Factory Quality and Hygiene Specialist

Business Area: Nestle Purina

Location: Sudbury, Suffolk

Salary: Circa £45,000 Depending on Experience + potential bonus + generous pension scheme + 12 flexible days on top of 25-day holiday entitlement + 2 paid volunteering days + other fantastic benefits!

Championing diversity and inclusion is so important to us; when we embrace different perspectives and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business.

We are excited to offer an opportunity for a Factory Quality & Hygiene Specialist to join our team at the Sudbury facility. We are seeking a dedicated individual eager to make a significant and sustainable impact on our operations by ensuring compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in our production processes. In this crucial role, you will be an integral member of the Quality team, responsible for ensuring that all Nestlé standards for food safety, quality, and hygiene are consistently upheld across our production lines.

At Purina PetCare, we are passionately committed to enhancing the lives of pets, helping them enjoy happier, healthier, and longer lives, as we are pet owners ourselves. Our Sudbury factory employs a workforce of 200, producing some of the UK’s most beloved brands, including Go‑Cat, Bakers, Purina ONE, BETA, and Pro Plan. Located in the picturesque Stour Valley, Sudbury offers a beautiful environment perfect for animal lovers, with London just a 45‑minute train ride away from nearby Colchester.

Impact

• Ensure the effective implementation and adherence to quality systems and food safety requirements, including HACCP, internal audits, and cleaning routines.
• Act as a deputy for the Quality Manager as needed, including leading responses to food safety and hygiene incidents in accordance with Incident Management protocols.
• Implement Quality and Food Safety systems and programs in operations, adhering to standards such as HACCP, glass control, foreign body controls, cleaning protocols, internal food safety inspections, food defence, and pest control programs.
• Coordinate the rollout of Quality & Food Safety training programs within Operations, ensuring all staff receive relevant training and understand its application to their roles.
• Conduct routine analysis, trending, and reporting of quality and food safety Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) to ensure effective handling and resolution of internal and external audits, customer complaints, and KPI deviations.
• Implement quality, food safety, and cleaning control plans for projects within Operations, including installations and modifications of equipment, buildings, and processes.

Ingredients for Success

• A Higher National Certificate or equivalent education in Food Science discipline or similar.
• HACCP Level 3 certification, internal audit, and Food Safety Level 3 certification.
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel for data analysis, trending, and reporting, with the ability to create impactful Power BI reports to effectively communicate findings and recommendations.
• Ability to influence working groups without authority and provide direction, conduct competency assessments, and deliver training when required.
• Exposure to manufacturing quality, preferably in a food manufacturing environment.

What you need to know?

What can we offer in return? Great benefits you’d expect from a business the size of Nestlé – in the shape of a competitive salary and benefits package, bonus scheme, flexible working scheme, 25 days holiday plus statutory holidays plus flex leave, pension scheme and a real focus on personal development and growth.

We will be considering candidates as they apply and we will occasionally close job advertisements early in the event we receive sufficient applicants, so please don’t delay in submitting your application.

At Nestlé, our values are rooted in respect. When we embrace diversity and give everyone the chance to be the best they can be, we can think in new, creative ways that grow and enhance our business. People of all gender identities, ethnically diverse individuals, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBT+ community are strongly encouraged to apply.

If there is anything we can do to accommodate you to participate fully in the application process, please let us know. We take pride in championing inclusion and diversity, our people make up a number of Colleague Networks who represent different experiences and communities who hold us accountable in creating a sense of belonging for all, and our values create the conditions for us to respect the unique contribution you bring.

We are committed to equal opportunity for all and we may collect relevant data for monitoring purposes during our candidate registration process.

Be yourself, everyone else is taken!