safely, legally and on time.
• Manage and influence critical paths to support successful product launches.
• Deliver agreed business objectives while balancing customer, quality, compliance and commercial priorities.

Connaissances

Food safety

Quality management

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Commercial awareness

Leadership

Problem solving

Communication

Formation

Degree in food-related/scientific discipline

Description du poste

Asda is hiring a Category Technical Manager to lead Fresh Core Chilled, Bakery & Counters category quality and safety. You will ensure own-brand products meet food safety, legality, and quality standards, while driving supplier collaboration and innovation across a fast-paced retail environment.

You will work with suppliers and cross-functional teams, own due diligence, governance, and audits, and mentor the technical team.