Technologist

Co-op Group; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 45,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading food retailer in Manchester is seeking an Ambient Technologist to ensure that their own label products are safe, legal, and compliant. This role involves managing supplier performance, supporting product launches, and driving quality improvement initiatives. The ideal candidate will have a food technology degree or equivalent experience and possess strong communication skills. Employment offers various benefits, including an annual bonus, 28 days holiday, and access to training for career development.

Benefits

Annual bonus

28 days holiday

Employer pension contributions

Access to subsidised onsite gym

Coaching and training

Qualifications

• Technical experience with a retailer or manufacturer.
• Understanding of operational side of food retail.

Responsibilities

• Own and drive quality specification of Co-op products.
• Manage supplier performance and compliance.
• Conduct assessments of the supply base.

Skills

Food technology knowledge

Excellent people and networking skills

Strong communication and influencing skills

Collaborative approach

Education

Food technology degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Ambient Technologist

Up to £45,000 plus great benefits, including a company car (Work Level 6A). Manchester city centre, in this role you'll work in a hybrid way splitting your time between home and coming into the office 2 days a week, with UK travel to supplier sites and occasional overseas travel.

We're looking for an Ambient Technologist to join us at Co‑op as part of our Food Commercial team to help us make sure that our own label products are always fully safe, legal, and compliant. In this role, you'll be responsible for ensuring that Co‑op's own brand is consistently manufactured to the agreed specification, in accordance with safe and legal guidelines and legislation, so that we can continue to provide fantastic products. We'll also look to you to proactively manage risk and threats to Co‑op's brand reputation, and support continuous improvement, product innovation, and process compliance.

Why this role matters

At Co‑op we're committed to providing innovative, ethical, and sustainable products at great prices to our millions of customers. You'll be playing a key part in this, helping us to make sure that our products taste great and always live up to the highest quality standards for our members and customers.

If you've got the technical experience that we're looking for, we can offer you the opportunity to grow your career in an exciting area of our Co‑op.

What you'll do

• Support the Technical Manager, as well as owning and driving the quality specification of Co‑op products across biscuits, snacking, sweet grocery and home baking categories.
• Work in partnership with suppliers and category colleagues to make sure that quality is defined and measurable for our customers.
• Manage supplier performance by driving compliance to quality, safety, legal and ethical policies and processes, sharing the results of these with internal and external partners.
• Pro‑actively address under‑performance within GSCOP guidelines.
• Conduct ongoing assessments of the supply base to make sure we use suppliers whose competencies, capability, capacity, and alignment with our policy requirements meet or exceed customer expectations.
• Work collaboratively with the Category team to support the launch of new products, from product approval to specification and QAS signoff.
• Share expertise and identify solutions that drive innovation in category, and improvements in product quality, safety, and legality.
• Identify and deliver shelf‑life improvements, efficiencies, and value chain opportunities in the supplier base to support the category commercial strategy.
• Build and maintain relationships with all external partners, liaising with external agencies as required.

What you'll bring

• A food technology degree, or equivalent technical experience with a retailer or manufacturer.
• An understanding of the operational side of food retail.
• Excellent people and networking skills.
• Strong communication and influencing skills.
• A co‑operative and collaborative approach.

Why Co‑op?

• At Co‑op, we're owned by our members. And because we're owned by you, we can do right by you. So when you join us, you're not just taking a job, you're joining a movement. We're an organisation that puts people and communities first, and we're powered by purpose. We want this to be a place where you can thrive, so you'll also receive:
• An annual bonus (based on personal and business performance).
• 28 days holiday (rising to 32 with service) plus bank holidays.
• A pension with up to 10% employer contributions.
• Access to a subsidised onsite gym (at our Manchester HQ).
• Coaching and training to support your career development.
• Stream – early access to a percentage of your pay as you earn it.

A place you'll belong

We're building diverse and inclusive teams that reflect the communities we serve. We welcome applications from everyone and are committed to creating a workplace where colleagues can feel like they belong, supported by our inclusive policies and the ways we work.

We're proud to be part of the Disability Confident scheme and offer interviews to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for a job. If you need any adjustments during the recruitment process, we'll support you.

Learn more about our recruitment process at jobs.coop.co.uk/apply-process and our inclusion commitments at jobs.coop.co.uk/diversity-inclusion.

Please note that we may close applications for this role early.

As part of your application, you'll need to complete an online assessment. This assessment typically takes up to 50 minutes. If you're a current Co‑op colleague, this does not need to be completed.