Head of Technical

Company Overview

Mathiesons Bakery Ltd is a proud Scottish bakery established in 1872, renowned for our tradition and commitment to quality. Operating from our BRC accredited facility, we specialize in crafting a wide range of delicious products that are enjoyed both locally and across the UK. Our diverse workforce enriches our culture and supports our commercial success.

JOB PURPOSE

The Head of Technical is the senior site lead for food safety, legality, quality, authenticity and customer compliance across an established bakery manufacturing operation supplying multiple market channels, including UK retail own-label, branded bakery products, foodservice and products supplied for use as ingredients or components by other food businesses.

The site includes both low-care bakery operations and high-care manufacture with a dedicated nut-handling area. The site employs a mixtyre of semi-automated processes and hand building techniques which produces quite unique, specialised and artisan products. This requires strong technical control of standards, allergens, segregation, hygiene, environmental monitoring, product changeover, labelling, specifications, supplier assurance and finished product quality.

This is a senior leadership appointment for a technically complex site that is subject to major UK retailer technical oversight and collaboration. The role requires a credible and visible technical leader who can strengthen governance, build customer confidence, raise standards and develop a positive but accountable food safety and quality culture – especially with experience of managing retailer relationships within the UK.

The successful candidate must be able to operate at both strategic and factory level: advising the Managing Director and site leadership team, leading customer and audit relationships, setting clear technical standards, challenging poor practice, and ensuring that controls are working in reality as well as on paper.

The role carries responsibility for ensuring that the site’s systems and decisions comply with applicable food law, including but not limited to, the principles and requirements of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, food hygiene and HACCP requirements under Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, food information and allergen requirements under assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 and The Food Information Regulations 2014, together with BRCGS Food Safety, specific customer codes of practice and UK retailer own-label standards.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Legal, Technical and Customer Governance

• Own the site technical management system and ensure it is legally compliant, operationally practical, within budget and consistently implemented.
• Ensure the site complies with applicable UK food law, including general food safety obligations, unsafe food controls, traceability, withdrawal and recall requirements under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002.
• Ensure effective hygiene, prerequisite and HACCP-based controls in line with Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, including appropriate validation, monitoring, verification and review.
• Ensure food information, ingredient declarations, allergen declarations, nutrition information, storage/use instructions, date coding, claims and customer-specific labelling requirements are controlled in line with assimilated Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 and The Food Information Regulations 2014.
• Ensure technical systems meet BRCGS Food Safety requirements, UK retailer codes of practice, own-label requirements and customer technical standards.
• Maintain clear governance for product hold, release, concession, quarantine, withdrawal and recall decisions.
• Work closely with the Head of NPD to ensure all projects and processes are managed appropriately and comply with relevant regulations and customer policies.

Bakery, High-Care and Allergen Control

• Lead technical control across low-care bakery, high-care and nut-handling operations.
• Ensure effective allergen governance, including raw material risk assessment, segregation, storage, handling, scheduling, changeover, cleaning validation and verification, label control and prevention of cross-contact.
• Ensure high-care controls are suitable for the site risk profile, including zoning, hygiene standards, environmental monitoring, personnel and material flows, maintenance controls, equipment condition and escalation of adverse trends.
• Ensure bakery-specific risks are understood and controlled including, transfers of products and WIP, flour and dry ingredient handling, inclusions, fillings, toppings, decorations, foreign body prevention, baking/cooling/packing controls, shelf-life, spoilage/mould risk, weight control and finished product quality.
• Work with Operations, Engineering and Hygiene to ensure factory fabric, equipment design, cleaning access, maintenance and line practices support safe, legal and customer-compliant manufacture.

Retailer, Audit and Technical Review Leadership

• Act as the senior technical lead for UK retail own-label customers and other key customers across branded, foodservice and B2B channels.
• Lead the site through BRCGS audits, retailer audits, technical visits, customer reviews and technical improvement plans.
• Translate customer codes of practice and audit expectations into clear site standards, ownership and verification.
• Rebuild and maintain customer confidence through technical credibility, transparent communication, strong preparation and reliable delivery of agreed actions.
• Ensure audit findings and customer actions are closed on time, with evidence of root cause, effective correction and sustained preventive action.

Incident, Complaint, Traceability and Recall Readiness

• Lead, and delegate where appropriate, the site technical response to incidents, complaints, out-of-specification results, non-conforming product, customer escalations and potential food safety or legality issues.
• Ensure investigations are evidence-led and proportionate, with root cause analysis that identifies system failure rather than only immediate error.
• Ensure corrective and preventive actions are completed, verified and effective.
• Maintain effective traceability, mass balance, withdrawal and recall systems, including routine testing and clear escalation routes.
• Use complaint, micro, environmental, audit and non-conformance data to identify repeat issues and drive targeted improvement.

Specifications, Labelling, NPD and Change Control

• Ensure finished product specifications, raw material specifications, packaging specifications, artwork, labels, claims and customer technical information are accurate, approved and controlled.
• Ensure NPD, product changes, recipe changes, supplier changes, raw material substitutions, packaging changes and process changes are technically risk-assessed before transfer and implementation.
• Ensure products supplied as retail own-label, branded goods, foodservice products or B2B ingredients/components meet the correct legal, customer and end-use requirements.
• Work with NPD, Commercial and Procurement to ensure development and launch activity is commercially responsive but technically controlled.

Supplier and Raw Material Assurance

• Own governance of the site supplier and raw material assurance programme, ensuring approval, risk assessment, performance monitoring and escalation are proportionate to risk.
• Ensure effective controls for bakery-relevant and higher-risk materials, including flour, dry mixes, nuts, seeds, inclusions, fillings, creams, toppings, decorations, packaging and allergen-bearing materials.
• Ensure supplier changes, substitutions, non-conformances and emerging raw material risks are technically assessed and escalated before they affect product safety, legality, quality or customer compliance.

Leadership, Culture and Accountability

• Lead, coach and develop the Technical, QA, Compliance and Hygiene teams, ensuring clear accountability, competence and priorities.
• Provide the Managing Director and site leadership team with clear technical judgement, risk assessment and escalation so that technical risk is owned within the management structure and not dependent on individual firefighting.
• Build a food safety and quality culture based on visible leadership, clear standards, coaching, challenge, evidence and accountability.
• Be present in the factory and lead by example, demonstrating the standards expected of others.
• Move the site from reactive correction toward planned, verified and sustained technical control.

Job Type: Full-time

Benefits:

• Canteen
• Casual dress
• Free parking
• Health & wellbeing programme
• On-site parking

Work Location: In person