Supplier Technical Manager

Job description

Job opportunity: Supplier Technical Manager Hours: 40 per week Working Pattern: 08:00 - 16:30 Location: St Mary Bourne (near Andover) with travel to our farms and suppliers Salary: Competitive, with eligibility for incentive scheme, company pension and private medical insurance Can you bring hands-on experience from fresh produce growing, horticulture and/or commercial crop farming, with a strong understanding of the challenges faced by growers and agricultural supply chains? Lead supplier technical assurance across a fresh produce supply chain, ensuring the highest standards of quality, safety and compliance? Act as the key link between growers, suppliers and factory teams, driving performance, resolving challenges and delivering continuous improvement? Use your knowledge of crop production, crop quality, pest and disease management to proactively manage risks and support supplier performance? This is an opportunity to play a key role in a business where farming, crop quality and technical excellence are at the heart of everything we do. You'll work closely with growers and suppliers, helping to shape the quality, sustainability and performance of our fresh produce supply chain. In this role you'll... • Act as the key technical link between growers, suppliers, factory teams and customers. • Manage supplier risk, proactively identifying and resolving crop quality, pest, disease and food safety challenges. • Lead supplier visit and auditing programmes covering crop quality, ethical and food safety topics, working collaboratively with procurement based on risk assessment. • Support and advise our farms and suppliers in meeting requirements on food safety and due diligence through the sharing of best practice. • Influence supplier performance through collaboration with procurement, agronomy, technical and commercial teams. • Drive improvements in quality, shelf life, sustainability and overall supply chain capability. • Use your understanding of fresh produce production and farming operations to support practical, commercially viable solutions across the supply base. You'll do this for us... • Manage supplier due diligence, onboarding and compliance documentation across raw materials and ingredients. • Lead supplier audit and visit programmes covering crop quality, food safety and ethical standards. • Monitor microbiological and pesticide residue testing programmes and drive corrective actions where needed. • Review crop risk, pre-harvest assessments and HACCP compliance across the supply base. • Produce weekly crop quality reports and track supplier performance through KPIs and end-of-season reviews. • Support customer visits, internal teams and investigations while building strong supplier relationships and sharing best practice. • Drive improvements in quality, shelf life, sustainability and supplier capability. • Manage web-based platforms such as Food Experts and Land App, plus relevant customer portals. • Actively participate in weekly farm and supplier meetings and write crop reports for customers. You can do this if you have... • Hands-on experience working within fresh produce growing, horticulture, vegetable production and/or commercial crop farming operations. • A strong understanding of crop production, crop quality assessment, pest and disease pressures, and the practical realities of farming and grower operations. • Proven experience in supplier assurance, auditing, quality and compliance within fresh produce or agri-food supply chains. • Strong knowledge of BRCGS, Red Tractor, Global G.A.P., LEAF and ethical compliance standards. • Solid understanding of farm risk assessments and ideally HACCP Level 3 certification. • Excellent communication and influencing skills, with a proactive, customer-focused mindset. • Commercial awareness and the ability to drive continuous improvement across suppliers. • A degree in Food Science, Agriculture, Agronomy, Agri-Food or another relevant discipline. • A BASIS and/or FACTS qualification would be advantageous. Vitacress Salads, based in leafy St Mary Bourne, Andover is one of the principal salad and watercress suppliers in the UK. With our own salad leaf farms, we take immense pride in delivering a field to fork operation. We grow, wash, pack and distribute salad and watercress for retailer own brands and our own brand Steve’s Leaves. We take pleasure in ensuring the best possible standard and we will empower you to do the same. From the way we grow our products, to the relationships we maintain with customers, everyone knows exactly what is going on. We are authentic and grounded. At the centre of everything is a trust that you can feel every day at work. From the salads that are grown on site; to the investment in facilities and the growth of the business; to growing and nurturing out talented employees, growing is truly at the heart of what we do. Join us and become a trusted partner in our business.