Head Baker

Welcome to Hovis. We are the proud guardians of over 130 years of baking experience that make up our iconic and much-loved brand. We produce bread and bakery products created with Hovis goodness at the heart of each. We deliver around 1.3million loaves, every day of the week throughout the UK and Ireland, where we also make Mothers Pride and Ormo products. 

We are 2,800 people working within 8 bakeries, 1 flour mill, and 2 regional distribution centres across the UK. Our success is a result of the hard work of our people;  they are experts in their field whether it’s baking, manufacturing, logistics, engineering, or the many departments within the central functions team based in our head office in High Wycombe. We are a values-led business and expect our colleagues to live, breathe, and embed Quality, Accountability, and Trust into their ways of working.

Job description:

To lead Hovis in defining the correct recipe and process optimisation in the bakery to deliver market-leading quality. To design and implement action plans to improve product quality and consistency including improvements in plant and equipment as well as product recipe and formulation. Be the functional expert within the site for the breadmaking process.

 Responsibilities:

• Quality lead at the site with responsibility for maintaining and enforcing product standards.
• Development of process controls relating to product and equipment optimisation.
• Identifying opportunities for, production efficiencies, waste management and cost control.
• Keep up to date on bakery trends and innovation; translate this to sustained plant quality improvements.
• Develop training plans relating to the process and coach any development gaps for all employees.
• Successfully implement new product launches on-site, by working in collaboration with the NPD team to manage process control.
• Develop processes on-site which drive quality improvement through knowledge of the bakery process.
• Attend daily Best Quality Everyday Calls and collaborate with the Central Technical Team to drive site quality.
• Become a member of the wider Hovis Head Baker team, the purpose is to align/agree on aspects of approach which benefit Hovis sites as a whole, sharing best practice, successes and ideas for improvement.

 Ideal Experiences / Qualifications / Capabilities:

• Educated to BSc / HND in Baking Science or similarly related disciplines.
• Extensive experience within a technical/quality-related role in industrial baking.
• Experience in managing and motivating teams, directly, indirectly and remotely.
• Commercial awareness: understanding the cost of quality and manufacture. Understanding cost/benefit analysis.
• Excellent communication skills: Influential: Persuasive: Impactful verbal and written skills.
• Excellent relationship builder- able to build relationships with internal and external contacts at all levels.
• Decisive – able to make significant decisions and be accountable. 

Desirable:

• Health & Safety qualification.
• Food hygiene qualification.
• Recognised bakery qualification.
• Lean Manufacturing qualification.
• Training/teaching/coaching qualification in or outside work.
• Experience in new product trial and implementation.

Why work for us and our benefits:

At Hovis, we understand the importance of looking after our colleagues, so we provide a variety of benefits in addition to their salaries. The benefits we provide at Hovis are as varied as the people who receive them but they are offered with the intention of creating value to them personally over and above their salaries

• There is a range of colleague benefits available, which individuals can select based on their needs.
• Our benefits scheme is called Hovis Choice, which offers a variety of savings and cashback offers on day to day living and much more including eyecare vouchers, and a healthcare scheme to suit everyone.  It also includes our Cycle to Work scheme where you can obtain a brand new bike at a significant saving.
• We offer competitive annual leave entitlement and flexibility where possible in order to create a healthy work-life balance.
• We celebrate loyalty with our generous long service and colleague recognition schemes.
• We offer three levels of pensions.

Hovis values diversity and is committed to promoting equal opportunities in the workplace. Every job applicant, employee or worker will be treated fairly and equally with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, social class, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religious belief, union membership, political opinion, sex, sexual orientation or any other protected characteristic.