Food Safety Manager

At M&S, food safety and compliance are critical to protecting our customers, colleagues, brand and business. As Food Safety Manager, you will lead the development and delivery of a robust Food Safety & Compliance framework across Retail, Convenience and Logistics, ensuring the business operates safely, legally and with confidence. You will be responsible for shaping and delivering the Retail Food Safety & Compliance strategy, strengthening due diligence, reducing enforcement risk and driving continuous improvement in food safety standards. Working closely with operational teams, regulatory bodies and business stakeholders, you will implement practical, simple and effective solutions that support a strong safety culture whilst leveraging technology and AI to simplify processes and improve compliance.

What You Will Do

• Lead the development and maintenance of the Retail Food Safety & Compliance framework, including HACCP (Food Safety Management System), policies, processes and the M&S way, ensuring legal compliance and safe food production.
• Design and implement inspection, verification and governance programmes that assess store compliance, monitor performance and provide assurance that food safety standards are consistently embedded across all operations.
• Lead food safety and compliance incident management, investigating root causes, responding to serious customer complaints and external enforcement matters, and implementing sustainable corrective and preventative actions.
• Analyse food safety and compliance trends, identify emerging risks and legislative changes, and develop appropriate business responses to protect the business and strengthen due diligence.
• Collaborate with operational teams, regulatory bodies, suppliers and internal stakeholders to improve standards, simplify processes, embed a strong safety culture and leverage technology and AI to enhance compliance and reduce manual workload.

Who You Will Be

• A food safety expert with a passion for protecting customers, colleagues and the business through strong governance, compliance and risk management.
• A strategic thinker who can translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical, simple and effective solutions for operational teams.
• An influential stakeholder manager who can build trusted relationships across the business and confidently engage with external regulators, enforcement officers and service providers.
• A resilient and adaptable leader who remains calm under pressure when managing incidents, enforcement issues and business-critical risks.
• A proactive problem solver with strong coaching, communication and influencing skills who can drive continuous improvement and positive behavioural change.

What You Will Bring

• Food Safety Level 3 & 4, HACCP Level 3 & 4 and Allergens Level 3 qualifications.
• Strong experience developing and managing food safety management systems, compliance frameworks, inspection programmes and governance processes within a food retail, logistics or hospitality environment.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to interpret data, identify risk trends, conduct root cause analysis and implement effective corrective actions.
• Strong organisational, project management, decision-making and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to prioritise effectively and manage multiple workstreams.
• Up-to-date knowledge of food safety legislation, regulatory requirements and industry best practice, with experience working alongside enforcement bodies, operational teams and external service providers.

What’s in it for you

Being a part of M&S is exactly that – playing your part to bring the magic of M&S to our customers every day. We’re an inclusive, dynamic, exciting, and ever‑evolving business built on doing the right thing and bringing exceptional quality, value and service to every customer, whenever, wherever and however they want to shop with us.

Here are some of the benefits we offer that make working for M&S just that little bit more special…

• 20% colleague discount across all M&S products and many of our third‑party brands for you and a member of your household.
• Competitive holiday entitlement with the potential to buy extra holiday days.
• Discretionary bonus schemes awarded based on how you achieve your personal objectives and our performance as a business.
• A generous Defined Contribution Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.
• A dedicated welcome to our teams with a tailored induction and a wide range of training programmes to develop your skills.
• Amazing perks and discounts via our M&S Choices portal to maximise your financial and personal wellbeing.
• Industry‑leading parental, adoption and neonatal policies, providing support and flexibility for your family.
• Access to a fantastic range of wellbeing support for all colleagues, including our 24/7 Virtual GP and PAM Assist for you and your family.
• A charity volunteer day to support a cause you're passionate about through a dedicated day away from work.

Everyone’s welcome

We are ambitious about the future of retail. We’re disrupting, innovating and leading the industry into a more conscientious, inspiring digital era. We’re transforming how we work together and offering our most exciting opportunities yet. Marks & Spencer strives to be an inclusive organisation, trusted and admired by our colleagues, customers and suppliers. Join us and make change happen.

We are committed to building diverse and representative teams, where everyone can bring their whole selves to work and be at their best. We support each other and work together to win together. If you feel you'd benefit from any support or reasonable adjustments during any stage of the recruitment process, please don’t hesitate to let us know when completing your application. This information will be picked up by our team, so we can try and put steps in place to help you be at your best through this process.