Hygiene Leader

Princes Group; Wisbech; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 70,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days leave

Pension scheme

Medical insurance

Flexible shifts

Development opportunities

Job summary

Princes Group is hiring a Hygiene Leader to drive the site-wide hygiene strategy and food safety compliance. You will lead activities across shifts, ensure cleaning and hygiene standards, and collaborate with Engineering, Production and Quality teams to sustain High safety and cleanliness levels at Wisbech.

The role emphasizes strong leadership, audit readiness and continuous improvement, enabling a robust food safety culture across all shifts in a hybrid working environment.

Qualifications

• Experience leading hygiene in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of BRCGS standards, HACCP and food safety legislation.
• Proven ability to lead hygiene audits and coordinate customer visits.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement and maintain site hygiene systems and standards.
• Lead hygiene audits and regulatory/commercial inspections.
• Oversee site Hygiene Master Schedule and cleaning validation activities.
• Provide coaching and training to production teams on hygiene practices.

Skills

People leadership

Hygiene management

Audit leadership

Food safety communication

Education

Food Safety Level 3

HACCP Level 3

Job description

Role Description

The Hygiene Leader is responsible for leading, developing and delivering an effective site wide hygiene strategy, ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and food safety are achieved and maintained at all times. The role plays a critical part in ensuring compliance with internal standards, customer requirements and legal obligations, supporting the site’s technical and operational objectives.

Job Purpose

The Hygiene Leader is responsible for leading, developing and delivering an effective site wide hygiene strategy, ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and food safety are achieved and maintained at all times. The role plays a critical part in ensuring compliance with internal standards, customer requirements and legal obligations, supporting the site’s technical and operational objectives. The role is primarily day based; however, flexibility is required to work across different shifts, including night shifts on an occasional basis, to ensure hygiene standards, training and compliance are fully aligned across all shifts. Internal Job title is Hygiene Manager.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, implement and maintain robust hygiene systems, procedures and standards across the site.
• Ensure all hygiene activities comply with company policies, customer requirements and legal obligations, including BRCGS, HACCP and food safety legislation.
• Own and continuously improve the site Hygiene Master Schedule, ensuring cleaning frequencies and methods are risk based and effective.
• Ensure equipment design, accessibility and cleanability are fully considered when defining cleaning methodologies, frequencies and validation activities, working closely with Engineering and Production.

To maintain product Food Safety, Legality, Integrity, Authenticity and Quality standards by ensuring all associated policies and procedures are adhered to.

Operational Delivery

• Provide site wide oversight of all hygiene and cleaning activities, including those carried out by production teams during line shutdowns and by outsourced amenities cleaners.
• Coordinate hygiene activities to support production plans, minimising risk and downtime while maintaining high standards.
• Develop, implement and maintain clear Cleaning Instruction Cards (CICs) for all hygiene tasks, ensuring they are accurate, controlled and reflect best practice.
• Ensure CICs and hygiene procedures are effectively deployed and embedded across all relevant areas and shifts.

Team Leadership, Training & Culture

• Provide functional leadership and guidance to all colleagues involved in hygiene tasks, influencing behaviours and standards without direct line management responsibility.
• Ensure appropriate training, instruction and competency assessment is in place for production operators undertaking cleaning activities, in collaboration with Production, Technical and Training teams.
• Oversee hygiene performance of third party amenities cleaning providers, holding suppliers to account against agreed service levels and site standards.
• Act as the site hygiene subject matter expert, providing coaching, challenge and support where gaps are identified.
• Champion a strong food safety and hygiene culture across the site and all shifts.

Audit, Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Lead hygiene elements of internal, customer and external audits, including BRCGS and retailer audits.
• Investigate hygiene related non conformance, audit findings and incidents, implementing effective corrective and preventive actions.
• Use hygiene KPIs, trend analysis and audit data to drive continuous improvement initiatives and reduce risk.

Health, Safety & Chemical Control

• Ensure all COSHH risk assessments and Material Safety Data Sheets (SDS/MSDS) are current, compliant and readily available to colleagues and contractors.
• Ensure safe handling, storage and use of cleaning chemicals at all times.
• Ensure hygiene activities are carried out in line with site health, safety and environmental requirements and approved safe systems of work.

Cost & Resource Management

• Manage hygiene related budgets, including consumables, chemicals and external cleaning services.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce cost without compromising hygiene, food safety or compliance.

Key Stakeholders

• Site Leadership Team
• Technical / Quality Teams
• Production & Engineering
• External contractors and service providers
• Auditors and customers

Role Requirements

Skills, Knowledge & Experience

Essential

• Strong working knowledge of BRCGS standards, HACCP and food safety legislation.
• Proven people leadership experience in a fast paced manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing hygiene audits and customer visits.
• Confident communicator with the ability to influence cross functional teams.
• Food Safety L3
• HACCP L3

Desirable

• Experience working with third party hygiene providers.
• NEBOSH, IOSH or equivalent H&S qualification.

Personal Attributes

• High attention to detail with a strong focus on standards and compliance.
• Proactive, resilient and able to manage competing priorities.
• Data driven with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Strong role model for food safety, hygiene and safety behaviours.

Benefits

• 25 Days Annual Leave plus Birthday off
• 14.5% Pension – 5% employee opt in / 9.5% employer
• Flexible Holiday Option - Buy 5 Additional Days
• Enhanced Family Friendly & Carers Policies
• Life Assurance Cover
• Private Medical Insurance
• Critical Illness Cover
• Learning & Development Opportunities

Location & Employment

Country: United Kingdom
Location: Wisbech
Business Area: Operations
Workplace Type: Hybrid

About Princes

The Princes Group has over 7,000 employees with offices and production sites in the UK, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, France and Mauritius. Princes manufactures 350 different food and drink products responsibly sourced and enjoyed by consumers every day. None of this would be possible without striving to be an employer of choice, where our colleagues are proud to represent our business.