Regulatory Affairs Manager

As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through re-inventing chocolate, we are looking for a Regulatory Affairs Manager to join our Technical Team on a permanent basis. As Regulatory Affairs Manager, you will play a pivotal role in shaping and delivering regulatory and compliance strategy across our UK and US product portfolios, ensuring full alignment with current food safety and regulatory requirements across our global range.

Leading a high-performing regulatory team, you will be accountable for timely regulatory approvals, accurate and compliant labelling, and proactive management of evolving legislation, supporting products from concept through launch and throughout their lifecycle in both markets. This is a highly collaborative role, working closely with cross-functional teams and external regulatory bodies to enable successful product launches, manage risk, and support the long-term commercial success of our portfolio.

Here at Hotel Chocolat, we have adopted hybrid working, meaning that when you are not joining the team onsite, you can work from wherever you like! The onsite location for this role is at our Factory 'Hadley Park', in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, right in the heart of where our chocolates are made.

What you will be doing:

• Leadership, Team Management & People Development: Lead, mentor, and develop a team of regulatory professionals, setting clear goals and expectations. Conduct regular performance reviews and provide constructive feedback to support individual growth. Foster a collaborative and inclusive team environment that encourages learning and innovation. Identify training and development needs and create opportunities for professional advancement. Support succession planning and ensure the team is resilient and adaptable to regulatory and business changes. Champion cross-functional collaboration, helping to build a high-trust, performance-oriented culture.
• Regulatory Compliance & Strategy: Develop and implement regulatory strategies to ensure compliance with UK and US food safety regulations. Keep up to date with evolving food law, labelling requirements and ingredient regulations in both markets. Ensure all product formulations, ingredients and processing methods meet required regulatory standards. Manage regulatory submissions for new product approvals, ingredient changes and nutritional claims. Collaborate with development, operational, commercial and the broader technical team to assess regulatory risks and provide guidance on compliance.
• Product Labelling & Claims Management: Review and approve product labels, packaging and marketing claims to ensure they meet the UK and US regulatory standards. Ensure compliance with allergen labelling, nutritional declarations, and country-specific labelling laws. Work with marketing and commercial teams to validate claims and sustainability statements.
• Stakeholder Collaboration & Process Improvement: Liaise with government agencies, regulatory bodies, and third-party certification organisations to facilitate approvals and resolve compliance issues. Support internal audits and regulatory inspections to maintain compliance. Identify opportunities to streamline regulatory processes and improve efficiency in product approvals.

In addition, this role may be asked to complete further tasks to support the wider Technical Department that are not detailed here. This role may also be called upon to deputise for the Head of Technical when required.

Who you are:

To be successful, the Regulatory Affairs Manager will utilise strong leadership, management, and coaching skills to engage the relevant teams and drive the regulatory compliance agenda. They will share their knowledge with the team to achieve the highest standards that Hotel Chocolat is striving for and have a positive can-do attitude which will be essential to build relationships across various departments and promote a robust compliance-focused and quality culture across all business functions.

• Proven leadership experience with the ability to inspire, coach and develop teams.
• Demonstrable expertise in Food Regulatory Affairs, Nutrition or a related field.
• Demonstrable experience within Regulatory Affairs role within the food industry.
• Strong knowledge of UK and US food safety regulations and labelling laws.
• Experience in product formulation approvals, ingredient compliance and nutritional labelling.
• Experienced in sustainability certification and nutritional claims management.
• Knowledge of international food safety standards.

We are one of the UK's favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the VelvetiserTM. A cacao pod takes years to grow – it can't be rushed if it's going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about. Now, we are market leaders in the industry.