Food Safety & Assurance Officer

Role Overview

This position sits at the front line of public health protection, ensuring that every fresh-food site operates to the highest safety and hygiene standards. You will spend your working week travelling between retail and production locations, inspecting facilities, auditing processes, and partnering with on-site teams to close compliance gaps. Your work directly shapes the company’s food safety reputation, reduces product loss, and keeps customers safe from contamination risks.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform scheduled and unannounced inspections of meat counters, bakery operations, delicatessens, and cold-storage units to assess sanitation, hygienic practice, and temperature integrity.
• Confirm that product handling, lot traceability, packaging labels, and cold-chain logs align with HACCP and ISO 22000 standards and local statutory requirements.
• Spot systemic and site-level hazards, lead root-cause investigations into foodborne illness reports or consumer grievances, and track implementation of corrective and preventive actions.
• Review cleaning schedules, pest-management activity, waste segregation, and inbound supplier deliveries to prevent cross-contamination and reduce spoilage.
• Serve as the technical liaison during official regulatory visits, and produce clear, accurate audit reports that document findings, risk ratings, and required follow-up.
• Coach and upskill branch staff through on-floor guidance and toolbox talks, reinforcing food safety culture and ensuring teams understand and apply hygiene regulations.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Educated to degree or diploma level in food science, food technology, microbiology, public health, or an equivalent scientific discipline.
• At least four years of practical experience in food safety management, quality assurance, hygiene inspection, or auditing within the food sector.
• Demonstrable audit or QA background in high-volume fresh food environments, including butcheries, bakeries, delis, manufacturing plants, or quick-service restaurants.
• Working knowledge of HACCP, ISO 22000, national food safety legislation, and operational hygiene management systems.
• Excellent analytical, interpersonal, coaching, and stakeholder-engagement abilities, with enough influence to drive change across multiple sites.
• Comfort with frequent nationwide travel and variable on-site schedules.