Process Technologist
Taiko · Old Oak Common, North West London
Our estimate of how close this job is to decisions about what protein a business sources, specifies, buys and serves. How we score
Why this role matters
How close this job is to real sourcing and menu decisions.
Taiko is the UK's leading sushi and food-to-go manufacturer, and sushi production runs on seafood, a category where sourcing decisions matter enormously for sustainability and supply chain resilience. But this specific role sits in process and quality execution, not sourcing: you would be translating new product development into factory production, running trials, and sitting on the HACCP team, rather than setting the sustainable-sourcing criteria the company already applies to its fish. The real value here is what it builds: two or three years inside a major protein-category manufacturer gives you fluency in product specifications, QA systems and NPD processes that are hard to pick up any other way. That technical credibility is what opens doors later into roles that do touch sourcing and specification directly. The sustainability and ethical sourcing teams of food manufacturers are often staffed by people who started exactly here.
Where this role can take you
What this job teaches you, and the jobs it can lead to.
Where it can lead
- Senior Process Technologist
- Quality Assurance Manager
- Technical Manager
These more senior technical roles typically hold greater say over product specifications and supplier quality requirements, including the standards raw seafood and other ingredients must meet.
About the role
Taiko, established in 1997 as the first UK supermarket sushi manufacturer and now a major producer of Sushi, Food To Go, Prepared Meals and Snacking products supplying Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's, is hiring a Process Technologist for its Acton site. The role translates NPD (New Product Development) products into the factory environment, ensuring product quality, safety and commercial suitability while meeting customer expectations, and involves proactively evaluating and improving processes through continuous Kaizen activities as an active member of the HACCP team. Responsibilities include attending feasibility and NPD meetings to understand and follow up on new products, liaising with the Commercial and QA teams to manage distribution changes and documentation, collaborating with the Senior Process Technologist to plan and execute product trials following Taiko launch procedures, assisting in process improvement and timely product validations, and organising and overseeing product trials, customer panel trials and external lab testing with full documentation management. Requirements include previous experience in a Food to Go manufacturing environment in a similar role, understanding of the operation and products, understanding of the product development process including planning and conducting trials, creating data for specifications and writing QAS, ability to follow critical paths/project timelines, high reliability and flexibility, excellent verbal and written communication, and good time management and organisational skills; a qualification in a food-related discipline is advantageous but not essential. The role is full time, 40 contracted hours, salary £35,000, with benefits including company pension, discounted gym membership, private medical insurance, employee discount, discretionary bonus, life assurance, income protection, and an apprentice programme. Taiko highlights sustainability initiatives including responsibly sourced, sustainable fish and recyclable/recycled packaging.</role_summary> <parameter name="builds_skills">["HACCP team participation", "NPD-to-production process translation", "product trial design and validation", "QA documentation and specification writing", "cross-functional liaison with Commercial and QA teams"]
This is an extract. Read the full advert on the employer's site.
Key terms to include in your CV and cover letter
What this employer is asking for, in their words. Applications are often screened by software looking for exact phrases, so if these describe your experience, use their wording.
- HACCP
- Kaizen
- continuous improvement
- product validation
- NPD process
- critical path method
- project schedule tracking
- quality assurance
- quality control
- document management
- technical writing
- food safety
- cross-functional communication
- stakeholder liaison
- industrial food and beverage production experience
How to position yourself
The language that works with hiring managers for this kind of job.
Position your interest in terms of product quality, process reliability and regulatory compliance, the levers this role actually controls. Build HACCP familiarity and food safety/QA literacy, since these are the credentials the advert asks for and the ones that carry forward into more senior technical or sourcing-adjacent roles.
You apply directly with the employer. We just link you to their advert, and we don't see anything you send them.