Compliance Improvement Lead

Finsbury Food Group; Whitefield; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Enhanced maternity/paternity leave

Enhanced pension scheme

Death in service benefit

Employee assistance programme

Retail discounts

Job summary

Kara Food Service in Manchester is seeking a Compliance Improvement Lead to drive site-level compliance aligned to Group standards and ESG objectives. You will champion HSE, Food Safety, and Environmental Management Systems while supporting risk management.

This role is primarily site-based, with occasional travel to support audits, meetings, or wider compliance initiatives. The ideal candidate will bring NEBOSH certification and strong auditing, incident investigation, and risk assessment

Qualifications

• NEBOSH General Certificate (or equivalent) required.
• Experience in manufacturing health and safety compliance, preferably food.
• Knowledge of UK H&S legislation and site-level compliance.
• Experience supporting or maintaining HSE Management Systems.
• Experience carrying out risk assessments, safe systems of work, inspections and audits.
• Internal auditor experience or supporting audit activity.
• Experience supporting incident investigations and corrective action tracking.
• Knowledge of key operational risk areas: machinery safety, contractor control, workplace transport, manual handling, fire safety, hazardous substances, working at height and maintenance activity.
• Strong facilitation, organisation and project coordination skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the site-level compliance strategy, aligned to Group standards and ESG objectives.
• Support and maintain robust HSE, Food Safety, and Environmental Management Systems.
• Ensure appropriate duty holders are in place and capable of meeting legal and company obligations.
• Act as a trusted partner to the Site Lead and Leadership Team, providing expert advice, insight, and challenge.
• Lead site environmental compliance and support delivery of the site sustainability plan.
• Support internal and external audit programmes, driving effective resolution of non-conformances and actions.
• Maintain the site risk register, ensuring risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated.
• Support and oversee incident reporting and investigations, ensuring learning is embedded.
• Track and report compliance performance metrics, highlighting trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
• Act as the site link into Regional and Group Compliance, escalating issues where required and sharing best practices.

Skills

HSE compliance

Internal auditing

Incident investigation

Risk assessment

UK health and safety law

MS Office

Driving licence

Education

NEBOSH General Certificate

NVQ Level 5/6 in Occupational Health and Safety

NEBOSH Diploma

Tools

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Visio

Job description

Location: Kara Food Service, Manchester Shift: Monday to Friday Salary: Competitive

This is what you’ll actually do!

As Our Compliance Improvement Lead, You Will

• Lead the site-level compliance strategy, aligned to Group standards and ESG objectives
• Support and maintain robust HSE, Food Safety, and Environmental Management Systems
• Ensure appropriate duty holders are in place and capable of meeting legal and company obligations
• Act as a trusted partner to the Site Lead and Leadership Team, providing expert advice, insight, and challenge
• Lead site environmental compliance and support delivery of the site sustainability plan
• Support internal and external audit programmes, driving effective resolution of non-conformances and actions
• Maintain the site risk register, ensuring risks are identified, assessed, and mitigated
• Support and oversee incident reporting and investigations, ensuring learning is embedded
• Track and report compliance performance metrics, highlighting trends, risks, and improvement opportunities
• Act as the site link into Regional and Group Compliance, escalating issues where required and sharing best practices

This role is primarily site-based, with occasional travel to support audits, meetings, or wider compliance initiatives.

Ideally this is you!

Essential

• NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent relevant health and safety qualification.
• Strong health and safety compliance experience within manufacturing, ideally food manufacturing, bakery, FMCG or another high-paced operational environment.
• Good understanding of UK health and safety legislation, regulatory expectations and site-level compliance requirements.
• Experience supporting or maintaining a HSE Management Systems.
• Experience carrying out or reviewing risk assessments, safe systems of work, inspections and audits.
• Internal auditor experience or practical experience supporting audit and assurance activity.
• Experience supporting incident investigations and corrective action tracking.
• Good understanding of key operational risk areas such as machinery safety, contractor control, workplace transport, manual handling, fire safety, hazardous substances, working at height and maintenance activity.
• Strong facilitation, organisation and project coordination skills, with good attention to detail.
• Effective written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence at all levels.
• Good Microsoft Office skills, particularly Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint.
• Current full driving licence, if multi-site travel is required.

Desirable

• NEBOSH Diploma, NVQ Level 5/6 in Occupational Health and Safety, or working towards equivalent.
• TechIOSH, GradIOSH or working towards Chartered Membership of IOSH.
• ISO 45001 internal auditor or lead auditor training.
• IEMA Foundation Certificate or equivalent environmental awareness qualification.
• Experience in food manufacturing, bakery, chilled or ambient production environments.
• Experience with H&S KPI reporting, trend analysis and action tracking systems.
• Experience creating or revising H&S procedures, forms, guidance documents and training material.
• Practical knowledge of contractor management, CDM, PUWER, LOLER, COSHH, DSEAR, fire safety and statutory inspection arrangements.
• Experience supporting regulator, insurer or customer audit visits.
• Microsoft Visio or other process mapping experience.

What's in it for you?

• Enhanced Maternity & Paternity Leave to allow quality time with your new arrival!
• Enhanced Pension Scheme for our employees
• Death in Service Benefit
• Free Employee Assistance Programme (open to colleagues and their families)
• Retail discounts accessible via our Benefits Hub platform!
• Company shop available at sites (heavily discounted, yummy products!)
• Refer a Friend Scheme (up to £300 per referral – t&cs dependent)
• Employee Recognition Awards Extensive Learning & Development opportunities (including opportunities for sponsored professional memberships and our own in-house development course!)
• An opportunity to be part of a fantastic, growing organisation. Head over to our LinkedIn page to find out more!

Our vision is to be the leading specialty bakery group in the UK and we want the best people in place to achieve this. Our continued success is built entirely on the talented people who work here, so employee development is important to us because everyone is a valued member of the team, and we want every individual to have the skills and capabilities to achieve both your own personal goals and our business goals. We want good people to join our company, to help our company continue to go from strength to strength.