Food Safety & Quality Manager, Food Safety & Quality Manager in Ballymena

We are seeking a motivated and experienced Food Safety & Quality Manager to lead food safety, quality and compliance activity within our production environment at Pilgrim’s Europe, Ballymena. This is a key technical leadership role, responsible for ensuring products consistently meet customer, legal and company requirements, while driving strong performance against food safety and quality KPIs. You will lead quality systems, support new product development, manage audits and develop the QA team to deliver best‑in‑class food safety and quality standards.

Department: Technical

Location: Ballymena

Direct Reports: QA Auditors

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, maintain and continuously improve a HACCP‑based Quality Management System, ensuring full due diligence and compliance.
• Coordinate and lead HACCP team activities.
• Ensure compliance with BRC, customer, third‑party and legislative requirements.
• Support NPD and process development through specifications, artwork verification, shelf‑life, reference samples and use‑by schedules.
• Monitor cleaning, hygiene and housekeeping standards through factory audits, trend analysis and action planning.
• Manage corrective actions and control of non‑conforming ingredients and finished product, including holds, rejects and returns.
• Oversee microbiological, shelf‑life and chemical testing programmes, identifying trends and driving corrective and preventative actions.
• Manage customer complaints, investigations, serious incidents and follow‑up actions.
• Develop, maintain and test the site Crisis Management System.
• Maintain site accreditations and implement additional standards required by customers or industry best practice.
• Produce daily, weekly and monthly quality KPI reporting for operations teams.
• Provide insight‑led information to support problem‑solving and continuous improvement.
• Liaise with customers and statutory bodies during audits and site visits, ensuring effective responses and close‑out of actions.
• Lead, coach and develop QA Auditors in line with Pilgrim’s Europe standards and expectations.
• Promote a culture of engagement, accountability and effective communication.
• Support training and development to build capability and resilience within the team.
• Manage performance, attendance and appraisals in line with company requirements.
• Lead by example in Health & Safety compliance and safe systems of work.
• Ensure COSHH assessments, risk assessments, training and incident investigations are completed and actioned.
• Maintain high standards of hygiene and housekeeping across all areas.
• Actively work to reduce environmental impact through waste, energy and carbon‑reduction initiatives.

What We’re Looking For

• Experience in a technical or quality leadership role within FMCG food manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP, BRC standards, food legislation and food hygiene.
• Auditing experience with strong report‑writing capability.
• Excellent communication, organisational and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Proven people leadership and development experience.
• Third‑level qualification in a relevant discipline.
• Advanced Diploma in Applied HACCP.
• Advanced Food Hygiene qualification.
• Project management or continuous improvement experience.
• Experience working directly with customers, auditors and regulatory bodies.

Values & Behaviours

Demonstrates ownership, integrity and determination, working collaboratively with discipline and humility to deliver practical results.

Why Join Pilgrim’s Europe?

• Play a critical role in protecting food safety, quality and brand reputation.
• Work in a technically challenging, fast‑paced manufacturing environment.
• Lead and develop a skilled Quality team.
• Drive real, measurable improvements through continuous improvement.
• Competitive reward package and development opportunities within a leading European food business.

If you’re passionate about food safety, quality excellence and leading teams to deliver consistently high standards, we would welcome your application.