We are hiring for a product manager to join our team in Maidstone!

Key Accountabilities:

1. General

• Project a positive image to colleagues, customers and suppliers in all interactions.
• Ensure operational excellence by helping maintain a culture of ruthless efficiency, individual responsibility and effective communication.
• Deputies for the other fpp Product Managers as required. Provide cover the Senior Product Manager for all aspects of their job as necessary.
• Ensure regular and ongoing feedback to fpp technical and procurement colleagues on product quality to allow for continuous improvement. 
• Undertake a daily site walk to ensure that standards are maintained for all areas falling under your responsibility. This should include reviewing the quality of stock and allocations. Make recommendations on product utilization through the correct written communication channels.
• Through continuous improvement facilitate and support the development of processes to deliver improved KPI performance.
• Attend Senior Management meetings with Managers / Directors, on both a regular and an ad-hoc basis as necessary, either formally or informally, in order to contribute to and further the aims and longer-term strategy of the business.

2. Operations

• Manage fpp product through Service Provider facilities.
• Effectively liaise and communicate on day-to-day quality issues with Service Providers  Ensure adherence to fpp Service Provider protocol and ways of working. Track and trend any non-conformance to requirements and feed back internally and to the Service Provider.
• Ensure that the customers’ required quality standards are understood by the service provider and effectively maintained and always communicated.
• Ensure through correct product utilisation and close monitoring of stock levels and quality, that wastage is minimised on all products and profit is maximised. Review performance weekly.
• Support the Senior PM create and own the protocols for the product inspection at Service Providers.
• Complete evaluation of intake versus actual on a weekly basis as a measure of intake performance as an on-going management measure. Monitor the accuracy of QA inspection reports. Challenge as appropriate.
• Take active involvement in decision making in the daily production meeting, weekly availability meeting and weekly senior team meeting.
• Assist in the preparation of samples and conduct trials as required.
• Assist in maintaining the BRC, TFS, Organic and Ethical standards on site and share involvement during audits as required.
• Monitor and advise service providers on weights (including e weights).
• Ensure that service providers pack to fpp and customers specifications. 
• Provide training, set standards and monitor intake of service provider QA.  Sign off all amendments to jobs versus intake recommendations.
• Allocate stock following a rejection per depot to prevent repeat issues. 
• Effectively communicate and update the fpp Technical and Procurement team on daily quality issues.
• Update the prophet system with rotation dates if not designated as first in first out or date coded packed at source.
• In conjunction with the service provider team deliver a 97% accuracy on QA reporting on fpp product within a +/- 3% tolerance.
• Ensure that the variety master sheet is updated with specific information on appearance and eating quality on varieties being traded by fpp.

3. People

• Identify training and development needs for your role through job analysis, regular consultation with the line manager and the Senior Technical manager. 
• Provide training for Service Providers where applicable.

4. Product and Reporting

• Assist the Technical Team in creating and maintaining the raw material specifications and packing guides.
• In conjunction with the Service Provider accurately investigate the reasons for all rejections and report outcome and CAP to the Technical team by 09:00hrs the following day if the rejections occurs overnight and on the same day if they occurred during ‘normal’ working hours. Re inspect returned products and create a utilization plan.
• Ensure that any product near or at the limit of their rotation date are investigated and used as soon as possible, with the minimum cost to the business. Stock re inspection to be organised through service provide where necessary.
• Allocate stock following a rejection per depot to prevent repeat issues. 
• Provide training for ISS QA’s where applicable on new products.
• Update the progressive ID system for labels associated with all fpp, assist other categories if required.
• Prepare residue samples as requested by the compliance team.
• Monitor closely the performance of the fpp product group via the Yield Report Analysis and react through effective daily Product Management.
• Monitor closely the residency times of your product group and fill in every Tuesday the 10 Day Stock Report.
• Complete the end of season reviews documenting overall quality, improvements required, ranking and next steps within one month of the last arrivals have been packed through.