Head of Technical in Gloucester

Full time, permanent

Up to £65k

Based in Frampton on Severn

What's the role?

Reporting to the site General Manager, the Head of Technical is the guardian of technical excellence at Shipton Mill, ensuring our flour meets the highest standards of safety, integrity and artisan premium quality. Working alongside the Millers and production and operations teams, this role embeds technical rigour into the craft of milling, balancing compliance and commercial realities with a deep commitment to producing exceptional flour for the artisan baking community. Through strong leadership, visible presence and continuous improvement, the role ensures that quality is not a function but a daily discipline across the business.

What will you be doing?

• Own and continuously strengthen the Food Safety & Product Integrity framework across all sites, ensuring it is robust, proportionate and aligned to business growth.
• Lead and maintain the HACCP system (including TACCP and VACCP), ensuring risk assessments are technically sound, regularly reviewed and embedded into operational practice.
• Provide technical oversight of allergen and gluten control, traceability, testing regimes, raw material risk profiling and product verification activities.
• Act as the senior authority on food safety, legality and product integrity, exercising the right to halt production or dispatch where standards are at risk.
• Lead the technical strategy for BRCGS Food Safety, FEMAS, Soil Association Organic, Biodynamic and Gluten Free certifications across all sites.
• Act as the senior technical representative during third-party audits, customer technical visits and regulatory inspections.
• Ensure audit outcomes drive meaningful system and process improvement rather than reactive compliance.
• Oversee the BRCGS Gluten Free Management Programme at Frampton, ensuring segregation, validation and verification systems remain robust.
• Provide technical governance over supplier approval, raw material risk assessment and finished product specifications.
• Approve and technically sign off specifications and critical documentation.
• Lead investigations into significant food safety or quality incidents, ensuring root cause analysis is robust and preventative controls are strengthened.
• Lead the annual Management Review of the Food Safety & Quality Management System, reporting key risks, performance trends and improvement priorities to the General Manager.
• Work in close partnership with the Head Miller and Operations teams to embed technical standards into daily milling practice.
• Support process optimisation, grain performance analysis and flour consistency improvement from a technical perspective.
• Provide technical input into product development, reformulation and process change.
• Champion continuous improvement initiatives that strengthen flour performance, consistency and customer confidence.
• Define technical and food safety standards for induction and ongoing training, ensuring awareness and competence across both sites.
• Line manage and develop relevant technical and hygiene team members, ensuring clear accountability and capability development.
• Oversee the effectiveness of the hygiene contractors.
• Promote a culture where technical discipline and artisan craft operate together, not in silos.

Who Are We Looking For?

We are looking for a technically strong, commercially aware food manufacturing professional who combines deep food safety expertise with a practical, hands-on leadership style. You will bring credibility in a production environment and be as comfortable on the mill floor as you are leading an audit or reviewing a risk assessment. You understand that technical excellence is not just about compliance; it is about enabling consistently exceptional product performance. You take ownership. You ask questions. You intervene when standards are at risk. And you know how to balance rigour with pragmatism in a growing business.

Personal Attributes

• High attention to detail with a strong sense of accountability and professional integrity.
• Pragmatic and solutions-focused, able to apply technical standards proportionately in an operational environment.
• Strong technical judgement with a commitment to continuous learning - both personally and within your team.
• Confident communicator, able to build effective working relationships with Millers, Operations, customers, suppliers and auditors.
• Naturally analytical and curious, motivated to improve flour performance and product consistency through investigation and insight.
• Calm, credible and decisive under pressure - particularly during audits, customer visits or quality incidents.
• Energised by being present in production environments and leading from the floor, not behind a desk.

Qualifications & Experience

• Essential
• Degree-level qualification (or equivalent experience) in Food Science, Food Technology, Microbiology or a related discipline.
• Significant technical leadership experience within food manufacturing.
• Strong working knowledge of BRCGS Food Safety Standards and food safety management systems.
• Practical experience of HACCP, including leading or chairing HACCP teams.
• Experience leading external audits and driving effective audit outcomes.
• Proven experience working in a hands-on production environment.
• Desirable
• Experience within milling, bakery, cereals, grains or dry food manufacturing.
• Experience with organic, biodynamic or gluten-free certification schemes.
• Experience operating within an SME or artisan food business.
• Lead Auditor qualification and/or Advanced HACCP certification.

General

The role requires flexibility to work occasional unsociable hours, including occasional weekends, where reasonably required to meet business, audit or operational needs. Regular on-site presence is essential, with occasional visits to Tetbury Mill site. Occasional travel to suppliers, customers or industry events may be required.