Technical Manager 

Location:           Memory Lane Cakes, Cardiff 

Shift:                  Monday to Friday 

Salary:               Competitive with Opportunity for Growth 

We have an exciting opportunity for a Technical Manager to join and lead our manufacturing team at our Memory Lane Cakes site as part of Finsbury Food Group. This role is ideal for a robust Technical SME looking to deliver demonstrable improvements in a complex site with multiple retail customers. 

Our Memory Lane Cakes (MLC) site is part of our Cake Division within Finsbury Food Group.  They make over 75% of the UK’s sharing cakes from retailer own brands cakes, tray bakes through to party cakes like Caterpillar cakes. They employ over 850 people on site and the sites runs 24/7, which encompasses a culture of teamwork, friendly and respectful leadership and a focus on continuous improvement at all levels.  

The Technical Manager will ensure that products on site are made to the highest quality and food safety standards, providing governance and leadership the site cross functional manufacturing team. This role acts as the most senior technical position on site and point of escalation for the manufacturing and technical teams. 

To be successful in this role, the candidate will have worked in a similar technical leadership technical position within the food manufacturing sector. They will have customer facing experience and demonstratable experience of credibility with multiple retail customers. Good stakeholder management and clear communication skills are essential as this is a fast-paced role with a need for adaptability, influencing and perseverance to drive sustained improvements. 

The role is part of senior leadership team at Memory Lane Cakes, which is part of the wider Finsbury Food Group. 

This is what you will actually do! 

You will be responsible for delivering the technical strategy on site; developing, implementing and governing processes that focus on improving quality whilst reducing risk. Manager customer relationships during audits will also be a key part of the role along with supporting the leadership teams to embed a quality first culture across site. 

You will be required to lead by example in encouraging appropriate behavioural standards in support of the company’s values and culture, coaching employees in the implementation and training of technical standards, systems, and procedures. You will be required to utilise best practice from around the business and outside bodies to influence and implement within the Cardiff site for continuous improvement purposes. 

Ideally this is you! 

• Ideally educated to Degree or HND level in food science or science/technology related discipline or Technical Management experience gained from the food industry role involving customer contact and team management/supervision 

• Level 3 Food Safety & Level 3 HACCP (minimum) 

• Experience of working within a technical team and cross functionally with other departments including Operations, Engineering, Hygiene, Supply Chain, NPD & HR 

• Excellent communication skills and able to communicate clear strategies and plans internally and with customers 

• High quality/food safety standards. 

• Attention to detail 

• Able to work as an individual but with the leadership skills to manage a wider team 

• Highly organised with the ability to show strong project management skills 

• To lead by example in encouraging and displaying the company’s values 

• Has a curious attitude towards change and improvement, with the ability to take onboard best practice 

• Computer literate, with good use of Excel and spreadsheets 

• Get up & go, positive, can-do attitude and a moral code to ensure the business 'does the right thing' 

• Articulate, professional, with excellent communicative English language skills - as you will liaise directly with our clients and the factory, making time sensitive decisions 

Our vision is to be the leading specialty bakery group in the UK, and we want the best people in place to achieve this as our continued success is built entirely on the talented people who work here. As employee development is important to us and everyone is a valued member of the team, we want every individual to have the skills and capabilities to achieve both their own personal goals and our business goals. We want good people to join our company, to help our company continue to go from strength to strength. If this sounds like you, please get in contact to learn more!