Quality Manager

Job Description

Fresh Kitchen are currently recruiting for a Quality Manager to join the team on site in Bicester, on a 12 Month Fixed Term Contract basis.

As Quality Manager, you oversee the technical management of Fresh Kitchen and M&J Seafood, ensuring full compliance with food safety, quality, hygiene, and legal requirements through the effective implementation, monitoring, and auditing of the Quality Management Systems (QMS). You drive continuous improvement and enforcement of due diligence systems via regular audits, while providing technical support and advice to the site team to maintain a consistent approach to system implementation.

You will manage supplier quality to guarantee food safety, quality, and legal compliance for supplier/raw material approval, product setup, and incoming material quality control. You support the management of MSC, ASC, and BRC certification standards, ensuring ongoing adherence to quality, GMP, hygiene, and pest control requirements.

Your role also includes conducting raw material intake checks, overseeing traceability and labelling accuracy, coordinating sample testing for internal and external assessments, and analyzing results for trends to maintain high product standards.

Key accountabilities:

• Continuously improve and enforce QMS through audits, technical support, and consistent system implementation.
• Support customer, regulatory, and 3rd party audits (BRC, MSC, ASC) and ensure compliance with quality, GMP, hygiene, pest control, and legal standards.
• Manage non-conformance investigations, complaints, raw material intake checks, traceability, labelling, and environmental monitoring.
• Maintain QMS documentation, review artwork and labels, manage product specifications, and coordinate internal/external sample testing including sensory and shelf-life assessments.
• Promote food safety culture, manage product traceability and recall processes, and support food safety training.
• Develop and monitor internal audit programs, oversee the Quality Controller, and ensure effective communication with customers, suppliers, and production teams.
• Conduct specification reviews, product quality assessments, and data management using Assure and Nutritics; analyze KPIs and quality data for improvement.
• Lead allergen management initiatives and support New Product Development and technical projects.
• Ensure compliance with Health & Safety standards, including PPE use, and lead by example.

About you:

To be successful in this role you must hold a full clean Drivers Licence, have a Food Science or Technology degree (or equivalent) and ideally be minimum HACCP level 3 certified and Internal Auditor/ Lead Auditor qualified. You will ideally have high risk manufacturing and seafood knowledge, (including food safety and quality requirements) and knowledge of relevant food safety legislation, QMS, BRC standards and audits. It is key to have excellent communication skills as you will be customer focused and be well organised and use effective project management skills. You will show tenacity and a desire to follow things through to completion, with strong planning and organisational skills, and a high attention to detail. Previous experience in recipe management systems and developing and reviewing of specifications and artwork approval would be desirable.

What we offer:

• A competitive salary
• Pension scheme
• Generous holiday allowance of 25 days, with option to purchase additional holidays + bank holidays.
• Huge discounts on all sorts of lovely food and award-winning products through our staff shop
• Discounts on Cinema tickets, shopping and earn cashback on purchases through Sodexo.
• Recognition awards and Incentives
• Real career opportunities - being part of Sysco, the world’s leading foodservice business, opens a world of possibility.

Additional Information

At Fresh Direct everyone is welcome. We don’t want you to ‘fit our culture’ we want you to help define it and we actively celebrate the unique talents of each and every colleague. We don’t just look at your CV, we’re more focused on who you are and your potential. As part of our values, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone has a voice, is appreciated and has the same opportunities. We work hard to ensure that everyone feels part of our business, as we care for one another and connect the world through food and trusted partnerships. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that everyone belongs and thrives at Fresh Direct and we recognise that Fresh Direct can only thrive when everyone feels they belong. We'll do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, speak to our resourcing team who will be happy to support you. 

Fresh Direct

Built on a passion for food and feeding the nation, at Fresh Direct we are dedicated to making life as easy and efficient for the chefs, cooks and caterers we serve across the country. We are the leading specialist supplier of locally and globally sourced fresh produce and dairy across Great Britain, bringing the best of the seasons to chefs’ menus.