Lead Specifications Technologist

At Yeo Valley, we're about more than just making great food – we're here to Nurture & Nourish People & Planet by Making Great Food the Right Way. Forever. As a co-owned business, we invest in our people, encourage growth, and believe in doing things properly.

As Lead Specifications Technologist, you will effectively lead and develop our specifications team, driving a great service provision to our customers and the business.

This role will support the Operations Technical Manager to ensure efficient delivery of projects and ensure all customer and brand requirements are met in a timely manner. This role will be based 3 days a week at our HQ office in Blagdon and 2 days working remotely. The hours for this role are 40 per week Monday to Friday.

Key responsibilities:

Leadership & management

• Lead and coordinate activity for the specifications team to ensure effective project delivery.
• Develop effective relationships with key stakeholders internally and externally.
• Support continual improvement of the function.
• Coach and mentor the team to build our capability

Customer

• Undertake the completion and maintenance of customer and brand specifications and associated documentation ensuring accuracy to meet required critical paths and meet customer requirements
• Ensure that all specifications and artwork is accurate and complies with all relevant legislation and is consistent with BOP
• To manage the approval and completion of all paperwork required for Fair Trade, Red Tractor and Soil Association accreditation requirements
• Ensure effective management of the specification and artwork critical paths

Food Technology, Legislation & Nutrition

• Provide the business with information on all food legislation issues.
• To collate information for customer reports and presentations as required.
• Support on administration of QMS

The important things:

• Experience of working closely with retailer specification and artwork systems
• Food legislation and labelling knowledge and experience
• Good people and communication skills
• Organised and logical
• Good networking skills

Even better if:

• You have a science qualification
• You have supervisory experience

We’re independent, British and proud to be making the highest quality yogurts, desserts and ice cream under the Yeo Valley brand and for many of the UK’s major retailers. Operating from four dairies and two logistics centres in Somerset and Devon, we employ over 1700 staff and produce more than 25% of the UK’s packaged yogurt.

We’re sure you don’t need convincing, but there’s a whole host of benefits that we offer including:

• 25 days’ holiday, plus bank holidays
• non-contributory pension scheme
• annual bonus (as part of the Employee Benefit Trust, based on company performance for the year)
• life cover
• healthcare cash back plan
• cycle to work scheme
• subsidised Yeo Valley products and services
• preferential rates with our partners
• learning and development opportunities; we’re committed to ensuring all of our employees have the chance to grow

Our closing dates are a guide for when the application window should close, although we may close the advert sooner if we can. So, we recommend you get your application in straight away – and don’t miss the opportunity to join us!

Unfortunately, we’re not able to provide employment sponsorship to candidates at this moment in time.

Please note that Yeo Valley do not accept speculative agency applications; we will only accept applications from preferred suppliers that have been submitted to us via our recruitment portal at the point of instruction.