Technical Controller

Greencore

Northampton

On-site

GBP 65,000 - 85,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Company share save scheme

Greencore Qualifications

Employee discount platform

Wellbeing Centre platform

Enhanced parental leave and menopause

Job summary

Greencore Northampton is seeking a Technical Controller to lead the site technical function, ensuring food safety and quality across five manufacturing units. You will head a multidisciplinary team and drive governance, audits, and continuous improvement to meet customer and regulatory requirements.

You will oversee a technical strategy, collaborate with operations, liaise with customers, and deliver KPI-driven improvements while ensuring a safe workplace for all employees.

Qualifications

Degree in Food Science or related field required.
Advanced food hygiene Level 4 or equivalent.
HACCP Level 4 knowledge or equivalent.
Level 3 allergen management and related training.
Lead assessor qualification is desirable.
Experience with internal audits and QMS development.
Experience delivering a technical strategy for a manufacturing unit.
Proven supplier negotiation and contract management experience.

Responsibilities

Head the site technical function and lead cross-disciplinary teams.
Ensure food safety, quality and regulatory compliance across five units.
Serve as senior interface with customers on business planning.
Maintain technical governance and audit compliance.
Create and implement an integrated technical plan to meet objectives.
Drive process and KPI improvements and best-practice sharing.
Develop and implement QMS and manage audit information.
Maintain a safe working environment for all colleagues.

Skills

Leadership

Food safety

Audit planning

Quality systems

Regulatory compliance

Project management

Supplier management

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Degree in Food Science

Advanced food hygiene Level 4

HACCP Level 4

Level 3 allergen management

Lead assessor qualification

Tools

QMS management tools

Audit management software

Job description

Following the combination with Bakkavor in January 2026, we're 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're 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.

Here at Northampton, we operate one of the most impressive facilities in Europe, based across a campus of 5 manufacturing units, and we have a team of around 2,000 colleagues making high quality premium products every day. We are the sole supplier of sandwiches, wraps, rolls and sushi for Marks & Spencer.

What you'll be doing

As Technical Controller you will head up the site technical function and lead multi-disciplinary teams ensuring that the manufacturing unit operate within the required technical and hygiene process standards by adhering to customer, business and legal standards. In this role you will be a member of the Site Leadership Team.

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 compliment 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 respects 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're looking for

We're proud to be recognised in the Gender Equity Measure Top 100 for our commitment to gender equality.

Desired: educated to degree level with a specialism in Food Science (or other relevant qualification)
Holds the following relevant qualifications: Advanced food hygiene Level 4 or equivalent, Level 4 Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), Level 3 allergen management and Level 4 micro biological training
Holds a lead assessor qualification
Awareness of Ethical and Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) management
Experience of creating and implementing an internal audit plan
Experience of developing and implementing a QMS
Experience of creating and implementing a technical strategy for a manufacturing unit
Able to lead projects and project management
Demonstrable experience of supplier negotiation and managing multiple external contracts with suppliers e.g., service providers, labs, laundry, pest controls and chemical providers
Is experienced in liaising with government agencies e.g., Environmental Health Officer (EHO)
Experience of applying advanced food legislation in a manufacturing environment
Able to implement and delivering KPI improvement plans
Demonstrable experience of building sustained customer relationships and working with specific customer requirements e.g., Clean-in-place (CIP)/Thermal Process

If this sounds like you, join us and grow with Greencore, and be a part of driving our future success.

What you'll get in return