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Technical Manager- ProduceHead Office
Technical Manager - Produce
About the Role
We're looking for an experienced Technical Manager to lead the food safety, quality, and compliance agenda across our Produce category. This is a pivotal role responsible for ensuring all products consistently meet Asda's standards for safety, legality, quality, integrity, and customer satisfaction.
Working closely with Trading, suppliers, growers, and packing partners, you'll use technical expertise, data insights, and industry knowledge to drive product excellence from field to shelf. You'll play a key role in improving freshness, reducing customer complaints, influencing sourcing decisions, and ensuring robust due diligence across the supply chain.
Key Responsibilities
Product Safety, Quality & Compliance
- Act as the guardian of product safety, legality, quality, and integrity across the Produce category.
- Manage raw material and finished product specifications, ensuring products are bought, packed, and traded to agreed standards.
- Maintain and continuously improve Produce due diligence programmes, including audits, testing, risk assessments, and compliance frameworks.
- Deliver and uphold the Asda Brand technical framework where applicable.
Quality & Freshness Improvement
- Lead initiatives that improve product freshness, shelf life, and customer perception of quality.
- Understand product life cycles from harvest through to customer purchase, identifying risks and implementing effective mitigation strategies.
- Use customer feedback, complaint data, trend analysis, and technical KPIs to identify root causes and drive continuous improvement.
- Build long-term category quality plans that address both short and longer-term opportunities.
Supplier & Stakeholder Management
- Partner with suppliers, growers, IPL packing sites, and internal teams to deliver consistent product quality and customer satisfaction.
- Influence supplier selection, sourcing decisions, logistics routes, and supply calendars to optimise quality, availability, waste, and cost.
- Support the delivery of innovation, new product development, and varietal improvement programmes alongside Trading teams.
- Represent Asda within the supplier base, ensuring technical expectations are understood and consistently met.
Sustainability & Responsible Sourcing
- Support Asda's Responsible Sourcing commitments by working collaboratively with suppliers to deliver sustainable improvements.
- Partner with GNFR and supplier teams to identify opportunities to reduce, remove, or optimise packaging and minimise EPR-related impacts.
- Monitor emerging industry, regulatory, and sustainability developments and implement actions to mitigate risk and protect supply continuity.
Leadership & Capability Building
- Develop effective relationships across Technical, Trading, Supply Chain, and Operations teams to drive business objectives.
- Where applicable, lead and develop Technical colleagues, building capability, succession plans, and technical expertise within the team.
- Regularly visit suppliers, growers, stores, and competitor locations to understand market trends, quality performance, and customer feedback.
What We're Looking For
Essential Skills & Experience
- Experience within a Technical, Quality, or Food Safety role in a retail, manufacturing, or fresh food environment.
- Strong understanding of food safety, product quality, compliance, and due diligence requirements.
- Experience using data, customer insight, and trend analysis to identify issues and drive improvement.
- Confidence influencing stakeholders at all levels and translating complex technical information into clear business recommendations.
- Strong planning, prioritisation, and organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.
- A logical, evidence-based approach to problem solving and decision making.
- High attention to detail and commitment to delivering the best outcomes for customers.
Desirable
- Fresh Produce experience.
- HACCP Level 3 qualification.
- Internal Auditing, BRCGS, or Lead Assessor training and experience.
- Knowledge of project lifecycle management and change delivery.
- Experience leading or developing individuals and teams.
Additional Requirements
- Willingness to travel regularly across the UK and, where required, internationally.
What's in it for you?
At Asda, we want you to feel proud of where you work and supported in achieving your career goals. You'll be part of a business that's committed to serving customers better every day while investing in the wellbeing and development of our colleagues.
You'll benefit from:
- Competitive salary and bonus opportunity
- Company pension scheme
- Colleague discount and a range of lifestyle benefits
- Flexible and hybrid working opportunities where appropriate
- Career development and learning opportunities
- A supportive and inclusive environment where everyone can be their best
Everything you'll love
As one of the UK's leading retailers, Asda offers a fast-paced, collaborative environment where you'll have the opportunity to make a real impact. We put customers at the heart of everything we do, and we're passionate about creating a workplace where colleagues feel valued, supported, and empowered to grow.
Everything you'll love
To ensure we balance moments where we know we need to collaborate together and the need for flexibility, Asda has a hybrid way of working with a minimum 3 days a week in one of our Home Offices. Over and above this, each area of Asda may have additional requirements which may require spending more days in the office, visiting suppliers, stores or depots.
You will also get an excellent benefits package including:
Discretionary company bonus
Company pension up to 7% matched
Company Car allowance of £5,700
15% colleague discount in store and online
Free access to wellbeing services such as Stream, 24/7 virtual GP, counselling, health and dental cash plans and a 24/7 employee assistance helpline, alongside discounts across a range of services and activities, from airport parking, enhanced to theme parks and cinemas.
Asda Allies Inclusion Networks – helping colleagues to make sure everybody is included and that our differences are recognised and celebrated
Excellent parental leave policies, including maternity & adoption leave, paternity leave, shared parental leave, neonatal care leave, and support for those doing fertility treatments.
We want all colleagues to be able to bring their best and true selves to work, every day. Simply put, we want our colleagues to be Proud to be Asda and proud to be themselves
Find your everything
Apply here
Why Asda?
We’re a really values-led organisation. Our mission means we encourage everyone to be open and honest. We work creatively and collaboratively with each other, valuing everyone’s input. We get on with things, we make them happen. As so many people across the UK rely on us, we have to.
