QA Manager – Savoury and Ready Meals

The Compleat Food Group; Crewe; On-site; GBP 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food manufacturing company in Crewe seeks a Quality Assurance Manager to uphold food safety and quality standards. The role involves managing a technical team, ensuring compliance, and promoting continuous improvement in a dynamic environment. The ideal candidate will have experience in food manufacturing, strong leadership skills, and a commitment to quality.

Benefits

33 Days Annual Leave

Employee Volunteering Days

Online and High-street retailer discount scheme

Employee well-being support

Charity Initiatives and Team events

24/7 Access to Grocery Aid

Financial wellbeing tools

Qualifications

• Experience in food manufacturing within a technical function.
• Experience in leading a team.

Responsibilities

• Lead and maintain food safety, quality, and compliance.
• Manage the factory technical team and drive improvements.
• Ensure high audit accreditation and compliance.

Skills

Food Safety

HACCP

Leadership

Communication

Education

Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene

Level 3 HACCP

Tools

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Job description

Quality Assurance Manager (Savoury and Ready Meals)

We have a new opportunity for a QA Manager to join our brilliant Technical team at our food manufacturing site based in Crewe!

Who We Are

The Compleat Food Group are a new food group on a mission to create great quality, tasty and affordable food, that people love to eat. We fondly refer to it as 'Food to Feel Good' because we believe in savouring every bite whilst making a positive impact.

Our team of over 5,500 remarkable individuals forms the core of all that we undertake. At The Compleat Food Group we don’t just make food. We make food to feel good, taste good and do good for everyone.

Our genuine passion drives the creation of products for UK consumers, prominent retailers, and our thrilling market-leading brands such as Wall's Pastry, Squeaky Bean, Vadasz and Unearthed.

Location: Crewe

Hours: 39 per week – working 8am-4:30pm Monday-Thursday & 8am-3:30pm on Friday

Salary: £45,000 per annum

Purpose

We’re looking for a QA Manager to lead and maintain high standards of food safety, quality, and compliance across our manufacturing site. You’ll ensure that all products consistently meet customer expectations, legal requirements, and industry best practices—while promoting a culture of continuous improvement and strong food safety values.

Main Duties

• Delivering excellence in technical customer management and ensuring compliance with client expectations and management.
• Manage the factory technical team on a day-to-day basis, delivering excellent factory standards, driving continuous factory and technical improvements.
• Deliver technical plans for the site that demonstrate the delivery of the retailers’ requirements and the Compleat food Groups requirements.
• Develop cross functional relationships at site and group level to encourage joined up working, ensuring all functions are aware of technical activity.
• Set clear SMART objectives for technical function/team with regular reviews.
• Working cross functionally within the SLT, wider organisation, account, and site departments to deliver safe, legal, and high-quality products.
• Effective use of data to manage site performance, with accuracy to ensure continuous improvement.
• Develop, manage, and improve customer joint quality plans.
• Assist/Manage customer visits/audits/launches.
• Maintain high audit accreditation/results.
• Support in product process and design from a technical perspective.
• Any additional reasonable technical requests.
  
  

Health, Safety & Environment Responsibilities

• Understand the Health, Safety & Environmental Policy’s, safe rules, and statutory requirements applying to all operations under your control.
• Ensure that all employees that you manage understand and agree to company Health & Safety rules, have receive the appropriate Health & Safety Induction, and are instruction and the level of supervision as may be necessary to enable them to work safely, and without injury or ill health.
• Ensure that all employees you manage know the procedures for reporting accidents and know what to do in the event of a fire, or other emergencies that may require evacuation of the workplace.
• Ensure that, where required, protective clothing and equipment is available to all employees, and that it is correctly used.
• Ensure that risk assessments are undertaken to an acceptable level, and that they are reviewed as required. Ensure employees are aware of hazards and control measures that impact them. Continually seek to reduce risk where possible.
• Ensure that new processes, products and equipment are subject to a risk assessment, and that the residual level of risk is reduced to an acceptable level prior to launch or implementation.
• Ensure regular safety inspections and audits are undertaken to check that the Health & Safety rules and procedures are fully implemented and adhered to at all levels across the site.
• Investigate all accidents, incidents, near misses and dangerous occurrences promptly and report the findings to the Factory Manager, and the Health Safety & Environmental Compliance Manager
• Ensure that appropriate remedial action is taken in respect of all reported defects and complaints.
• Take responsibility for all Visitors / Contractors within your area.
• Ensure that good housekeeping standards are maintained.
• Ensure that all equipment is properly and regularly maintained, and repaired by competent persons, and that records are maintained of these works.
• Stop a process that is operating out of compliance or specification on legal requirements or is unsafe.
  
