Quality Assurance Assistant

EDF Energy Limited; North Petherton; Hybrid; GBP 35,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Somerset Larder is seeking a Quality Assurance Assistant based at North Petherton (Compass House) to audit and improve quality systems across operations. You will lead allergen management, track labelling compliance, and support HACCP and SALSA standards while ensuring food safety requirements are met.

The role involves extensive sampling, audits, and cross-site travel to collect swabs and monitor product quality.

Qualifications

• Food Safety qualification (level 2 or above) or achieve within 30 days.
• HACCP training certification or achieve within 30 days.
• Allergen Management certification or achieve within 30 days.
• Driving licence.
• Previous experience in a QA or Food Safety role, with a strong understanding of SALSA, HACCP, food safety and hygiene standards.
• Experience of hospitality and catering operations, standards and best practice.

Responsibilities

• Complete sampling activities to schedule including allergen, environmental, microbiological and hygiene swabbing.
• Support New Product Development (NPD) trials and product launches, including allergen management, shelf-life assessment, and organoleptic testing.
• Monitor all aspects of the company's Allergen Management Plan, utilising the systems and audits that prevent allergen cross-contact and ensure accurate ingredient labelling.
• Support with complaints, incidents, or out-of-specification results to identify root causes and implement effective corrective and preventive actions
• Contribute to Technical KPI delivery through audits, investigations, and proactive improvement actions
• Monitor food production processes and carry out internal audits to ensure compliance with food safety, HACCP, and quality standards.
• Support with traceability audits, efficiently retrieving data and presenting findings clearly
• Participate in external audits carried out at South West Larder operational sites.
• Maintain records of audits, sampling, liaison and results.
• Travel across Client and company sites and ensure swabs are taken to the laboratory in a timely manner.

Skills

Food Safety

HACCP

Allergen Management

Hospitality experience

Driving licence

Communication skills

Time management

Teamwork

Education

Food Safety Level 2+

HACCP certification

Allergen Management certification

Job description

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert:

Contract Partner Company: Somerset Larder

Employing Company: Somerset Larder

The HPC Jobs Service supports local people into exciting, long-term careers across our Project.

Quality Assurance Assistant
Somerset Larder
Hinkley Point C

South West Larder: Togetherness, Nurture, Pride, Planet
Full Time: 39 hours a week
Salary range: £17.62 per hour
Location: Compass House, North Petherton and Other Locations as Required

Want to work for a company where Togetherness, Nurture, Pride and Planet are at the heart of everything they do? Then look no further, Somerset Larder produces fresh food and meals to go using locally sourced ingredients from all over the west country. Our philosophy is to nourish the community with amazing produce, to employ local people and to train apprentices for future careers in the catering and hospitality sector.

At Somerset Larder, our Values have been set by our staff. Our Values exist for the good of our working lives and company performance. Our Values are:

Togetherness - "Be a tractor not a trailer."
Nurture - "You grow, I grow, we grow."
Pride - "We can and we will"
Planet - "We're part of a bigger picture"

As Quality Assurance Assistant, you will audit, monitor and continuously improve quality systems and procedures across all operations. Working with the team on the ground, you'll provide practical technical support while maintaining and promoting quality and food safety standards in line with South West Larder, customer, and legal requirements.

This role demands a strong focus on allergen management, including cross-contamination prevention, ingredient tracking, and accurate labelling compliance.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Complete sampling activities to schedule including allergen, environmental, microbiological and hygiene swabbing.
• Support New Product Development (NPD) trials and product launches, including allergen management, shelf-life assessment, and organoleptic testing.
• Monitor all aspects of the company's Allergen Management Plan, utilising the systems and audits that prevent allergen cross-contact and ensure accurate ingredient labelling.
• Support with complaints, incidents, or out-of-specification results to identify root causes and implement effective corrective and preventive actions
• Contribute to Technical KPI delivery through audits, investigations, and proactive improvement actions
• Monitor food production processes and carry out internal audits to ensure compliance with food safety, HACCP, and quality standards.
• Support with traceability audits, efficiently retrieving data and presenting findings clearly
• Participate in external audits carried out at South West Larder operational sites.
• Maintain records of audits, sampling, liaison and results.
• Travel across Client and company sites and ensure swabs are taken to the laboratory in a timely manner.

Essential Qualifications

• Food Safety qualification (level 2 or above) - or achieve within 30 days
• HACCP training certification - or achieve within 30 days
• Allergen Management certification - or achieve within 30 days
• Driving licence
• Previous experience in a QA or Food Safety role, with a strong understanding of SALSA, HACCP, food safety and hygiene standards
• Experience of hospitality and catering operations, standards and best practice

Essential Skills, Knowledge and Attributes

• A good level of HACCP knowledge
• A good knowledge of allergens
• A proactive, detail-focused approach with a natural curiosity to challenge and improve standards while working independently.
• Strong communication skills, able to engage confidently with colleagues at all levels
• Good organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities to deadlines
• A collaborative mindset, working effectively within cross-functional teams
• Commitment to continuous improvement and personal development
• Highly organised with excellent planning and time-management skills.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong assessment and evaluation skills.
• Ability to analyse information and identify training needs.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and professional development.

For this role you must have evidence of right to work in the UK. As a project, we do not discriminate on the grounds of age, gender, race, colour, religion, disability or sexual orientation, and we welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Why Join Us?

For more than 60 years, nuclear power stations in the UK have been quietly keeping Britain fuelled with massive amounts of home-grown energy.

Our teams up and down the country are proudly continuing to serve the nation – but they also have an eye on the future.

EDF is leading the UK's nuclear renaissance with the construction of a new nuclear power station at Hinkley Point C and plans for a new power station at Sizewell C in Suffolk.

Nuclear power is the most reliable, low-carbon energy source currently available to the UK. EDF is playing a key role in the development of nuclear sites, while Hinkley Point C will provide low-carbon electricity to meet 7% of the UK demand. The project is already making a positive impact on the local and national economy as well as boosting skills and education.

We’re not just building new nuclear power stations. We’re developing careers, upskilling generations and creating thousands of employment and apprenticeship opportunities across a variety of skills areas.

It takes a special kind of person to work in the nuclear energy industry and although we have thousands of them there’s always a need for more.

Our industry has a mind-boggling range of opportunities and more jobs, and in more places, than you might think. But it’s also an industry which is changing.

We’re a responsible business and proud to be Britain’s biggest generator of zero carbon electricity. With size, age and experience, we believe we can do even more.