Assistant Technical Manager
East Kent
£ 25,000-28,000

Job Purpose:

Responsible for supporting the technical team assisting the technical manager and the head of technical on customer driven technical needs and projects as allocated by the technical manager.


Key Accountabilities:

• Building a strong proactive relationship with the technical and commercial team. Answering requests for information promptly & ensuring all on going tasks are completed within set deadlines
• Advising suppliers on relevant customer requirements
• Creating, maintaining and communicating specifications to suppliers & UK pack houses
• Exchanging information on quality with suppliers throughout the season
• Gathering information on varietal development & growing techniques
• Maintaining and updating a Code of Practice to cover Pesticide Safety, Food Safety and Hygiene Regulations
• Ensuring supplier due diligence documentation is on file prior to commencement of each season
• Ensuring suppliers are registered with SEDEX and comply with local employment legislation Assessing suppliers against the ETI Code as part of the audit process
• Updating the Company’s Approved Supplier List on a Monthly basis
• Investigate and Action customer complaints. Analyse and report on Customer Complaints on a periodic basis
• Monitor shelf-life results. Communicate issues to technical team
• Investigating non-conforming product – communicating with suppliers & customers to understand the causes behind product rejections & complaints
• Monitoring and improving supplier performance – analysing data generated from quality inspections together with customer feedback to produce seasonal reports
• Organising & participating when required in customer benchmarking sessions. Conduct & record the results of internal WIBI tests on a weekly basis
• Work with the Team to develop and implement the Company’s Quality Improvement Plan (QIP)
• Carrying out trials on packaging, post harvest technology, new varieties etc. Ensuring that results are turned into meaningful and concise report
• Participating in process mapping and value chain analysis to reduce and minimise costs both at source and in product management
• Establishing packaging & labelling requirements for new lines
• Auditing of UK secondary pack house sites as needed
• With the team, auditing the Company’s Product Management System to maintain high standards of operation



Qualifications/ Knowledge & Experience

• Minimum 2 years experience in a fruit QA/technical role
• Good standard of spoken and written English.
• Understanding of all aspects of product flow, from production through to customer delivery
• A basic knowledge of food safety, pesticide & hygiene legislation
• Knowledge of growing systems and management techniques such as IPM, ICMS, HACCP, BRC, GLOBAL GAP. Additionally knowledge of TNC, TFMS and SEDEX (ETI Code) is preferable
• Experience with a company supplying a major retailer within the fruit sector. Understanding how the supermarkets operate
• Demonstration of strong interpersonal skills with the ability to negotiate and communicate with internal and external stakeholders
• Self-organisation and an ability to plan workload
• Flexible. Willing to adapt ways of working to support team requirements
• Proven Time management skills: Accustomed to working with and meeting time critical deadlines
• IT skills – proficient with Word, Excel, Microsoft Outlook, PowerPoint and Graphical Representation