Category Technical Manager- Frozen

About Us:

itsu is the healthy eating, Asian inspired quick service retail & grocery brand with over 70 stores in the UK and a leading grocery business across Europe and beyond.

Renowned for its best-in-class food made fresh in every shop every day, itsu has huge global ambitions with a commitment to continue to open many more stores and intensify the growth of its already thriving grocery arm. With its best-is-class healthy food, latest technology, innovation, and talented workforce, itsu is the future of fast food.

itsu [grocery], which this role falls under, takes the itsu brand into supermarkets, health food stores, online, wholesale and internationally with products such as crispy seaweed thins, frozen gyoza & bao, brilliant’broth, rice’noodles & miso’easy to name a few…

About the role:

As a Category Technical Manager supporting Frozen, you will play a critical role in ensuring the quality, safety, legality, and authenticity of the frozen product range. Working closely with the Head of Technical, you will help drive food safety and quality standards across the supply base, lead continuous improvement initiatives, and foster a strong food safety culture throughout the business.

• Ensuring the quality, safety, legality, and authenticity of frozen products, while monitoring and improving supplier performance.
• Supporting the Head of Technical in maintaining and continuously enhancing the Food Safety & Quality Management System, ensuring AA Grade certification against the BRCGS Agents & Brokers Standard is achieved and maintained.
• Taking ownership and accountability for designated technical procedures, processes, and records.
• Driving awareness of food safety culture across the business and ensuring food safety considerations are embedded in everyday decision-making.
• Supporting the development and implementation of the technical strategy across the frozen supply base, including leading key policies, projects, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Managing and developing the Category Food Technologist/Senior Food Technologist, providing coaching and support to ensure progression against development plans.

Key Role Responsibilities:

• Oversee the approval and management of suppliers. Ensures all safety, legal and quality information is captured and assessed within the required timeframes, kept up to date and risks successfully managed. Conducts food safety audits when required.
• Drive an improvement in supplier performance through relationship building, supplier reviews, KPIs and the creation of strategic technical plans.
• Analyse and interpret trends in customer complaints and product testing. Conducts investigations with suppliers for high risk issues and coaches the Food Technologist/Senior Food Technologist through low and medium risk investigations to identify the root cause and put corrective and preventative actions in place.
• Oversees the ongoing monitoring of product quality, safety and authenticity and the management of investigations for routine surveillance testing, shelf-life evaluation and organoleptic testing.
• Responsible for the technical elements of NPD and EPD projects ensuring the gate process is followed, testing is completed on time for nutritional, cooking instructions and shelf life and any technical issues are foreseen and resolved prior to launch. Attends production trials and first productions.
• Responsible for the technical sign off at gate 2 and supports the Food Technologist/Senior Food Technologist to approve the product specifications and artwork accurately and on time. Signs off compliance with itsu [grocery] brand standards, labelling regulations and always has the consumer at the forefront.

The ideal candidate will have:

• At least 6 years’ experience working in a food safety and technical role with manufacturing and retail/brand experience.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, microbiology and food regulations.
• Expertise in the chilled and frozen food category preferable.
• Internal & external audit experience and an understanding of requirements for GFSI accreditations.
• Excellent attention to detail whilst never losing sight of the bigger picture.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills & able to work with a number of different suppliers.
• Experience working with international suppliers (Asian suppliers preferred) and willing to lone travel to Asia.
• Line management experience preferable.
• Qualified to degree level in food science or a similar subject.

This is an exciting opportunity for a technically focused food professional to influence standards, strengthen supplier partnerships, and contribute to the ongoing success and growth of the frozen category.

What We Offer:

• Competitive Salary
• Competitive Bonus Scheme
• 25 days holiday + Bank holidays (two bank holidays are interchangeable for other religious holidays)
• Health Insurance
• Company Pension Scheme
• Hybrid working (Two days Working from Home)
• Opportunity to work from abroad
• 50% employee discount in itsu shops
• Free itsu lunch EVERY DAY !
• Discounts at major retailers
• Salary sacrifice cycle and electric vehicle schemes
• Development & Growth opportunities

At itsu [grocery], everyone’s taste matters- and so does who’s behind it. We celebrate diversity and are an equal opportunities employer. Applications from all backgrounds are encouraged. If you need support or adjustments to apply, we’ll happily accommodate.