Hygiene Manager, Hygiene Manager

Westerleigh Working Hours - 40h/week with flexibility required to cover nights/early hours/weekends - when/if needed.

Are you an experienced Hygiene professional with a passion for food safety, quality, and continuous improvement? We're looking for a Hygiene Manager to join Pilgrim's Europe at our Westerleigh site. This is a fantastic opportunity to lead the hygiene function, ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness, food safety, and audit compliance are maintained across the site.

Working closely with Technical, Operations, and Production teams, you'll be responsible for managing hygiene operations, developing your team, maintaining audit readiness, and driving improvements that support our commitment to quality and food safety excellence.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead and manage all hygiene activities across the site, ensuring daily, periodic, and deep cleaning schedules are completed to the highest standards.
• Maintain and review cleaning instructions and schedules to ensure compliance with BRCGS, customer, legal, and company requirements.
• Manage hygiene teams, providing coaching, training, development, and performance management.
• Monitor hygiene performance through KPIs, trend analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Manage hygiene labour, budgets, chemical usage, and associated costs.
• Prepare the site for customer, retailer, and third-party audits, ensuring documentation is accurate and up to date.
• Lead investigations into hygiene-related issues, including microbiological results that fall outside specification.
• Actively participate in the site's HACCP team and support food safety and quality systems.
• Conduct trials of new chemicals, equipment, and cleaning methods to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
• Ensure compliance with Health & Safety requirements, including COSHH, PPE, and safe working practices.
• Promote a strong Food Safety and Quality Culture across the site.

About You

We're looking for a hands-on leader who can motivate teams, challenge standards, and drive continuous improvement.

You Will Have

• Previous Hygiene Management or Hygiene Supervisory experience within food manufacturing.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, hygiene standards, and audit requirements.
• Experience preparing for and supporting BRCGS and major customer audits.
• Knowledge of HACCP and food safety management systems.
• Experience managing hygiene teams, training, and performance development.
• Strong communication, coaching, and leadership skills.
• Good analytical skills with the ability to identify trends and drive improvements.
• Experience managing budgets and hygiene resources effectively.
• Strong understanding of Health & Safety and COSHH requirements.

Qualifications

• Level 3 qualification or equivalent experience.
• Intermediate or Advanced Food Hygiene Certificate.

Why Join Pilgrim's Europe?

• Competitive salary and benefits package.
• Pension scheme.
• Employee discount platform.
• Training and development opportunities.
• Career progression within one of Europe's leading food businesses.
• Health and wellbeing support programmes.
• A supportive and collaborative working environment.
• Opportunity to make a significant impact on food safety, quality, and operational performance.

As part of the Pilgrim's Europe way of working, this is a site-based role at Westerleigh, with an expectation to work on-site 5 days per week. Please note: Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application. Unfortunately, Pilgrim's Europe is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.

At Pilgrim's Europe, our values of Availability, Humility, Discipline, Sincerity, Ownership, Determination, and Simplicity guide everything we do. If you're looking for an opportunity to lead a hygiene function, develop a high-performing team, and help drive food safety excellence, we'd love to hear from you.