Head of Technical - Food Production and Innovation

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.

• 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

• 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.

• 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