  

Food Safety & Quality Responsibilities

• Ensures team comply with factory dress code standards at all times. Immediately deals with non-conformances. (E.g., correct hair nets, jewellery removed, jackets buttoned correctly
• Ensures prohibited items not being taken into factory (e.g., sweets, chewing gum, phones). Initiates pocket searches if required.
• Ensures product produced is made to the SOP and meets customer specification.
• Works in partnership with Quality team to improve quality standards and close out non-conformances within timeframe given.
• Ensures area constantly at audit standard and CAYG in place. Ensures successful audits of own area, deals promptly with any non-conformances.
• Knows what HACCP is, implications in own area and ensures all appropriate controls and paperwork is in place.
• Ensures paperwork is accurate, fully completed, delivered on time, and enables full traceability. Understands the legal implications of not doing this properly.
• Ensures compliance with allergen and speciation control on changeovers. Clearly understands the health risks to consumers and the recall implications. (e.g., product crossovers)
  
  

Leading People

• Knows the process to follow to recruit new people into the team. Uses the agreed interview templates and makes fair selection decisions. Allocated candidates to the right department based on skills and strengths.
• Knows how to effectively resource the team taking into consideration absence, holiday, training, succession, and leavers.
• Drives completion of skill matrix to ensure skills are maintained in department.
• Able to investigate and chair complex/sensitive disciplinary and grievance cases. Effectively handles dismissals and appeals.
• Ensures department are regularly kept up to date on business updates, department priorities and snapshot content (E.g., team meetings). Seeks feedback of what's not working and takes action.
• Ensures shift supervisors can effectively manage time off requests, carry out investigations, conduct low level hearings, manage absence.
• Demonstrates ability to effectively reward and recognise strong performance.
• Effectively makes use of Hero Awards scheme. Can also implement performance improvement plans with team members.
• Ability to cover for Savoury Factory, including Ready Meals as required.
  
  

Skills & Competencies

• Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene.
• Essential Hygiene and Chemical Awareness.
• Level 3 HACCP.
• Experience of working in a food manufacturing environment, within a technical function.
• Experience in leading a team.
• Essential to be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel
  
  

Benefits To Include

• 33 Days Annual Leave
• 2 Employee Volunteering Days per year
• Online and High-street retailer discount scheme
• Employee well-being and community support groups
• Charity Initiatives and Team events
• 24/7 Access to Grocery Aid (Free Financial, Emotional and Practical Support)
• Free Financial wellbeing – mortgage calculators, budget tools, financial aid tools
  
  

The Compleat Food Group fosters an inclusive, respectful culture where everyone feels safe, supported, and valued. We welcome diverse talent, knowing it drives exceptional results and a better workplace.

We are committed to Fairness, Equity, Inclusivity, and Respect, we ensure all colleagues can thrive by bringing their whole selves to work. As an equal opportunity’s employer, we provide all the support you need to succeed.

Contact us with any questions about Diversity & Inclusion or accessibility during the application process.

Recruitment Agencies

We have a small, active and trusted Preferred Supplier List to assist us if required. We do not acknowledge any speculative CVs or unsolicited candidate introductions. We only accept CV submissions for roles released to you directly by our Talent Acquisition team.

If you would be interested in working with us please send a message to [e-mail] and should we have any roles we need additional support with we will reach out to you.

Apply now