Our Creating Change for Better programme tackles the major challenges facing our business and society today and guides our efforts on where we can make the biggest difference by reducing our environmental footprint, creating healthier products and supporting our communities.
Big businesses like ours offer big opportunities. With more than 1,000 stores across the UK, from superstores and Asda Living to petrol stations, as well as depots and Express stores. £60m+ in revenue taken every day. We conduct £300m worth of transactions every week. Our website handles 2 million transactions a month. And 75% of the UK shop in Asda every year.
Rewards and Recognition
Free remote GP service
Available to you, your partner and your children, 24/7, year round.
Pension
Save for retirement with contributions paid into your pension account by you and Asda.
Free physiotherapy consultations
Helping you and your partner take care of yourselves with 8 free sessions per year.
Colleague discounts
15% off at our stores - get discounts on groceries and George all year round.
Car cash allowance
Eligible colleagues will receive a cash allowance as part of their benefits package. In addition, all salaried colleagues can choose to register for the Salary Sacrifice Electric Car scheme*.
(*Conditions apply)
Mortgage advice
Whether you’re a first-time buyer, renewing your mortgage, looking at buy to lets, or simply after some advice in getting a mortgage, get free* unbiased advice through the Mortgage Advice Bureau (MAB), one the UKs largest mortgage brokers.
Confidential support helpline
Find free emotional, practical, and financial support that’s fully confidential, through a helpline that’s available 24/7, year round.
Cycle to work
Buy a bike through this scheme and save on tax and national insurance.
Financial support
Find financial wellbeing tools and support, including the ability to stream your pay.
Free eye tests
Head to our in store opticians for a free checkup and take care of your vision.
Bonus
Sharing our success with a discretionary bonus scheme for salaried colleagues that really rewards your contributions.
Cancer support
Guidance and support for you and your family, from before diagnosis, to treatment and beyond.
Paid time off
From holiday to sick leave and other types of leave, such as parental leave.
Mental health support
Access free mental health support for you and your family.
Support and advice with care
If you’re supporting older family or friends with care and support, find free, confidential information, expert support, and guidance about later life care for your loved ones through the Legal & General Care Concierge service.
Hybrid working
To ensure we balance moments where we know we need to collaborate together and the need for flexibility, Asda has a hybrid way of working with a minimum 3 days a week in one of our Home Offices. Each area of Asda may have additional requirements which may require spending more days in the office, visiting suppliers, stores or depots
Save money on every day spends
Access to hundreds of high-street discounted Vouchers, discounts on days out, gym memberships, airport parking, and more
Setting your loved ones up for the future
As part of the team, you’ll get life assurance.
Guaranteed contracted hours
All colleagues are guaranteed weekly contracted hours / guaranteed weekly shifts via their contract of employment which is agreed with the hiring manager.
Holiday buying
Once a year our salaried colleagues are able to buy up to 5 additional days holiday via salary sacrifice (subject to eligibility).
Everything that makes us different, makes us Asda
Our colleague-led inclusion networks, including our DisAbility, Race & Ethnicity, Women at Asda, LGBTQIA+, and our Wellbeing Network, are all about giving our colleagues a space to share their stories, experiences, and perspective. Supported by our dedicated Executive Ambassadors and led by our ten passionate co-chairs, our Networks help us make changes that make life better for every colleague.
Transforming communities and changing lives
Our stores, distribution centres, and head offices work in local communities across the UK – and we want to be a real part of making a difference for them. From our amazing 400 Community Champions to our charity, The Asda Foundation, we’ve got loads of ways to help local groups and charities. Our outreach programmes, grants, and Community Champions are all about listening to our communities’ needs – to shape projects and initiatives that will make a real impact for local people.
Our commitment to the Armed Forces
Here at Asda, we’re dedicated to helping the Armed Forces rediscover their everything after service. We guarantee interviews for people who have left service and meet the minimum criteria for a role, provide leave for reservists’ training, support for cadet training, and employment opportunities for their partners. And that’s why we have over a thousand new colleagues from the Armed Forces Service Leaver Community join us every year.
Head Office roles
Thinking bigger, looking forwards, and always asking what’s next, Our Head Office teams aren’t afraid to challenge how we think, and embrace fresh perspectives, experiences, and change – all to keep us growing.
Asda House
The heart of everything Asda in the centre of Leeds, Asda House is full of collaborative workspaces and meeting rooms where teams work together to deliver real value for ordinary working people.
It’s home to its own Leon restaurant, where you can get discounted food and drinks, as well as two shops and a staff discount store, where you can sometimes snap up some real end of season bargains. We also have regular atrium events, where you’ll often have a chance to sample new products, and play host to exciting celebrity guests. And you can park your car for free in our onsite parking, with electric charging points just over the road.
If you're looking for a new opportunity and you want a challenge within a fast-paced environment with great culture then a role at Asda would be ideal for you.
Polly,
Commercial and Propositions Lead
The flexibility is great, I can attend school events like sports days and I can go for my morning run when I'm working from home and in the office as they have showers.
Tom,
Seasonal Packaging Design Specialist
The role is really varied and diverse. You get involved in so many different things! Everyone is so supportive and really cares about your personal development.
Hayley,
Buying Manager
Work where it works
Here at Asda, we think that the best way to work is to do it where it works best. That’s why all of our teams who are able to work from home, work with each other to figure out a pattern that works for you all, and the business needs. So you can get the most out of work, whether that’s at home, the office, or both.