DPSM&S has grown to become a market leader in the sourcing, production, and distribution of fresh produce to some of the UK's leading retailers. We pride ourselves on the way we do business and understand that we are successful because of our people.

As such we are looking for a superstar Junior Technical Manager based in our Bearsted, Teynham, Sittingbourne and Wimbledon office, working full-time. 

Typical duties will include:

• Assist & support the Technical Director, Head of Technical and Technical Managers in matters pertaining to product safety, quality, legality and integrity at all times.
• Assist & support the Technical Director & Head of Technical, and group responsibility sourcing teams in matters appertaining to Human Rights, Sustainability & environmental (ESG) strategies.
• Deliver & support effective, visible and industry leading customer service.
• Communicate effectively, both internally & externally, on the dps (M&S) performance against a number of indicators such as CPTHU & number of complaint reporting, with year on year comparisons. FSL Depot Inspections, RTM’s, Temporary specifications and Benchmarking. Shelf Life, Intake Assess-ments summaries and Waste (Financial, Suppliers and M&S Store Waste).
• Support the customer with category and supplier data at as required. This will take the form of Crop Reports in the standardised format (frequency to be determined based on category), supplier Reviews and regular M&S Meetings as well as ad hoc requests and projects.
• Organise, and plan accordingly, supplier and customer visits where applicable, circulating visit reports with clear next steps to the wider commercial/technical team and the customer where appropriate.
• Work across the Technical function in maintaining the various customer technical libraries, supporting the customer where required to ensure all platforms are up to date and live.
• Support the Quality Culture at dps (M&S) o Effectively liaise and work with the technical assistant & Product management teams to communicate on day to day quality issues with ISS, sharing a weekly QSL and KPI summary of quality (to include incoming, shelf life, wastage and customer complaints)
• Support on the development and delivery of Masterclass sessions and ISS/PM upskilling sessions.
• Regularly visit ISS sites to conduct stock reviews with PMs to enable joint decision making, clear communication of M&S requirements and a good understanding of product performance.
• Weekly KPI reports, attend meetings, work with TA & PM team and ISS team to provide visibility and report on internal and customer KPI’s.
• Agent Audits, Food safety, quality and integrity audits and ISS packing sites, other UK sites and oversea suppliers - support the compliance teams, sites and objective towards outstanding.
• Work with TA on compiling samples, and maintain Benchmarking formats for all categories with support of other TM’s and product management team at ISS, collation of samples.
• Support M&S Policy change and new standards and delivery across the DPSM&S supply base and ISS packing site.

With the support of the Technical Management Team.

• Ensure effective communication and organisation across Technical & Commercial functions.
• deliver customer facing analysis of information sources, and plan to manage compliance going forwards i.e. FIND, One Food Platform, Tier 1 Packing sites, Supplier Codes, Quality Contracts, Customer communication – front end.
• deliver Supplier facing analysis of information and plan to manage going forwards i.e. Raw Material Specifications, Packed at Source Guides, Ways of Working, Varietal lists.
• Supplier management and development o Develop a regular and ongoing dialogue with suppliers; organising visits, quality improvement plans and innovation plans in conjunction with the supplier.
• Support and drive the M&S asks & requirements/standards and policies with the Responsibly sourcing Teams, Audit teams and Compliance teams to deliver adherence and improvements.
• Building a resilient Supply base
• Risk assess supply regions, growers, supply windows and products to highlight areas in need of resilience planning.
• Develop and deliver on alternative supply where there is need.
• Develop and Deliver Category Innovation
• Continually be on the look out for opportunities for special and new within the category, working closely with growers and customers to imagine and deliver the future.
• Maintain innovation trackers, mapping new and existing projects for the category.
• Support the Packaging, Commercial, operations & technical teams to deliver packaging reduction, trackers and newness/innovation across all categories.
• Organize samples and trials for DPSM&S and if required be involved with any trials / sampling of new varieties or packaging.

General

• Project a positive image to colleagues, site workers, customers, and suppliers in all interactions
• Deputize for your colleagues at times of absence, holiday etc.
• Ensure regular and ongoing feedback to suppliers and your DPS colleagues on product quality to allow for continuous improvement.
• Effectively liaise and communicate on day-to-day quality issues with the ISS Production where required.
• Effectively liaise and support communication on day-to-day quality issues with the DPS Commercial, Packaging, Compliance, Technical and Product Management Teams where required.
• Maintain & move forward high standards of product safety, legality & quality assurance from the Grower, supply chain, goods intake & through packing, and despatch of the product.
• Being up to date with Customer requirements and implement new policies and procedures with support of the Technical Managers, and cross function teams, as necessary.
• Working closely with other technical functions on Group projects to align one Quality plan and procedures as mainstream.
• Responsibility for the product specifications against customer requirements, ensuring the maintenance of cur-rent data.
• Maintain & administer Customer and DPSM&S KPI’s, action plans and use initiative and experience to drive on the relationship with DPSM&S customers and help support and Grow with those key accounts.
  

Sound like the role for you, click apply!