Technical Manager – Dairy and Food Manufacturing

Cotteswold Dairy Ltd.; Tewkesbury; On-site; GBP 48,000 - 54,000; Full time

Job summary

Cotteswold Dairy Ltd. seeks a Technical Manager to lead food safety, quality, and technical compliance at our Tewkesbury site.

You will head the Technical and Laboratory teams, ensuring HACCP, BRCGS audits, and customer requirements are met while driving continuous improvement. The role requires extensive experience in dairy or food manufacturing, with strong leadership to coach a growing team and maintain an audit-ready culture.

Qualifications

• Significant technical/quality experience in food manufacturing/FMCG.
• Strong knowledge of BRCGS and external audits.
• Experience in high-risk/high-care, chilled or comparable food environment.
• HACCP Level 3 and Food Safety Level certified.
• Internal/external auditing experience.
• Previous management and leadership experience coaching and developing people.

Responsibilities

• Lead food safety, quality assurance and technical/legal compliance across the site.
• Maintain an audit-ready culture everyday and ahead of external audits.
• Lead preparation for and hosting of audits (BRCGS, customer, accreditation).
• Maintain and continually improve HACCP and food-safety management systems.
• Oversee laboratory operations and work with Laboratory Manager and Supervisor.
• Coach and develop Technical/Laboratory team members and managers.
• Collaborate with Production, Warehouse and management to raise standards.

Skills

Technical/Quality experience

BRCGS audits

HACCP Level 3

Food safety

Auditing

Education

Food-related Degree

Job description

Technical Manager – Dairy and Food Manufacturing

Employer:

Cotteswold Dairy

Location:

Tewkesbury, South West, GL20 8JE

Pay:

£48,000 to £54,000 per year,

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hours:

Full time

Disability Confident:

No

Closing Date:

07/11/2026

About this job

Technical Manager

• Dairy and Food Manufacturing Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire | Permanent | 40 hours per week Salary: £48,000 - £54,000 DOE, enhanced pension (
  6.5% employee,
  7.0% Employer) Benefits: Health & Wellbeing Cashback Scheme, Private Medical Insurance after 2 years Reports to: Operations Director Technical excellence matters.

Great leadership matters just as much.

Cotteswold Dairy is an independent family-owned dairy, established in 1938. We are looking for an experienced Technical Manager to lead food safety, quality, legal compliance and continuous improvement at our Tewkesbury operation.

This is a senior and highly influential role.

You will own our technical standards, including BRCGS, HACCP, external and customer audits, quality systems, technical compliance, complaints, laboratory oversight and audit readiness.

You will also lead a Technical and Laboratory function of approximately 15 colleagues, including the Laboratory Manager and Supervisor, Laboratory Technicians, Quality & Technical Assistants, and Technical Administrator.

We need both halves.

You must be technically credible within food manufacturing and confident leading BRCGS audits, HACCP and food-safety systems.

But we are equally interested in how you lead people.

We want a visible, approachable manager who gets to know their team, coaches and develops people, sets clear expectations and builds trust.

You should be comfortable challenging poor standards or behaviours without creating a blame culture, and capable of developing a genuine one-team mentality across Technical, Laboratory and Operations.

Key responsibilities

Lead food safety, quality assurance and technical/legal compliance across the site.

Maintain an audit-ready culture every day, not just before an external audit.

Lead preparation for and hosting of BRCGS, customer, accreditation and other relevant audits, including Halal requirements where applicable.

Maintain and continually improve HACCP and food-safety management systems.

Lead root-cause investigations, corrective actions and continuous improvement.

Oversee laboratory operations and work closely with the Laboratory Manager and Supervisor.

Coach, support and develop managers, supervisors and members of the wider Technical/Laboratory team.

Work collaboratively with Production, Warehouse and the wider management team, positively challenging where standards need to improve.

About you You will bring:

Significant Technical/Quality experience in food manufacturing/FMCG.

Strong practical knowledge of BRCGS and personal experience of external audits.

Experience in a high-risk/high-care, chilled or comparable food environment.

HACCP Level 3 and Food Safety Level

• Internal/external auditing experience.

Previous management and leadership experience with evidence that you have coached and developed people.

Strong problem-solving, root-cause, communication and influencing skills.

A food-related Degree/HND or equivalent.

Dairy experience would be particularly valuable, although strong candidates from comparable food manufacturing environments are encouraged to apply.

Cotteswold Dairy succeeds through Team Cotteswold: teamwork, empathetic people management, high standards and valuing the people around us.

Location: Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, close to M5 Junction 9 and commutable from Cheltenham, Gloucester, Worcester, Evesham, Pershore, Malvern, Ledbury and surrounding areas.