Head of Technical - Food Production and Innovation

Head of Technical - Production and Innovation £40,000 - £55,000 per annum depending on experience plus annual performance bonus www.thenewtinsomerset.com
Production and Innovation at The Newt in Somerset

The Newt in Somerset brand is a fine-quality grocery & beverage producer and direct-to-consumer supplier. This is achieved via a full vertically integrated consumer proposition and operation that allows tight quality control across all phases of the product delivery, making it a truly best-in-class experience for our customers. The Newt is on an exciting journey to expand the volume and breadth of what we offer with our growing E-commerce business. We are in the process of developing some brand-new production facilities for Meat, Fish, and dairy.

Our Head of Technical
You will strategically oversee the technical plan of all Products being made in the new facilities phase 1 and phase 2. This is an exciting role as the site is in its building stage and there is the opportunity to support shaping the new facilities, define best technical standards and input new standards and procedures within the operation. Quality and Safety will be of upmost importance. Initial stages will be about building the infrastructure, skills and processes to drive the objectives.

Benefits: Excellent Benefits package available from day one including:

• Exceptional working environment
• Access to Employee Assistant Programme - Support 365 days per year
• Complimentary fresh estate grown meal provided each day
• Garden Membership plus complimentary guest passes and access to our partner gardens
  
• 30% online shop discount and free delivery
• 30% discount in the shops across the estate
• 30% discount at restaurants across the estate
• 30% discount on Newt cyder and Babylonstoren wine
• 50% discount in the Spa
• Access to free weekly fitness classes, including yoga
• Discounted hotel stays
• Family Estate Events
• Access to internal/external training qualifications and programmes
• Experience and Cross Training opportunities

Duties and Responsibilities

• To deliver a technical strategy that is safe, high quality and embedded within the operational plan
• Ownership of the whole technical governance to drive a plan to service our Retail, Ecommerce, and hospitality business with the very best quality products.
• To develop and adapt robust technical procedures through HACCP management, processes and developing the right infrastructure of people to deliver
• Health and safety compliance to the highest standards
• Working with the operational team develop cleaning schedule and validation for the hygiene team.
• Working with the engineering department to ensure correct maintenance schedules are in place for equipment and build infrastructure
• Manage direct reports to improve the quality screening and management of all our ingredient and finished product suppliers.
• Proactive relationship with the technical contacts such as the EHO, EHA and Technical consultants in place.
• Quality being top of agenda – working with Head of Food, set up quality monitoring and corrective action across our own products and external Newt products
• Budget compliance - to oversee cost management of the technical operation
• To adopt and develop management dash boards to track progress across KPI for quality compliance
• To recruit and build the relevant skills within the technical team which would include Quality assurance managers, HACCP, Quality standards manager
• Motivate and harness the skills of the team to drive a team which is highly. motivated, in-depth knowledge of their product area and deliver products with passion and to the highest standards
• Supporting the Head of NPD to develop new products for the future and harness the skills of two teams developing the most efficient production process but to the highest quality output.

Qualifications and Experience

• Qualification in Technical, operations, project management, Analytical and science-based qualification
• 5+ years of proven track record experience in technical management in the chilled food industry, fresh food or other fast-perishable goods. Ideally in Meat, Fish, Dairy and Produce
• Experience of successful leadership in running diverse teams with high degree of delegation and autonomy
• High technical knowledge, data-driven approach in decision-making via effective measurement and assessment of technical performance, focusing on quality and safety
• Agile, adaptive and solution orientated
• Proactive with great interpersonal skills and ability to communicate and coordinate with team members and stakeholders at all levels

Optional experience as a bonus factor:

• Experience working in high-volume transactional B2C environments, either Ecommerce or/and bricks & mortar retail
• Experience in new site set ups in the food industry

The Newt in Somerset

The Newt in Somerset is a truly unique destination with two distinct sides.

It is a country estate with ancient woodland, historic gardens with far-reaching views, a luxury hotel, spa and restaurants. Attracting some 200,000 visitors per year from all over the world, our vibrant and thriving garden attraction is animated throughout the seasons by special events, workshops and educational programmes.

The Newt in Somerset is also a fine quality food & drinks brand, running a large farm land that produces a vibrant abundance of homegrown produce in a traditional, clean and sustainable way. This includes both fresh vegetable and fruit harvest, 365 days a-year, milk and dairy production, sheep and beef pastures with our own butchery, artisan bakery, mature apple orchards and state-of-the-art cyder cellar.

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