Quality Manager in Pontefract

Are you an experienced Quality Manager with a passion for ensuring excellence in production? Refresco UK, a leading manufacturer of soft drinks, is looking for a dynamic and detail-oriented Quality Manager to join our team. In this key role, you will oversee and maintain the highest quality standards, ensuring the consistency and safety of our products. You'll lead a dedicated team, implement quality control processes, and collaborate with various departments to continuously improve production efficiency.

At Refresco UK, we pride ourselves on our commitment to innovation and quality, and we’re seeking a professional who shares our values. If you're ready to make an impact in a fast-paced environment and contribute to the success of a leading brand, apply today!

What’s in it for you?

• 12.5% Annual bonus
• 28 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Option to purchase additional holidays
• Life assurance
• Employee referral scheme - earn a bonus for referring your friends or family
• GroceryAid – a support service offering financial, legal, wellbeing and practical support, advice and counselling
• Access to employee benefits platform – Cheers, including flexible benefits such as healthcare cover, dental insurance, car scheme, activities pass, financial services, will writing services, and more

Key responsibilities as the Factory Quality Manager at Refresco:

• Be accountable for factory implementation of Refresco UK’s Quality Management agenda, complying with legal, group, and customer requirements and then working closely with the site team to ensure that aspects are performed in line with standards.
• Actively participate as part of Bondgates technical team in the setting and improvement of the site Quality Management agenda and standards.
• Ensure due diligence can be demonstrated to satisfy the requirements of external agencies.
• Responsible for timely and accurate reporting of internal Refresco KPIs to the site management team.
• Responsible for ensuring GMP and Hygiene standards are communicated to the operational teams and processes are in place to effectively monitor and manage them.
• To partake in site visits and 3rd party / customer audits.
• Ensure that corrective actions are implemented, and drive quality improvement.
• React in a timely way to day-to-day quality/technical matters that arise, facilitating the determination of root cause, implementation of corrective action, and, in particular, ensuring effective systems are placed for: Control of non-conforming items Management of customer and consumer complaints.
• To work closely with the product/packaging implementation technologists and operational teams to ensure: The launch and trial of new products is completed promptly meeting food safety, legal and customer requirements. Process changes are evaluated, risk assessed, validated and documented.
• Facilitate the development of factory quality technicians to support the above roles as required and create a succession plan to increase skills and flexibility throughout the site team.
• Proactively build relationships with Customer Technical Managers, ensuring effective communication internally and externally.
• Control the Quality Team expenditure against agreed budget.
• With the Standards & Compliance Manager and operational team ensure: Internal audits are completed to schedule, root cause determined and corrected action implemented to drive quality improvement. HACCP teams are assembled and studies completed and reviewed to the required schedule.
• Lead the development of the team to support the above roles as required and create a succession plan to increase skills and flexibility throughout the standards team.

About you

By nature, you are organised and persistent, able to lead a small team as well as, able to achieve the desired results by effectively influencing larger teams. You will have a degree in Science or Food Technology or 5+ years’ industry experience in a technical or quality-based role (quality manager – technical manager – quality supervisor) and be fully conversant with modern manufacturing methodologies, along with demonstrable operational experience, together with significant exposure gained ideally within an FMCG environment. Bottling/beverage manufacturing experience preferred.

About Refresco

Our drinks on every table. That's the Refresco vision. We’re a global business and currently produce 12 billion litres of soft drinks from 64 manufacturing plants in 12 countries and we’re only just getting started. We’re the proud owners of six drinks manufacturing sites within the UK. Our UK business provides a great place to work for over 1,800 employees, who produce private-label soft drinks and fruit juices for all the leading retailers. Whether it’s packed in cartons, bottles, or cans, we ensure that our products are made to the highest quality standards. Our products get where they need to be when they need to get there to meet the needs of our high-profile customers. Refresco is an equal opportunity employer. We are fully committed to diversity and inclusion.