Technical Assistant

Fresh Direct, a Sysco company are currently recruiting for a Technical Assistant to join the team on a full time, permanent basis. It will be your responsibility to provide support to the technical managers in delivering effective supplier management, product compliance, and due diligence. This role reports to the Senior Technical Manager.

This role is offering a hybrid working contract, with 1 day per week in our Ashford, Bicester or Grantham offices for Team Collaboration, so you must be in a commutable distance to one of these and open to travel. 

Key Accountabilities & Responsibilities: 

Supplier maintenance: 

• Issue and review performance scorecards 

• Monitor GFSI status, responding to changes and maintaining data 

• Monitor supplier SEDEX membership status, review risk reports and audit outcomes 

• Ensure supplier and site contacts are up to date in relevant systems 

• Monitor supplier and site (non-GFSI) certification status that may impact on chain of custody or product claims 

• Monitor and report on audit status 

Product maintenance: 

• Ensure routine specification reviews are completed 

• Review specifications to pack copy generation stage 

• Undertake product quality assessments 

• Review artwork proofs 

• Issue and review product scorecards to verify policy compliance 

Certification maintenance: 

• Ensure certified product lists are maintained 

• Complete mass balance exercises for certified ranges 

• Provide certified product data for customer reporting 

• Complete internal certified claim validations 

About you: 

The ideal candidate must have a technical background, and have a full understanding within a food service / fast-paced technical team (QA/QC) with a relevant degree in Food Science/Technology. You will be able to demonstrate a good understanding of category and procurement strategies and be able to prioritise your workload and work well under pressure. This is a key role to ensure all customer complaints are investigated thoroughly so effective communication and interpersonal skills are essential. Ideally, you’ll have good analytical skills to review data and highlight any common trends or patterns to reduce any further complaints or incidents. If you enjoy working closely with suppliers and customers, this is a great role where you will take full accountability and control to ensure the best outcome is always achieved. 

 

At Fresh Direct everyone is welcome. We don’t want you to ‘fit our culture’ we want you to help define it and we actively celebrate the unique talents of each and every colleague. We don’t just look at your CV, we’re more focused on who you are and your potential. As part of our values, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone has a voice, is appreciated and has the same opportunities. We work hard to ensure that everyone feels part of our business, as we care for one another and connect the world through food and trusted partnerships. Our ultimate goal is to ensure that everyone belongs and thrives at Fresh Direct and we recognise that Fresh Direct can only thrive when everyone feels they belong. We'll do everything we can to support you during your application. If you need us to make any adjustments to our recruitment process, speak to our resourcing team who will be happy to support you. 

Fresh Direct

Built on a passion for food and feeding the nation, at Fresh Direct we are dedicated to making life as easy and efficient for the chefs, cooks and caterers we serve across the country. We are the leading specialist supplier of locally and globally sourced fresh produce and dairy across Great Britain, bringing the best of the seasons to chefs’ menus.