Junior Technical Manager – Fresh Produce (Vegetables)

Location: Maidstone, Kent
Salary: Up to £45,000 DOE
Working Pattern: Monday to Friday
Sector: Fresh Produce | Retailer Technical | Vegetables

An exciting opportunity to develop your career in fresh produce technical management

Fresh People are recruiting for a Junior Technical Manager to join an established and growing fresh produce business based in Maidstone, Kent.

This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious fresh produce professional with experience in product quality, technical compliance or supplier management who is looking to develop their career within a retailer-facing technical function.

Working predominantly across a major UK supermarket’s vegetable category, you will play an important role in maintaining product quality, strengthening supplier and grower relationships, and ensuring products consistently meet customer expectations.

The position offers a varied remit combining technical compliance, product quality, supplier engagement and customer-facing responsibilities.

The Role

• Support the technical management of a major UK retailer’s vegetable category, ensuring products consistently meet customer specifications and quality standards.
• Work closely with growers, suppliers and packhouses to maintain product quality, food safety and technical compliance.
• Manage and maintain retailer product specifications, technical documentation and customer quality systems.
• Investigate customer complaints, product rejections and quality concerns, identifying root causes and implementing corrective actions.
• Support grower and supplier audits, technical due diligence and ongoing compliance activities.
• Conduct product benchmarking, quality assessments and trials to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Work collaboratively with commercial, procurement, operations and technical colleagues to resolve product quality challenges.
• Support packaging, labelling and artwork compliance in line with customer requirements.
• Build effective working relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers and retailer technical contacts.
• Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives across product quality, technical performance and supply chain standards.

About You

We are particularly interested in candidates who have gained experience within fresh produce, ideally across vegetables, fruit or other retailer-supplied produce categories.

You may currently be working as a Junior Technical Manager, Quality Manager, Product Manager, Technical Coordinator, Quality Technologist or in a similar position and be looking for your next career move.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Experience within fresh produce quality assurance, product quality or technical management.
• A good understanding of UK supermarket quality standards and customer specifications.
• Exposure to grower, supplier or packhouse quality management.
• Knowledge of food safety, HACCP, traceability and technical compliance.
• Experience investigating product quality issues and implementing corrective actions.
• Strong communication skills and the confidence to engage with suppliers, growers and internal stakeholders.
• Good organisational skills, attention to detail and the ability to manage competing priorities.
• A proactive, practical approach with a genuine interest in developing within retailer-facing technical management.

Previous experience working with Tesco technical systems, including Quality Connect, would be advantageous but is not essential.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• Salary up to £45,000 depending on experience.
• Monday-to-Friday working pattern.
• Opportunity to develop within a major UK retailer account.
• Broad exposure to growers, suppliers, technical compliance and product quality.
• A varied role offering genuine scope to develop your technical expertise and customer-facing responsibilities.
• Join a growing business operating within the UK fresh produce supply chain.

Interested?

If you have experience in fresh produce quality or technical management and are looking for an opportunity to broaden your responsibilities and develop your career, we would welcome a confidential conversation.

Apply today or contact Fresh People to find out more about this opportunity.