Technical Controller

Greencore

Eythorne

On-site

GBP 70,000 - 90,000

Full time

11 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

£5,500 car allowance per annum

Up to 10% bonus per annum

Private Medical Cover

25 Days Annual Leave + 8 Bank Holidays

Pension contributions

Life insurance up to 4x salary

Employee discount platform

Wellbeing Centre access

Enhanced parental leave

Job summary

Greencore Tilmanstone site seeks a Technical Controller to lead the multi-disciplinary technical function, ensuring food safety, quality, and customer alignment. The role reports to the General Manager and oversees 25–30 colleagues, including a Factory Technical Manager and Technical Services Manager.

You will drive continuous improvement, maintain standards, and foster strong retailer partnerships while upholding UK regulations and company policies.

Qualifications

Experience in chilled food manufacturing and regulatory standards.
Proven leadership of large technical teams and continuous improvement initiatives.
Experience managing customer audits and retailer expectations.

Responsibilities

Head the site technical function and lead multi-disciplinary teams to meet standards.
Provide direction to engage colleagues across functions and develop talent.
Drive food safety, quality systems, and audit compliance across the site.
Lead customer interactions and joint planning to meet requirements.
Develop and deliver an integrated technical plan aligned to business goals.

Skills

Chilled food manufacturing

Senior technical leadership

Customer relationship management

Cross-functional collaboration

Problem solving

Education

Degree in Food Science or related discipline

Level 4 HACCP or equivalent

Tools

QMS implementation

Job description

Salary

Competitive salary

Benefits

Up to 10% bonus per annum, £5,500 per annum car allowance, Private Healthcare

Location

Tilmanstone, Kent

Ways of Working

Site based

Hours of work

Monday - Friday, 08.30-17.00 (Flexible based on business needs)

Contract Type

Permanent

Why Greencore

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we are one of the UK’s leading creators of convenience food, driven by a simple purpose: to make every day taste better. As a vibrant and fast-moving business, we are proud to employ over 28,000 talented colleagues across 36 manufacturing sites and 21 distribution depots in the UK and the US. Together, we bring delicious food to life. Our products cover every meal occasion from breakfast through to dinner and dessert, with lunch and snacking in between. In FY25, our shared passion helped us achieve combined revenues of approximately £4bn.

Our extensive direct to store (DTS) network, with 17 depots across the UK, allows us to deliver fresh and frozen food both our own and from trusted partners to thousands of stores every day, ensuring consumers enjoy the very best, whenever and wherever they shop.

Our site in Tilmanstone, near Dover, Kent, employs around 850 people and produces millions of bags of leafy salads and prepared vegetables for a dedicated customer. The site operates at a fast-paced, high-volume level.

What you will be doing

Reporting to the General Manager, the Technical Controller is the senior technical leader at the Tilmanstone site, with 2 direct reports: the Factory Technical Manager and Technical Services Manager.

The role leads a wider technical function of approximately 25–30 people, maintaining the site’s strong technical, food safety, and quality standards while driving continuous improvement and managing customer relationships.

Role Accountabilities

As Technical Controller you will head up the site technical function and lead multi-disciplinary teams ensuring that the manufacturing unit operates within the required technical and hygiene process standards by adhering to customer, business and legal standards.
Provide leadership and direction to ensure that across the functions colleagues are engaged, focused, developed and delivering their potential.
Contribute to the site leadership team to ensure that food safety and quality systems complement the operational model.
Provide a senior interface with customers on joint business planning activities to deliver exceptional standards of customer service and adherence to customer policies and requirements.
Ensure technical governance across a multi-disciplinary team to deliver audit compliance with respect to internal, external, legal and customer requirements.
Create and deliver an integrated business plan to ensure that technical and hygiene processes are resourced and directed to deliver manufacturing, customer and legal business objectives.
Identify and promote technical business improvement practices to deliver legal compliance and competitive advantage whilst driving functional improvements.
Devise and implement a Quality Management Systems (QMS), ensuring that management information and statutory information is available for audit and MU Executive decision making.
Ensure that the technical team has the appropriate capability to comply with food safety and quality compliance.
Ensure that a safe working environment exists for all colleagues and that as a minimum the department meets the standards set out in the Health, Safety and Environment Policy.

What we are looking for

Extensive experience in chilled food manufacturing.
Senior technical leadership experience within large, complex food manufacturing businesses.
Proven own-label retail experience and a strong understanding of retailer standards and expectations.
Excellent customer relationship management skills, with experience leading customer audits and building strong retail partnerships.
Strong leadership and people development skills, with the ability to build, coach and motivate high-performing teams.
Experience working collaboratively with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain and other cross-functional teams.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills, with a focus on continuous improvement.
Proven experience leading technical and business improvement projects and delivering measurable KPI improvements.
Experience developing and implementing internal audit programmes and maintaining robust food safety and quality management systems.
A sound understanding of UK food legislation, BRCGS standards and food safety compliance.
Level 4 HACCP or equivalent.
A degree in Food Science or a related discipline (desirable).