Job Description

Job Introduction
As we continue our mission to make people and nature happy through reinventing chocolate, we're looking for a Hygiene Manager to join our Chocolate Manufacturing Team on a permanent basis.
As Hygiene Manager, you will be responsible for our food manufacturing sites hygiene operations, ensuring that all equipment, facilities and environment consistently meet the highest standards for food safety, quality and legal compliance.
You will lead in the development and implementation of effective cleaning and sanitation strategies, drive rigorous hygiene verifications testing and ensure full compliance with industry standards, including BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and Mars Cleaning & Sanitation Guidelines. Your leadership will be key in maintaining audit readiness and safeguarding the integrity of our food manufacturing process.
This is a great opportunity for an experienced Hygiene Manager to lead and implement long-term hygiene and food safety programmes whilst simultaneously overseeing and supporting day-to-day hygiene operations here at Hotel Chocolat.
Salary: 55,000 to 58,000 per annum (dependent on experience).
This is a Monday-Friday, full-time position, operating across standard office working hours. There is no expectation to work weekends, however our Factory runs a 7-day-a-week operation, so we do ask that the successful candidate provides all teams (including nightshift) the touchpoints they require.
As well as a competitive salary and a range of company benefits including private healthcare cover, enhanced maternity and paternity leave and Company pension contributions, you'll receive 50% discount on all products, and a 70% discount for you and your guests when you stay at our Rabot Estate hideaway on the paradise island of Saint Lucia.
The onsite location for this role is at our Factory 'Hadley Park', in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, right in the heart of where our chocolates are made and where weekly, we can produce between 4 to 6 million of the chocolates we all know and love.
Hadley Park is just 5 minutes off the A141 and 1.3 miles from Huntingdon train station, with direct rail links to London King's Cross.
What you'll be doing....

• Lead, develop, and motivate the Hygiene Team, fostering high performance, accountability, and engagement.
• Own hygiene KPIs and drive improvements across Health & Safety, GMP, absence, training, labour planning, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure cleaning and sanitation procedures, validations, allergen controls, and verification activities meet requirements for:
• BRCGS Food Safety (current)
• FSSC 22000 (future)
• Mars Cleaning & Sanitation Standard
• Act as the operational hygiene lead during internal and external audits (BRC, customer audits, FSSC surveillance, environmental health, etc.).
• Establish a strong service culture, ensuring production areas consistently receive equipment and environments cleaned to specification.
• Ensure teams are equipped and trained to support new equipment introductions, factory upgrades, and hygienic design improvements.
• Act as the key operational link between Hygiene, Engineering, Technical, and Planning to ensure cleanliness, availability, and reliability of equipment.
• Lead and maintain the Mars Cleaning & Sanitation Standard gap analysis, ensuring actions are prioritised, owned, and closed out.
• Drive CI initiatives in partnership with the CI team, embedding a Kaizen approach across hygiene operations.
• Develop improved cleaning methods (wet, dry, foam), validation processes, and sanitation documentation.
• Encourage and support team-generated improvement ideas, creating a culture of innovation and ownership.
• Ensure a safe, supportive workplace and promote colleague well-being as a priority.
• Develop team members through structured training, coaching, and performance management.
• Work closely with agency partners to maintain an efficient and engaged hygiene workforce.
• Lead regular communication, briefs, and updates to ensure hygiene teams are aligned to short, mid, and long-term business plans.
• Promote a strong food safety culture, especially in allergen control and segregation relevant to chocolate manufacturing.

Who you are...
Essential

• Demonstrable experience as a Hygiene Manager or equivalent leadership role within food manufacturing (chocolate, confectionary or FMCG desirable).
• A strong working knowledge of:
• BRCGS Food Safety Standard
• FSSC 22000 requirements
• HACCP
• Allergen management
• Hygienic design principles
• Cleaning validation and verification

Desirable

• Experience managing (or delivering) Compliance Standards or large-scale sanitation standard gap analysis is highly advantageous.
• Knowledge of hygiene construction and projects.

Who are we?
We're one of the UK's favourite premium chocolate brands, with a range of products spanning luxury gifts, alcohol and our pioneering drinking chocolate system, the Velvetiser(TM).
A cacao pod takes years to grow - it can't be rushed if it's going to be just right for our products. The same can be said for Hotel Chocolat, which originally started as a mint production company before we realised it was luxury chocolate that we were really passionate about.
Now, we're market leaders in the industry. What began as an online-only business grew to over 140 stores across the UK, and we're still growing... Today, we're multi-category, multi-channel, and multi-territory, and our customers, colleagues, cacao farmers and suppliers all benefit from the success we make together.
To learn more about us and read about our People Pledge - our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion - click here:

Skills Required