Retail Category Technical Manager

Asda Stores; Leeds; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Asda Stores in the United Kingdom is seeking a Retail Category Technical Manager to lead food safety, quality and regulatory compliance across Fresh Core Chilled, Bakery & Counters. You will work with suppliers and cross-functional teams to protect the Asda brand and drive technical excellence from concept to customer.

The role entails leading supplier relationships, championing technical standards and guiding product development and risk management in a fast-paced retail environment.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing complex food categories and supplier networks.
• Strong technical expertise in food safety, quality management and regulatory compliance.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support supplier partners to deliver safe, legal and high-quality products for customers.
• Act as technical lead for category areas, supporting the Lead Technical Manager in strategy and innovation.
• Champion Asda's technical standards, ensuring products meet quality and compliance expectations.
• Develop and implement quality improvement plans with suppliers to drive product excellence.
• Build strong relationships across the supply base, driving continuous improvement and managing issues.
• Identify opportunities, mitigate risks and add value to the wider business.
• Conduct strategic supplier risk assessments and support category plans through governance.
• Lead management of product incidents and participate in the technical on-call rota.

Skills

Supplier management

Food safety

Quality management

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Job Title: Retail Category Technical Manager

Location: Asda House

Employment Type: Full time

Contract Type: Permanent

Hours Per Week: 37.5

Salary: Competitive salary plus benefits

Category: Health and Safety

Closing Date: 8 November 2026

We have an exciting opportunity for a Category Technical Manager to join our Fresh Core Chilled, Bakery & Counters team.

At Asda, we're committed to becoming Britain's most trusted retailer, and this role plays a critical part in helping us achieve that ambition. You'll be responsible for ensuring our own-brand products consistently meet the highest standards of food safety, legality, quality and responsible sourcing, while supporting innovation and delivering great products for our customers.

Working closely with suppliers and cross-functional teams, you'll protect and enhance the Asda brand, drive continuous improvement across the supply base, and ensure robust due diligence and compliance standards are maintained across your category portfolio.

This is a fantastic opportunity to influence product quality from concept to customer, working across a dynamic and fast-paced area of the business.

What You'll Be Responsible For

Supplier & Technical Leadership

• Lead and support our supplier partners to deliver safe, legal and consistently high-quality products for our customers.
• Act as the technical lead for your category areas, supporting the Lead Technical Manager in delivering the business strategy and driving technical innovation.
• Champion Asda's technical standards both internally and externally, ensuring products consistently meet our quality and compliance expectations.
• Develop and implement quality improvement plans with suppliers to drive product excellence and customer satisfaction.
• Build strong relationships across the supply base, driving continuous improvement and proactively managing quality and compliance issues.
• Use your category and supplier knowledge to identify opportunities, mitigate risks and add value to the wider business.
• Conduct strategic supplier risk assessments and support category plans through effective technical governance.

Risk, Due Diligence & Incident Management

• Lead the management of product incidents in line with Asda's incident management processes.
• Participate in the technical on-call rota, including occasional weekend support where required.
• Drive investigations into customer complaints and dissatisfaction, working collaboratively with suppliers and internal stakeholders to implement effective corrective actions.
• Use horizon scanning, emerging industry trends and risk intelligence to anticipate future challenges and strengthen category resilience.
• Support continuous enhancement of technical frameworks that protect customers and uphold the Asda brand.

Innovation & Business Delivery

• Support the delivery of Asda's trade plans and own-brand innovation pipeline.
• Partner with Trading and Customer Planning teams to bring innovative, customer-focused products to market.
• Lead the technical delivery of new product development projects, ensuring products launch safely, legally and on time.
• Manage and influence critical paths to support successful product launches.
• Deliver agreed business objectives while balancing customer, quality, compliance and commercial priorities.

Systems, Compliance & Governance

• Ensure all active supplier sites and associated product specifications are accurately maintained within Asda's due diligence systems.
• Verify that all required compliance, ethical sourcing and responsible sourcing documentation is in place and actively managed.
• Support the development and implementation of policies, standards and processes relevant to your category areas.
• Monitor and manage key technical performance measures, including: Product specifications Audit compliance Withdrawals and recalls Customer complaints Supply chain mapping
• Support the delivery and ongoing development of Asda's audit framework, using risk-based decision making to drive improvements.
• Ensure supplier visits, audits and assessments are completed to a consistently high standard and supported by documented risk assessments.

People & Leadership

• Continuously develop your own capability while supporting the growth of the wider technical team.
• Provide coaching, guidance and knowledge sharing to colleagues and stakeholders.
• Line manage and develop direct reports where applicable.
• Support effective supplier engagement through conferences, training programmes and collaborative improvement initiatives.
• Act as a role model for Asda's values, promoting a positive, inclusive and high-performing culture.

Let's Find Out About You

You'll be an experienced Technical Manager with a passion for food quality, safety and innovation, and a strong track record of delivering results in a retail, FMCG or food manufacturing environment.

• Proven experience managing complex food categories and supplier networks.
• Strong technical expertise in food safety, quality management and regula