Group Head of Technical

Group Head of Technical

• Salary: Negotiable
• Status: Full Time / Permanent
• Location: Harwich, Essex - UK

Surya Foods is one of the largest suppliers of authentic world foods in the UK and the company behind the fastest growing rice brand, Laila - part of the rapidly expanding, family run Flying Trade Group (FTG) which boasts an annual UK turnover in excess of £160-million, operating in over 30 countries. Impressive growth has seen FTG enter the 2018 Sunday Times Top Track 250 league tables and the Sunday Times International Track 200 in 2019 and in 2020 company sales are already growing at 28%.

We supply 100’s of products into supermarket giants Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Co-Op, Iceland. We supply key customers such as Bestway, Brakes and Bidfood in our every growing food service channel. We also supply over 1000 independent retail accounts across the UK which is the heartbeat of our business, as well as our recently created online store selling over 2000 SKU’s.

Surya Foods also represents some leading imported brands including Britannia Biscuits, National Foods, FOCO, Ajinomoto and Samai among others as part of our World Foods ranges.

With rapid expansion plans over next 3 years, we are planning on launching another 100 SKU’s this year, bringing new products and innovation to every sales channel. We are dramatically expanding our business with new capacity, new manufacturing capability and a much bigger commercial, marketing and buying team. We are embarking on a journey from specialist World Foods supplier to a leading FMCG mainstream manufacturer that is truly multi-channel and global.

To facilitate this growth, we are seeking a Group Head of Technical. Reporting to the Managing Director, you will manage the technical function, including Health & Safety, Quality and Compliance to ensure that there is a robust HACCP system on site covering maintenance of food safety systems, maintain documented quality systems whilst meeting all legislative requirements and those of the company customers. 

Duties and responsibilities:

• Head up the technical function in a growing business, ensuring all customers are confident with the knowledge, experience and technical integrity of the technical department and devise and implement a comprehensive annual plan for the technical department and performance monitoring of the team.
• Lead and advise the site teams on statutory regulations and company standards relating to good manufacturing practice, food safety, quality and environmental hygiene.
• Strong delivery of business technical KPI’s. These will include: consumer complaints, audit performance, extrinsic and internal (including ISO, BRC, HACCP) pest control, hygiene % compliance to schedule, training and development of teams.
• Liaise in professional manner with customers, external auditors and major retailers in matters of a technical nature.
• Liaise with local and international authorities regarding site food safety and legislation, labelling, customer complaints and environmental issues.
• Lead in respect of Health & Safety across sites.
• Train staff in level 2 food hygiene, level 2 health & safety, level 3 food hygiene (Supervisor’s and Manager’s).
• You’ll also own the processes within the technical department and track, trend and implement improvement procedures based around non-conformances.

Essential Skills:

• A food science degree
• Level 4 HACCP
• An advanced food hygiene diploma.
• Sound knowledge of BRC, FEMAS and HACCP.
• Experience in a similar role.
• Ability to deal with a complexity of products.
• Excellent people management skills.
• Ability to train, develop staff and lead by example.

If you possess these qualities and are looking for a rewarding career with opportunity for progression, we would love to hear from you.