Lead Senior Category Technical Manager

Fortnum & Mason is seeking a passionate Lead Senior Category Technical Manager to join our esteemed team. This pivotal role involves leading and managing Supplier Assurance Technologists, overseeing the technical and CSR aspects of our New Product Development process for both Food and FBH Own Label products and proprietary brands. You will ensure all products meet external commitments, product safety, and legal due diligence requirements.

Your responsibilities include:

• Managing supplier relationships, mitigating risks, ensuring traceability, and maintaining a sustainable supplier quality management system.
• Conducting supplier site visits and audits, driving positive changes from processing sites to growing and mining levels.
• Coordinating and providing quantifiable metrics for real-time assessment of supplier performance against CSR targets and operational procedures.

Key Functional Skills, Knowledge & Behaviors:

• Demonstrate good judgement, drive and influence.
• Proactively drive the Technical agenda and take a leadership role in all technical matters.
• Provide accurate and timely information.
• Manage cross departmental relationships to ensure delivery of technical requirements.
• Create and deliver long term sustainable relationships with our supply base.
• Good understanding of Quality management systems and Food Safety management.
• Knowledge of product processing equipment and controls.
• Familiarity with law and regulatory guidelines.
• Effective written and oral communication skills.
• Strong project management skills and ability to prioritise own workload.
• Ability to make timely, consistent and well balanced decisions.

Specific Role Requirements:

• Work with cross functional teams to deliver technical aspects of the NPD process on time.
• Ensure the technical aspects of NPD are delivered to the standard required.
• Maintain and deliver the T&CSR aspects of the NPD critical path.
• Ensure CSR and technical briefs are submitted on time and are fully complete.
• Flag potential issues in advance to allow resolution prior to projects falling behind.

New Product Development:

• Ensure provisional critical paths created in stage one of the launch process include all stages of the technical approval process.
• Ensure NPD product brief contains all technical requirements for the product.
• All technical stages to be delivered on time and proactively.
• All new products are assessed, and any new technical requirements fed into the appropriate Technical processes.
• Full sign off of each NPD Gate (technical and CST requirements).
• NPD Technical Review (Stage 5) actions to be dealt with within the agreed timescales.
• Investigate to identify the root cause and implement corrective actions into business policy if required.
• Ensure T&FS feed into wash up sessions and influence cross functionally to deliver change.

Specifications:

• To be in place for all packaging, food and non-food own label and proprietary branded product.
• Include all legal DD requirements, quality and all relevant information required to facilitate international approval of product.
• Ensure specifications cover all known risks to the business.
• All products have signed off specifications by on sale date.
• Specification templates to be appropriate for all product types and supply routes.
• Clear written guidance to be available for suppliers to aid the completion of specifications.
• Include all CSR requirements.
• Include a quantifiable QAS.
• Include all information required to meet online customer needs.
• Ensure specifications contain all information required for international customers.
• Deliver the new Specification system.

Audits:

• All audits to be carried out to the schedule and all corrective actions followed up and closed off.
• Audit results to be communicated to relevant managers in the weekly and monthly reports.
• Audit results to be trended and corrective actions to be closed off within the communicated timescales.
• External audits to be carried out to the standards agreed and within the timescales stated in the Supplier assurance policy.

Operational Procedures:

• Write, issue and monitor compliance to the F&M Supplier assurance procedures.
• Ensure internal operational procedures, COP and Policies relevant to area of responsibility are managed.
• Ensure these procedures are trained out to all relevant areas of the business and supply chain.
• Ensure compliance to these documents are audited internally and reviewed to a predefined risk assessed rota.
• Ensure all areas have in situ access to the Fortnum and Mason operational procedures.
• Ensure compliance to these documents are monitored, trended and reported to the business.
• Ensure all new suppliers are compliant and audited to all relevant operational procedures prior to manufacture and supply.
• Implement and maintain a supplier quality management system.
• Ensure CSR requirements and quantifiable targets are trained out and monitored in real time.
• Ensure supplier compliance to F&M microbiological standards.
• Ensure all new product is launched with full legal due diligence and traceability.
• All areas have access to the latest version of the relevant NPD paperwork.

Training:

• All new F&M staff are provided with training on Technical NPD requirements.
• Signed training records for all operational procedures relevant for each colleague’s roles to be collated by the Technical Assistant.
• NPD and International requirements to be added to the Quick guide introduction for Product Safety at F&M.
• Training schedule and bespoke Fortnum and Mason training in place.
• All new F&M staff are provided with training to ensure an understanding of the supplier assurance rules.
• Supplier training compliance to be monitored and reported.
• Product surveillance testing requirements to be included in all product specifications.
• Surveillance testing scheduled to be maintained and followed.
• All relevant products to be tested to the schedule.
• Out of specification Internal audit results to be communicated to relevant managers.

General:

• Master Work and detailed work planner to be kept up to date.
• T&CSR Project plans are in place, communicated to the relevant areas.
• Manage Modern slavery and Worker welfare risks within their category.
• Report on supplier performance internally.

Qualifications:

• Scientific degree or equivalent.
• At least 5 years’ experience in a technical area in either retailing or manufacturing.
• Experience in influencing cross functional teams to deliver new processes.
• Line management experience is essential.

In return, we offer fabulous benefits:

• A generous store and restaurant discount of up to 40%.
• Discretionary annual bonus of up to 5% of your annual salary.
• 28 days holidays (including bank holidays), an extra day off for your birthday AND 5 extra wellbeing days off!
• A fantastic subsidised staff restaurant which uses Fortnum’s ingredients.
• Defined development scheme to grow your career.

We are committed to developing your career and nurturing your talent, regardless of age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation. We respect and embrace each other’s differences, to create a truly inclusive environment.