Product Manager

JOB TITLE: Product Manager

REPORTS TO: Head of Quality and Compliance

LOCATION: Mission Produce UK LTD, Dartford, Kent

Job Summary

Ensure product safety, quality, integrity and legality throughout the facility. Maximise product returns and deliver strategic quality improvement plans.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage quality functions in Production, storage and dispatch.
• Support quality functions at inloading and ripening.
• Manage the shelf life and benchmarking processes, analyse the data and report/action accordingly.
• Work closely with Technical Manager, Quality team, and Production team to understand customer quality performance and take action accordingly.
• Work closely with the Production team to implement production quality management processes and packhouse grading equipment efficiencies.
• Work closely with Supply Chain, Sales and Sourcing to understand stakeholder requirements, maxmise stock, and take action accordingly.
• Manage decisions on quality to ensure product returns are maximised through appropriate stock rotation, usage and waste management.
• Capture quality performance at grower level, identify trends and develop improvement ideas.
• Supervise and mentor the QRC team, ensuring daily resource is utilised effectively and all required activity is understood and complete.
• Support with microbiological and pesticide residue testing regimes to ensure safe and legal product throughout the process and adhere to customer requirements.
• Support customer, grower and all other third-party visits as required.
• Manage and execute training plans for the QRC and Production teams to ensure all functions are trained effectively.

• Perform other duties as requested.
• Responsible for implementing the Mission Produce UK Safety Management System and adopting such system into the local Safety System. To achieve this Departmental Managers and Supervisors are responsible for:
  • Ensuring that for their area risk assessments, regular inspections and audits are carried out.
  • Ensuring that the operations under their control are, as far as is reasonably practicable, conducted without detriment to the health and safety of employees or others who may be affected by their activities.
  • Ensuring that the Safety Management System is effectively implemented within their areas of responsibility.
  • Implement and maintain workplace precautions suitable to the working environment and as identified in risk assessments.
  • Ensuring that all accidents, incidents, and near misses reported to them are documented and investigated correctly.
  • Provide suitable levels of information, instruction, training, and supervision to employees in their area.
  • Ensuring that it is comprehensible and understood by the person to whom it is addressed.
  • Provide feedback on performance including successes and failure of plans or precautions.
  • Ensure effective communication through their departments of Health & Safety activities.
  • Maintaining safety discipline within their area of responsibility.
  • Ensuring that any remedial actions that are beyond their scope of authorisation are brought to the attention of their immediate superior.

Minimum Qualifications & Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of prior work experience in a Fresh Produce quality function. Equivalent qualifications will also be considered.
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Office applications, particularly Excel, with the ability to troubleshoot issues, develop new and adapt existing spreadsheets.
• Ideally, an understanding of Microsoft D365.
• ERP implementation skills.
• Able to work and make decisions with a sense of urgency, adhering to tight schedules and simultaneously managing several projects.
• Some leadership with the ability to be hands-on, work independently, and remain self-motivated.

• Able to understand the company’s organizational structure, operating philosophy, culture and lines of responsibility, authority, and communication in both the United Kingdom and United States operations.
• Proven ability to be result focused, metric driven, and translate priorities and actions into measurable results.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with a strong ability to effectively identify problems by framing issues, leveraging data, and developing and implementing solutions.
• Customer service driven.

• Analytical: Strong ability to independently evaluate trends, explore areas for improvement, interpret large amounts of data, and provide possible solutions.
• Organization: Ability to stay focused on prioritized tasks, while handling emergency situations during times of high stress or heavy workload.
• Technical Skills: Assess own strengths and weaknesses, pursue training and development opportunities, strive to continuously build knowledge and skills, share expertise with others.
• Communication: Excellent communication skills, including an ability to adapt communication style to suit different audiences.
• Teamwork: Balance team and individual responsibilities for group efficiencies. Exhibit objectivity and openness to others’ views, able to work effectively with all levels of management to obtain team objectives.
• Quality: Must demonstrate accuracy, thoroughness, and commitment to complete tasks correctly the first time.