Quality & Technical Lead

Hip Pop; Manchester; On-site; GBP 26,000 - 39,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive starting salary with regular reviews

33 days holiday + your birthday off

Opportunity to grow your career

Cycle to Work schemes

Unlimited Hip Pop

Job summary

A leading soft drinks brand in Manchester is seeking a Quality & Technical Lead to enhance quality practices and ensure compliance across markets. This part-time role (22.5 hours/week) involves safeguarding the company's reputation, leading quality management systems, and supporting product development. Ideal candidates will have experience in food safety systems, a solid understanding of regulatory frameworks, and strong interpersonal skills.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of quality compliance and food safety systems.
• 3-4 years’ experience in food, beverage, brewing, or FMCG manufacturing.
• Technical expertise in microbiological, chemical, and sensory analysis.
• In-depth knowledge of labelling regulations, EU market laws for exporting.
• Ability to provide regulatory guidance for international expansion.
• Understanding of brewing and packaging lines.
• Strong interpersonal skills, able to influence and coach.
• Competent in MS Word, Excel, Google Sheets; relevant digital tools.
• Experience managing audits (internal and external).

Responsibilities

• Safeguard and strengthen the company's reputation for quality.
• Lead development and implementation of quality management systems.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements across markets.
• Provide technical expertise in brewing, microbiology, and food safety.
• Build a culture of quality, safety, and continuous improvement.
• Support new product development and market trends.

Skills

Quality compliance

HACCP

SALSA

Audits

Export regulations

Regulatory guidance

Brewing knowledge

Packaging

Interpersonal skills

MS Office

Tools

MS Word

Excel

Google Sheets

QMS

ERP

LIMS

Job description

Overview

Hip Pop is a Manchester-based, multi-award-winning challenger brand of soft drinks. We are growing and looking for a Quality & Technical Lead to help safeguard and strengthen our reputation for producing premium sodas and kombucha, while leading quality practices across the business.

Location: Manchester, United Kingdom (based in Manchester city centre near Piccadilly). Part-time role – 22.5 hours per week.

Responsibilities

• Safeguard and strengthen Hip Pop’s reputation for producing premium sodas and kombucha.
• Lead the development and implementation of robust quality management systems.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and customer standards across UK, EU, and US markets.
• Provide technical expertise across brewing, microbiology, food safety, packaging, and export regulations.
• Build a culture of quality, safety, and continuous improvement across the business.
• Directly support the Brewing Lead, Brewer, and NPD Lead.
• Support new market trends through a combined new product development and regulatory perspective.
• Lead to deliver safe, consistent, and exceptional products at speed while scaling.

Your Experience

• Strong understanding of quality compliance and food safety systems (BRCGS, HACCP, SALSA, ISO or similar).
• 3-4 years’ experience in a food, beverage, brewing, or FMCG manufacturing environment.
• Technical expertise in microbiological, chemical, and sensory analysis.
• In-depth knowledge of labelling regulations, EU market laws for exporting, and US/EU regulatory frameworks.
• Ability to provide regulatory guidance for international expansion and new product development.
• Understanding of brewing and packaging lines with practical problem-solving capability.
• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to influence, coach, and build cross-functional collaboration.
• Competent in MS Word, Excel, Google Sheets and relevant digital tools (QMS, ERP, or LIMS desirable).
• Experience of managing audits (internal and external).

What’s in it for you?

• Part-time role – 22.5 hours
• Competitive starting salary with regular reviews
• 33 days holiday + your birthday off
• Opportunity to grow your career based on your interests
• Cycle to Work schemes
• Unlimited Hip Pop
• Be a pivotal part of a legendary growth story

Based

Commutable to Manchester

Start date

ASAP

How to apply

• Send your CV to [e-mail] with “Quality & Technical Lead” in the subject line.