Interim Hygiene Manager

About Kepak Foods Division

Kepak Foods Division have developed a portfolio of brands that are successful in the chilled convenience, ambient and frozen meat categories in the UK, Ireland and chosen European markets for both Retail and Foodservice Customers.  We have 5 Manufacturing Sites supported by shared services, with 1000 people supporting our vision to become a transformed, future proofed, profitable €0.5bn Food Business by 2030.

We are currently recruiting for an Interim Hygiene Manager to join our New World Foods site (part of Kepak Group) in York.

This is an 3-6 months contract position

The Hygiene Manager plays a key role in spearheading, nurturing, and orchestrating the site's hygiene operations to guarantee top-tier standards in hygiene, food safety, and health & safety throughout every department. This position carries the responsibility of providing strong team leadership, strategic hygiene planning, thorough verification, strict compliance, and ongoing improvements. The Hygiene Manager ensures that all production areas are meticulously cleaned, verified, and cleared promptly to keep production running smoothly and efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

• Health, Safety and Wellbeing: Promote a safety‑first culture, ensuring compliance with all HSE, COSHH and site hygiene standards.
• Hygiene Management: Oversee hygiene verification activities, including visual inspections, environmental assessments and chemical concentration checks. Oversee hygiene verification activities, including visual inspections, environmental assessments and chemical concentration checks.
• Resource Planning: Plan and deploy hygiene resources effectively to meet operational and food safety requirements.
• Performance Monitoring:Monitor hygiene performance against agreed standards, KPIs and visual assessment results.
• Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance:Proactively manage hygiene risks, non‑conformances and corrective actions to protect product integrity.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with Production, Engineering, Quality and Health & Safety teams to support site objectives.

• Proven experience leading hygiene or sanitation operations within a food manufacturing environment.
• Stronger emphasis on leadership, performance management and labour planning
• Knowledge of HACCP, BRCGS, food safety legislation, COSHH and chemical controls
• Experienced in KPI monitoring, audit readiness and driving corrective and continuous improvement actions
• Effective communicator with the ability to influence across Production, Engineering, Quality and support functions

What can we offer you?

• Further Education support
• Employee Discount Platform - All Kepak employees are entitled to access to the WrkIt platform, which offers significant discounts and cashback with hundreds of brands.
• Bike to Work Scheme - You can buy a bike and safety equipment through a salary sacrifice scheme which reduces your taxable income – meaning you pay less tax!
• Long Service Awards - We recognise, acknowledge and award the dedication and valuable contribution of long serving employees
• BUPA Cash plan free of charge