Head of Technical

KM Packaging Services Ltd.; Oundle; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

KM Packaging Services Ltd. is seeking a Head of Technical to lead the organisation’s technical vision, governance, and strategy, ensuring capability supports growth, customer confidence and operational excellence.

You will provide senior leadership across product development, quality, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and continuous improvement, shaping the technical function to meet current and future needs and driving successful delivery of packaging solutions.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the company’s technical strategy, ensuring alignment with business strategy and market developments.
• Provide technical counsel to the MD and Executive Team on investment priorities, risk management and growth plans.
• Set functional direction for the Technical Department, including governance, standards and capability development.
• Establish and maintain technical policies and controls for compliance, product integrity and customer assurance.
• Identify emerging technologies and market trends that offer competitive advantage or operational improvement.
• Act as senior technical authority for complex matters, ensuring escalation and organisational learning.
• Lead governance of new product development from concept to commercial implementation.
• Partner with Commercial to translate customer/market requirements into viable, deliverable packaging solutions.
• Oversee product testing, trials, specifications and readiness for launch.
• Maintain accurate regulatory documentation and data governance for internal and external use.
• Drive innovation to improve product performance, value, margins and sustainability.
• Provide senior technical oversight for extrusion, lamination and packaging conversion activities.
• Lead root cause analysis and preventive actions for significant issues with customers or suppliers.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimisation, waste reduction and process standardisation.
• Ensure compliance with global food contact materials regulations and packaging waste obligations.
• Oversee customer complaints and risk mitigation related to technical matters.
• Lead sustainability contributions into product development and supplier engagement.
• Represent the business as senior technical lead in customer discussions and business development.

Job description

The Head of Technical is accountable for setting and leading the organisation’s technical vision, governance, and functional strategy, ensuring that technical capability directly supports business growth strategy, customer confidence and operational excellence.

The role contributes to overall business strategy, planning, capital investment decisions and business risk management. They will provide authoritative technical leadership across product development, supplier partnerships, quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and continuous improvement.

They ensure the technical function is structured and developed to meet current and future business requirements.

Principal Accountabilities

The Head of Technical is accountable for setting and leading the organisation’s technical vision, governance, and functional strategy, ensuring that technical capability directly supports business growth strategy, customer confidence and operational excellence.

The role contributes to overall business strategy, planning, capital investment decisions and business risk management. They will provide authoritative technical leadership across product development, supplier partnerships, quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, sustainability, and continuous improvement.

They ensure the technical function is structured and developed to meet current and future business requirements.

Principal Accountabilities

Technical Leadership and Strategy

• Define and lead the company’s technical strategy, ensuring alignment with business strategy, commercial priorities, supply, customer expectations and market developments.
• Provide technical counsel to the Managing Director and Executive Team, informing business planning, investment priorities, risk management, strategic decision-making, and long-term growth plans.
• Set functional direction for the Technical Department, including objectives, governance frameworks, performance standards, resource planning, and capability development.
• Establish and maintain technical policies, standards, and controls that support consistent decision‑making, regulatory compliance, product integrity, and customer assurance.
• Be aware of and ensure the technical team Identify and assess emerging technologies, materials, manufacturing capabilities, and market trends that may create competitive advantage, operational improvement, or new commercial opportunities.
• Act as the senior technical authority for the business, providing leadership on complex technical matters and ensuring appropriate escalation, resolution, and organisational learning.

Product Development and Innovation

• Be responsible for and lead the overarching governance of new product development working with the Technical NPD Manager from concept through to commercial implementation, ensuring robust technical validation, risk assessment, documentation, and cross‑functional approval.
• Partner with Commercial team to translate strategic customer and market requirements into technically viable, commercially attractive, and operationally deliverable packaging solutions.
• Oversee the teams product testing, trials, specification development, scale‑up validation, and readiness for commercial launch.
• Oversee and ensure product specifications, technical data, compliance documentation, and regulatory information are accurate, controlled, and fit for internal and external use.
• Drive innovation that improves product performance, customer value, margin opportunity, operational efficiency, and sustainability outcomes.

Technical Support

• Provide senior technical oversight for extrusion, lamination, slitting, and packaging conversion activity, ensuring supply base manufacturing capability supports the current and future product portfolio.
• Product non‑conformance issues: Lead technical escalation, root cause analysis, corrective action, and preventive improvement for significant customer, supplier, or manufacturing issues.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement, cost optimisation, waste reduction, and process standardisation.

Quality, Food Safety, and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure the business maintains appropriate compliance with global food contact materials regulations, packaging waste obligations, customer requirements, quality standards, and relevant industry expectations.
• Responsible for the team maintaining effective governance of technical data, product specifications and compliance records
• Responsible for the team monitoring regulatory and industry developments affecting food packaging and ensure the organisation responds in a timely and proportionate manner.
• Provide executive oversight of significant customer complaints, technical non‑conformances, corrective and preventive actions, and associated risk mitigation.

Sustainability

• Lead the technical contribution to the company’s sustainability agenda.
• Ensure sustainability considerations are embedded into product development, material selection, supplier engagement, customer proposals, and technical decision‑making.
• Support customers in achieving sustainability objectives through technically credible and commercially deliverable solutions.

Customer and Commercial Support

• Act as the senior technical representative in strategic customer discussions, technical reviews, presentations, and new business development activity. Key driver of technical sales growth by leading customer trials.
• Build trusted technical relationships with key customers and support the resolution of complex or commercially significant technical matters.
• Provide high‑quality technical input to commercial proposals, tenders, innovation reviews, and customer development plans.
• Ensure customer requirements are clearly understood, documented, risk assessed, and translated into appropriate technical, operational, and actions.

Supplier Management

• Provide technical governance for supplier qualification, specification changes, supplier innovation, and technical performance management.
• Ensure appropriate controls are in place for the introduction of new materials, suppliers, and specifications.

People Leadership

• Lead the Technical Department creating a culture of accountability, collaboration, professional standards, and customer focus.
• Develop organisational capability
• Set clear functional objectives and performance measures aligned with business priorities and review progress
• Promote effective cross‑functional working between Commercial, Procurement, and external partners.
• Contribute positively to the wider leadership culture of the business.
• Responsibility for escalating material business risks, regulatory issues, customer concerns, or significant technical non‑conformances to the Executive Team.
• Represent the business as senior technical lead

Key Performance Measures

• Delivery of technical strategy, functional objectives, and agreed departmental plans.
• Successful delivery of product development, innovation, sustainability, and material qualification projects.
• Regulatory compliance, technical documentation accuracy, and audit/customer technical review outcomes.
• Resolution of significant customer, supplier, and manufacturing technical issues.
• Contribution to operational efficiency, product performance, quality improvement, and cost optimisation.
• Strength of customer and supplier technical relationships.
• Technical team capability, engagement, succession, and performance.
• Strong technical knowledge of flexible packaging materials and structures, including PE, PP, PET, PA, EVOH, barrier films, adhesives, and laminating technologies.

Required Leadership Behaviours

• Strategic and commercially focused, with the ability to translate technical complexity into clear business needs and decisions.
• Confident, credible, and influential with customers, suppliers, senior leaders, and cross‑functional colleagues.
• Decisive and accountable, with sound judgement in managing technical risk and business priorities.
• Collaborative and pragmatic, balancing innovation with operational deliverability and commercial reality/trade offs.
• Committed to continuous improvement, sustainability, professional standards, and developing others.

Key External Relationships

• Key customers and strategic customer contacts
• Raw material suppliers and technical partners
• Tray and machine manufacturers

22/10/2026