Customer Technical Manager

About us

Here at Natures Way, we love food!

It all started in 1994 with bagged salad and now we are a leading and award winning manufacturer of fresh convenient 'food to go' such as prepared salad and fruit, dressed salads, coleslaw and potato salad to name just a few, supplying to some of the UKs largest household name supermarkets and restaurants.


Operating from three sites on the scenic south coast, Natures Way Foods (NWF) is now one of the largest employers in the area. We're immensely proud to employ a diverse team of nearly 1200 talented, committed and high performing people, valuing their individual strengths, talents, industry knowledge and experience.

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced customer facing Technical professional to join our Operations team as a Customer Technical Manager. Your primary responsibility will be to manage the technical relationship between Natures Way Foods and our retail customers, ensuring all technical needs are met in full and on time. You will be communicating customer technical requirements to the business and document technical initiatives through Joint Quality Improvement plans. You will also be liaising with site Technical Managers regarding customer technical KPI's, scorecards and technical specification requirements.

Here's a bit more detail:-
* Manage and maintain strong Technical relationships with retail customer
* Develop and implement continuous improvement initiatives (products, practices, standards and equipment) in consultation with other depts.
* Improve food safety, quality and adherence to customer requirements. Continually review systems and procedures where improvements can be made.
* Work closely with site technical Managers to ensure cross functional communication of customer KPIs, scorecards and customer specifications are up to date and stored appropriately.
* Regular liaison with customers, including trips to customer sites and scheduling regular visits.
* Ensuring all customer requirements are met and all KPI's being achieved.

About you

You have excellent communication skills and the build solid relationships in a Customer facing role. We're looking for an influencer who can work cross functionally with all departments and understand the Operations and Supply Chain process. You will be focused on driving standards and improvements with a track record of maintaining exceptional standards. You'll ideally have prior experience of working with major retailers as well as a solid level of technical knowledge.

* Factory technical management experience
* Effective communication and confident presentation skills
* Fresh produce/FMCG experience
* HACCP and QMS knowledge

If you have this experience also, we'd be keen to talk to you:-
* Degree in Food Science/Food Technology/Agronomy
* Advanced Food Hygiene certificate
* Microbiology background

The Perks

We want you to love working for us and what you do, so we have put together a great package of benefits:-

* A competitive salary plus company performance related bonus
* Company car allowance
* Healthcare package
* Company pension
* 25 days' holiday plus 8 bank holidays
* Life Assurance policy
* Employee Assistance Programme
* Exclusive online benefits and discounts

About the office location

Commuting here is a breeze! All three sites are located close to the bottom of the A3 and M27, surrounded by fields and serenity. Our offices are modern, bright and airy with free parking onsite.

What to do next…We really hope this has piqued your interest and would love to hear from you. Click the 'apply' button today and our expert internal recruitment team will be in touch! If you aspire to work in a fast-paced business that is growing from strength to strength, join us. You'll not only find this a brilliant place to work but also a dynamic business you can take pride in being a part of.


We always love to hear from great people too, so don't forget to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and become a fan on Facebook. We're also proud to say we're an equal opportunities employer.