Head of Group Vendor Quality Assurance in Biggleswade

At Solina, our community of close to 5,000 people share a passion for food and live our entrepreneurial culture. We design customised savoury solutions for our clients operating in the food industry, food service, butchery and nutrition markets. With sustainability at the heart of our business model, we aim to produce food that is good in every sense of the word: delicious, nourishing, affordable, sustainable and convenient. Solina is a fast-growing business, with around 50 production sites and R&D laboratories present in more than 19 countries mainly in Europe and North America. By constantly rethinking culinary solutions, we make food matter for people and the planet.

We are looking for an experienced Head of Group Vendor Quality Assurance to define and lead our vendor quality and food safety strategy across Europe and North America. In this pivotal role, you will shape how we work with suppliers at Group level, ensuring robust quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and responsible sourcing, while actively supporting major procurement and digital transformation initiatives. You will play a key role in enabling supplier consolidation, complexity reduction, supply continuity, and long‑term resilience.

As a member of the Group Quality Leadership Team and reporting to the Group Quality Director, you will act as a senior partner to Procurement, Sustainability, Operations, R&D, Regulatory Affairs, and external vendors. You will lead the evolution towards a risk‑based, value‑driven supplier governance model, supporting business growth, M&A integration, and increasing regulatory and customer expectations.

Your Responsibilities Will Include:

• Defining and deploying the Group Supplier Quality Assurance strategy aligned with our overall Quality, Food Safety, Procurement, and ESG ambitions.
• Establishing clear Group policies, standards, and governance frameworks for vendor approval, monitoring, escalation, and performance.
• Acting as Quality & Food Safety lead for procurement transformation programs, ensuring supplier changes are robustly assessed.
• Leading vendor risk management, crisis preparedness, and incident response related to supplier quality, food safety, or supply continuity.
• Driving continuous improvement and performance management with strategic and preferred suppliers.
• Building and leading the Group Supplier Quality community, strengthening capabilities across regions.

This is a highly visible role combining strategy, execution, leadership, and influence in a complex, international environment.

Candidate’s profile:

• Master’s degree in Food Science, Quality, or a related field.
• 15+ years of experience in Quality roles within food, ingredients, or FMCG.
• Proven experience at senior management in an international organisation.
• Strong background in supplier audits, risk management, and food safety standards (BRCGS, IFS, FSSC 22000).
• Solid understanding of regulatory requirements and emerging EU regulations, as well as sustainability frameworks.
• Demonstrated experience with vendor consolidation, harmonisation, dual sourcing, and change programmes.
• Experience working across Europe and North America is a strong asset.
• Strategic mindset combined with strong execution capability.
• Excellent influencing skills, particularly in procurement‑driven environments, collaborative, pragmatic, and partnership‑oriented mindset.
• Ability to balance standardization with pragmatic regional adaptation.
• Strong leadership presence and credibility with senior stakeholders, proven crisis leadership and change management skills.

Location: This is a hybrid position, with Biggleswade (UK) as the primary location. The role involves frequent travel within Europe and North America. We are open to talents of all backgrounds. Our recruitment process is based on competences, and we openly welcome all candidates of all types according to our DEI Commitment.