Job Description
Are you a detail-driven food professional with a passion for technical excellence, continuous improvement and protecting brand integrity?
Do you thrive in collaborative environments and want to make a real impact across a diverse supply base and product portfolio?
We're looking for a Food Technologist - Product Compliance & Specifications to join our Food Services division, supporting Whitbread across Premier Inn and Restaurants. In this role, you'll help safeguard food safety, quality, and legality across the supply chain while strengthening relationships with suppliers, wholesalers, and internal teams.
At NSF, this is more than a technical role - it's an opportunity to contribute to our mission of improving human and planet health. You'll join a global organisation recognised for excellence in testing, inspection, auditing and advisory services, and play a vital role in delivering safe, high-quality food enjoyed by millions of guests.
What We Offer:
- Hybrid working: Based at the Whitbread office in Dunstable with flexibility to work from home part of the week
- Comprehensive benefits: Health cover, death-in-service benefit, company sick pay and income protection.
- Wellbeing support: Access to our Employee Assistance Programme and a paid annual Mental Wellness Day.
- Volunteering time: Paid time off to support causes you care about.
- Career development: Opportunities to grow within a global organisation committed to excellence.
Responsibilities
Including, but not limited to:
- Build and maintain strong working relationships with technical and cross-functional stakeholders, providing expert technical advice.
- Support collaboration with suppliers and wholesalers, contributing to continuous improvement plans and quality enhancement initiatives.
- Work with the Senior Technologist and Whitbread teams to develop and implement technical policies, guidelines and standards.
- Manage and maintain product specifications through the agreed platform, ensuring accuracy, compliance and robust data management.
- Support Procurement and Food & Beverage teams during issue escalation, incident management and crisis resolution.
- Maintain and organise Whitbread's technical documentation and database systems.
- Ensure alignment with Whitbread's Force for Good strategy, including technical involvement in audits.
- Assist with complaints and incident investigations, ensuring appropriate follow-up and preventive actions.
- Occasionally review food and drink menus to ensure legality and accuracy across relevant markets.
- Support the development and implementation of NSF and Whitbread technical standards.
Qualifications
- Degree (or equivalent) in Food Science, Food Technology or extensive relevant experience in retail or manufacturing.
- Experience working in a technical or development function handling specifications and supporting product development.
- Strong knowledge of food safety, product development, shelf-life, and food labelling requirements.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, strong numeracy and negotiation capability.
- Ability to work independently and collaboratively with customers, colleagues and suppliers at all levels.
- Exceptional attention to detail and advanced Excel skills.
Our Culture:
At NSF, our mission is to improve human and planet health. Our culture is rooted in four central values:
- Do the Right Thing
- Treat People Well
- Relentlessly Pursue Excellence
- We Are One NSF
These values underpin everything we do - from client service to internal collaboration. You'll be part of a high-purpose, high-performance team that takes pride in delivering exceptional results.
Apply now and send us your CV and cover letter. Come join our team - we look forward to hearing from you!
#LI-JW1
About Us
With a legacy spanning more than 80 years, NSF leverages science and innovation to improve human and planet health. We provide science-driven, independent testing, inspection, certification, and advisory services and develop the very standards that drive the food, water, and life sciences industries worldwide. We empower our clients to navigate shifting regulations to improve consumer health, safety, and quality of life.
One of our core values is We Are One NSF. This means that while we're one team, we embrace the cultural, ethnic, language, and demographic diversity that reflects the societies in which we live and work.
Come join a team that makes a difference in the world. More information about NSF can be found at nsf.org.
NSF is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, among other things, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, status as a protected veteran, or disability.
Notice to Agency and Search Firm Representatives: Please note that NSF is not accepting unsolicited resumes from agencies/search firms for this role. Resumes submitted to an NSF employee by a third-party agency without a valid written & signed search agreement between NSF and said third-party agency will become the sole property of NSF. No fee will be paid if a candidate is hired as a result of an unsolicited agency or search firm referral. Thank you.
About the Team
As pioneers in the food safety industry, NSF is proud to play a vitally important role in helping food service businesses of all sizes, from local cafes to multinational supermarket brands, stay ahead of risks, regulations and consumer expectations, while delivering on their commitment to food safety and public health.