The Lunch Bag, Ireland’s leading provider of school meals, is expanding its Food Safety Team, offering an exciting opportunity in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. As the Food Safety & Quality Manager, you’ll be at the forefront of ensuring that all our school meals meet the highest standards of food safety and quality, in line with regulatory requirements, customer expectations, and ISO 22000 standards. This role plays a key part in maintaining our reputation as a trusted provider of nutritious meals to over 100,000 children daily across Ireland.

At The Lunch Bag, we’re passionate about delivering healthy, varied, and safe meals to schools across the country. As a critical player in shaping Ireland’s school meal services, we take pride in setting the highest standards. This role offers the opportunity to contribute to a mission that impacts children's health and wellbeing for generations to come.

Key Responsibilities:

• Food Safety Management: Oversee food safety operations, ensuring compliance with HACCP, food safety regulations, and ISO 22000. Ensure that all records are meticulously maintained, adopting a continuous improvement approach.
• ISO 22000 Maintenance: Manage and maintain The Lunch Bag’s ISO 22000 Food Safety Management system, ensuring that it evolves with the company's growth and industry advancements.
• Manage the Food Safety & Quality Team: Lead and develop the Food Safety & Quality team, ensuring continuous progression, clarity of responsibilities, and effective delivery of all food safety and quality activities.
• Supplier Approval & Risk Assessments: Lead the approval process for suppliers, manage product specifications, and conduct risk assessments to ensure product safety and compliance.
• Customer Complaints Management: Investigate and address all customer complaints, implementing corrective and preventative actions to resolve issues and improve processes.
• Food Safety Culture: Foster a strong food safety culture across the company, encouraging awareness, accountability, and best practices at all levels.
• Support Operations Team: Work closely with the operations team to ensure compliance with Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and provide guidance to meet food safety and quality standards.
• Ensure High Standards of Hygiene & Housekeeping: Maintain and enforce exceptional levels of hygiene and housekeeping across all food handling and production areas, supporting audit readiness and compliance at all times.
• Regulatory Liaison: Serve as the key contact with regulatory authorities, ensuring full compliance with all food safety and quality regulations relevant to our in-school meal services.
• Monitor Food Safety Metrics: Track and report on key food safety metrics to demonstrate compliance and identify areas for continuous improvement.

This role is supported by an external Food Safety consultant and involves close collaboration with multiple teams, including operations and suppliers, to maintain and elevate our food safety standards.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Degree in Food Science or an equivalent discipline.
• Proven experience as a Quality Assurance (QA) Manager in the food industry, or a background that has prepared you to step into a managerial role.
• Hands-on experience with food safety standards implementation and management.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to build positive working relationships across teams.
• Self-motivated, results-driven, and able to work well under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• A passion for continuous improvement and maintaining the highest standards of food safety.