Technical Manager in Lampeter

Are you ready to lead quality for a complex 24/7 dairy ingredients site, championing food safety, strengthening systems and developing a high-performing team? As Site Quality Manager, you'll set the standard for food safety and quality at Felinfach. Leading, coaching and developing our quality teams, building leadership capability, owning certifications and driving continuous improvement across the site.

How You Will Make an Impact

As the Site Quality Lead at Felinfach, you will ensure that all products meet food safety, quality, legality and customer requirements. You'll manage the analytical and microbiology laboratory, quality assurance, supplier quality and technical compliance, while building a robust food safety culture and delivering to internal SLAs. You will be a key member of the senior factory management team, collaborating cross-functionally to drive investigations, improvements and audit readiness in a 24/7 operation, while developing leadership capability and fostering an engaged, high-performing quality function.

• Ensure ongoing compliance with food safety, legal, AFI and customer standards (FSSC 22000, FEMAS, EHO approvals and related certifications).
• Own HACCP, VACCP and TACCP programmes and set hygiene and GMP standards; implement and train food safety principles across all levels.
• Lead the laboratory and QA functions to ensure fit-for-purpose analytical equipment and at-line testing that strengthens quality assurance.
• Coach, develop and inspire a multidisciplinary leadership team, building capability, driving engagement and creating a high-performing, inclusive culture where people can thrive.
• Lead and coordinate root cause investigations on quality and technical issues, embedding continuous improvement tools to improve product safety and quality.
• Deliver timely and accurate technical and quality reporting, manage the department budget and maintain strong relationships with local authorities.

This role sits within the Felinfach factory leadership team and reports to the Factory Manager. You will directly lead the Quality Manager, Laboratory Manager, Technical Compliance Lead, Supplier Quality Assurance Manager and Hygiene Lead, providing coaching, performance management and development to build leadership capability, support succession planning and lead a team of approximately 23 colleagues (primarily day shift, with ad hoc cover as required).

What Will Make You Successful

You will bring a BSc (or equivalent) in Food or Dairy Science, Microbiology or a related field, alongside five or more years' experience in technical or quality management within the food industry, ideally within dairy. You'll demonstrate strong people leadership, with a track record of coaching and developing leaders, building high-performing teams, driving engagement and creating an inclusive culture where individuals and teams perform at their best. You'll also bring proven project delivery and root cause analysis experience, together with advanced knowledge of food safety management systems, customer audits and external certification audits (such as FSSC 22000, FEMAS and BRC/PAS). You translate complex data into clear, actionable insights and ideally hold an Advanced HACCP (Level 4) qualification.

Personally, you're an authentic and inclusive people leader who builds trust, develops talent and empowers others to succeed. You're a conceptual and diagnostic problem solver who can prioritise effectively, identify root causes and drive meaningful action. Above all, you bring a continuous improvement mindset, you are never satisfied with average.

As an adaptable communicator, you're credible at all levels and remain calm, accurate and objective under pressure. We work closely together and are proud of our inclusive culture. You'll have the opportunity to make a real impact by shaping both our quality performance and the capability of your team through meaningful responsibility, strong cross-functional collaboration and a commitment to developing people.

What Do We Offer?

You'll join a market leader producing high-quality dairy ingredients in a way that makes things better for our customers, the farmers who own us and the world. We're committed to professional development, investing in our people and promoting from within, offering the platform to grow your leadership, develop others and expand your technical impact.

Would You Like to Join Us?

If you're ready to elevate food safety and quality at Felinfach while leading and developing a high-performing team, we'd love to hear from you. Please apply as soon as possible. We review applications on a continuous basis and will close the recruitment process once the right candidate is found.