Technical Services Manager in Crawley

The primary responsibility of this role is to lead and deliver food safety, technical, and compliance strategies across Nature’s Way Foods, ensuring safe, legal, and high-quality food is consistently produced. The role has accountability for supplier assurance, technical compliance systems, and ethical standards, while maintaining strong internal and external stakeholder relationships and ensuring alignment with regulatory, customer, and industry requirements.

This position plays a critical role in maintaining due diligence, supporting supplier performance, and protecting customer trust through robust compliance frameworks, auditing, and continuous improvement.

What you get from us:

• Salary of £60,000 - £71,750 (dependent on experience)
• Annual bonus
• Employer matched pension up to 5%
• Health cash plan
• Flexible benefits including corporate gym discounts, shopping discounts, enhanced maternity & paternity policy and many more
• Access to online GP & life assurance

Key responsibilities:

• Lead and develop the Supplier Assurance and Specifications function, ensuring effective capability, governance, and performance
• Own food safety, legality, due diligence, and product integrity across the supply base, ensuring consistently safe and compliant raw materials
• Establish, implement, and maintain ethical compliance systems across suppliers and NWF sites
• Monitor supplier legal compliance (e.g. pesticide MRLs, microbiological performance), leading investigations and corrective actions for non-conformances
• Create, implement, and continuously improve food safety and technical compliance strategies, policies, and procedures within the QMS
• Lead implementation and auditing of the NWF Compliance Standard and internal audit programmes across all sites, driving best practice and continuous improvement
• Manage supplier approval, assurance, compliance KPIs, and the Supplier Assurance & Compliance budget
• Partner with senior leadership, customers, and suppliers to maintain best-in-class food safety and due diligence standards, representing NWF as required
• Enable business growth by holding teams accountable and ensuring effective technical delivery within the 7-stage NPD/EPD process

You will have:

• Proven auditing experience within FMCG and perishable food environments, with a strong technical background and understanding of food and pesticide legislation
• Experience working across multiple food categories (including produce), multi-site operations, and with major retailers and foodservice customers
• Strong people leadership capability, with excellent communication skills and the ability to lead, develop, and influence teams at all levels
• Qualified Lead Auditor/Assessor with Advanced Food Hygiene and HACCP Level 3–4 certification
• Degree (or equivalent) in Food Technology or a related discipline desirable, with demonstrable people management experience

About us:

Nature’s Way Foods is the leading manufacturer of prepared salads, coleslaw and “food-to-go” for supermarkets and retailers, and as such we work closely with farmers across Europe. Our culture is inclusive, and our people are diverse spanning 39 different languages. We operate four manufacturing facilities capable of producing over 326m units per year. It is an exciting time to join Nature’s Way Foods as we are growing rapidly and there are genuine opportunities to progress within the organisation.

At Nature’s Way Food, we believe that diversity and inclusion are key to driving innovation and achieving excellence. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to reach their full potential. We are dedicated to building a diverse team that reflects the communities we serve and the world we live in. Join us in our mission to create a more inclusive and fairer world. Together, we can become best at fresh.