Quality Assurance Technician

Geary's Bakeries Ltd; Leicester Forest East; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK bakery is seeking a QA Technician to support quality operations across multiple sites. You will be responsible for monitoring processes, conducting audits, and ensuring compliance with food safety standards. Ideal candidates will possess Level 3 Food Safety and Level 2 HACCP. This position offers a flexible 12-hour shift pattern and excellent benefits, including free bread and a supportive team environment. Join us in delivering quality products while making a difference in the bakery industry.

Benefits

Free delicious bread

BUPA Cashback Plan

Death In Service benefit

Cycle to Work scheme

Annual prizes worth £10k

Referral bonus up to £500

Qualifications

• Demonstrated knowledge of food safety regulations.
• Strong auditing skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work on multiple sites with flexibility.

Responsibilities

• Support Quality Manager by monitoring quality processes.
• Conduct compliance verification checks on equipment.
• Perform GMP audits and ensure hygiene compliance.

Skills

Level 3 Food Safety

Level 2 HACCP

Labelling and Packaging knowledge

COSHH Training

Hygiene of Foodstuffs knowledge

Food Safety Act 1990 knowledge

Basic microbiology understanding

Internal Auditing

BRCGS and retailer standards exposure

Intermediate experience with Excel

Experience in manufacturing bakery

Job description

QA Technician - Relief

Shift Pattern: Monday-Friday office hours, with flexibility to cover day and night shifts when required. Relief cover will follow a 12-hour, 4-on 4-off shift pattern, including weekends and holidays.

Location: Glenfield, Leicester (LE3), Barrow upon Soar, Loughborough (LE12)

Salary: Negotiable, dependant on skills and experience

The Role

The primary purpose of this role is to support the Quality Manager and wider Quality function by monitoring processes and products against site procedures and Quality Contracts, while providing holiday and absence cover on both Day Shift (DS) and Night Shift (NS) across all three sites. The role includes auditing, supporting interdepartmental teams, and delivering training in specialist subjects such as Metal Detection, Weights and Measures, paperwork completion, and segregation. The position is key to maintaining the company's due diligence defence and ensuring food safety, product integrity, and quality standards are met in line with specifications and customer requirements.

Your main responsibilities will include:

• Provide full flexibility to cover holiday and absence for QA functions across all three sites, including DS and NS, ensuring continuous Quality support to operations.
• To conduct legal compliance verification checks on equipment such as temperature probes, cales and fridges across the site against a defined schedule, escalating where out of specification results are identified and participating in investigation and corrective action implementation.
• Working as a support function to operations to ensure hygiene levels of the facility are maintained by conducting GMP/Glass and Hard Plastic and Fabrication audits in conjunction with department leads to assess compliance and improve standards. Report findings identified as outlined within the Internal Audit Procedure.
• GMP auditing of sites, communicating non-conformances to the relevant departments, striving to achieve 93% in all areas, at all times and ensuring close outs of non-conformances are closed out in a timely manner as outlined within the Internal Audit Procedure.
• To conduct audit/locker inspections and fridge checks in line with company procedures to ensure compliance against prohibited materials/items
• Ensure non conformances raised area logged, communicated, investigated and closed out, leasing with other departments to achieve this in a timely manner
• To carry out sampling and swabbing against site risk assessed swabbing and sampling schedules, leading on investigations when an out of specification result is received, confirming cause, corrective and preventative measures as outlined within the Non-Conformance Procedure.
• To be the subject matter expert for weight controls to ensure compliance with the Weights and Measure Act 1985.
• Confirm relevant weight control checks are completed and audited to ensure all produce produced are legally complaint with the Weights and Measures Act 1985.
• To be visible within the bakery reviewing and verifying activities including process understanding and behaviours, addressing tactfully to the relevant department supervisor/manager where improvements are required.
• Complete regular assessments of on-line paperwork and products, ensuring products being released are to the agreed specification.
• To sign off any equipment where engineering/maintenance work has been carried out, ensuring it is free from any source of contamination prior to production commencing.
• Conduct environmental swabbing as per the risk based swabbing schedule and conduct verification swabbing following hygiene cleaning.

About Us

At Geary's Bakeries, we're on a crusade to make proper bread more accessible to more people. We're passionate about re-imagining the way Great Britain thinks about their everyday loaf. This passion is at the heart of everything we do, and have done, since 1906.

We are 'born and bread' in Leicestershire and proud of our long-standing heritage. Today, we operate from three sites on a 24/7 operation. We're made up of over 1000 people: a friendly, diverse and outgoing team, passionate about making a difference to the bakery industry.

With recent investment, we've accelerated our ambitious growth plans. In the last 11 years, we have grown rapidly from £5m annual sales to over £100m and we're not stopping there! Backed by our vision and strategy, major capital investment and our commitment to developing our people and processes, we aim to grow our sales to £180m+ within the next 3-5 years.

Our brilliant benefits include free delicious bread, BUPA Cashback Plan, Death In Service, a Cycle to Work scheme and a chance to win a £10k worth prizes annually! Plus, if you refer a friend to join our team, you could earn up to £500!

#wearegearys

About You

At Geary's, we look for people who show up every day to do their best. We're a passionate, friendly team and look for the same qualities in our new recruits. We firmly believe your attitude and approach is just as important (if not, more so) than the skills and experience on your CV.

What we're looking for:

Skills and Experience

• Level 3 Food Safety
• Level 2 HACCP
• Labelling and Packaging knowledge
• COSHH Training
• 852/2004 the Hygiene of Foodstuffs knowledge
• Food Safety Act 1990 knowledge
• Basic level of environmental and product microbiology understanding
• Internal Auditing
• A passion for sharing knowledge and raising standards
• BRCGS and retailer standards exposure
• Intermediate experience with excel and reporting systems
• Experience within a manufacturing bakery

Please submit a CV in application. No agencies.

If you have not heard from us within seven days, unfortunately you have not been successful on this occasion, but we wish you every success in your search for a new position.

All applicants must have the right to work in the UK, at point of interview, and for the tenure of employment contract. As part of the recruitment process, you will be asked to provide documented evidence of your eligibility to work in the UK.