Reporting to: Cluster Category Head

Location: Across Cape Town and White River, Mpumalanga

About the Libstar Meal Ingredients, Snacking and Spreads Cluster:

The Meal Ingredients, Snacking & Spreads Cluster is part of the Libstar Ambient Products Category, with business sites located in Cape Town, Vredenburg and Nelspruit. We operate within a dynamic, forward-thinking organization dedicated to driving innovation, fostering growth, and creating a supportive, inclusive work environment. As part of the broader Libstar team, our goal is to grow our food brands and category solutions in a sustainable and profitable manner. We prioritize building strong relationships with our customers and aim to be South Africa’s leading producer and distributor of high-quality products and brands.

We are currently recruiting for a Head of Technical to lead and drive food safety, technical compliance, ethical sourcing, and sustainability across the Cluster, ensuring technical excellence, continuous improvement, and brand trust while enabling innovation and cross-functional collaboration.

About the Position:

The Head of Technical shapes the food safety and quality agenda across our clusters’ chilled, ambient, and frozen business. The ideal candidate will confidently lead a talented team of food scientists and technologists ensuring high performance in a fast-paced, dynamic environment. This is a career-defining opportunity for a highly strategic, commercially aware and experienced leader to shape the future of our technical department and to lead the team in the successful delivery and continuous improvement of all technical performance areas.

The role demands someone who is innovative, can think on their feet with broad practical know-how, understanding of customers’ expectations and standards (in both retail and food services channels) and a passion for driving a positive and sustainable impact across the foods value chain. As Head of Technical, the position plays a critical role in maintaining brand trust and enabling innovation through collaboration with cross-functional teams. The ability to drive and influence positive change and building long term relationships with all stakeholders and partners are critical to ensure the highest standards are met from concept to consumer.

Key Job Functions:

• Develop, lead and implement the strategic direction for technical, ethical and sustainability compliance across the Libstar Cluster and customers, aligned to business growth and innovation plans.
• Leads and mentors’ technical business unit heads, fostering a culture of performance, innovation, and accountability across the Libstar Cluster.
• Translating sustainability and responsible sourcing initiatives into measurable targets, with direct involvement in projects shaping the future of our foods business.
• Set quality and technical policies and procedures, ensuring they are future fit, scalable and aligned with regulatory, industry and retailer audit requirements.
• Manage technical relationships with manufacturers (local and international), third party service providers, customers and industry experts.
• Act as gatekeeper for all products ensuring robust technical approval processes are in place for sourcing, development to launch and then maintained.
• Define and monitor performance through robust KPI frameworks across food safety, health & safety, sustainability and ethical trade platforms.
• Acts as authority on technical legislation, audit compliance and food safety governance to drive due diligence and continuous improvement across the supply base.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with all customer channels, suppliers and industry bodies, acting as the senior interface to influence policy, respond to challenge and elevate the One Libstar brand.
• Develop and implement a long-term technical and compliance roadmap, supporting cross-functional innovation, product development and alignment with customer agendas.
• Support pioneering innovation, new product categories and entry into new markets
• Represent the business at industry level, providing thought leadership on technical excellence to maintain the Libstar Cluster’s position as a category leader.
• Drive technical knowledge sharing across all business units supporting best practice, uniformity of quality, food safety and compliance standards in a collaborative, future-focused environment.
• Champion continuous improvement and drive a culture of quality and food safety across the Libstar Cluster.
• Act as main point of contact for food safety incidents, recalls or crisis management.
• Build, lead and develop technical teams, ensuring skills and resources align with business needs.
• Keep abreast of regulatory changes, emerging risks and technological advances in quality and food safety.
• Drive a technical culture of enablement and value-adding.

Knowledge and Experience Required:

• Min 10 years’ experience at a senior-level in food safety, technical, quality assurance or product development roles
• A degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Microbiology or related discipline
• A strong background in retail, food service and manufacturing
• Expertise in quality and food safety management systems (HACCP, QMS, FSSC22000, ISO), international standards an advantage (FSA, GFSI)
• Strong people leadership skills with a track record of developing high-performing teams
• Effective stakeholder management with the ability to influence at all levels
• Passion for food and sustainability
• Flexibility to travel (local and international) as required
• Spearhead a transformation agenda across all divisions aligned to business strategy and goals
• Results-driven and the passion to make a positive impact to teams and overall business

Person Profile, Skills and Attitude:

• Strategic leadership in a purpose-driven, fast-paced growing business
• In-depth experience in branded, retailer own brand, premium or high-growth food categories
• Knowledge of global regulatory frameworks, compliance, ethical sourcing, and environmental requirements
• Analytical mindset with capability to assess data, trends, and risk
• High personal integrity and ethical standards
• Self-driven, strong time management and multitasking capability
• Ability to work independently and under pressure
• Collaborative and ability anticipate pitfalls with suitable mitigation plans
• Ability to think customers with a commercial/business mindset

Application:

Please e-mail your CV to recruitment@rialtofoods.co.za; with a motivation highlighting why you should be considered
for the position.
Application deadline: 19 September 2025
If you have not received a response within two weeks of the closing date for applications, kindly consider your application unsuccessful.

Note: Please note that you may on occasion be required to perform tasks that are not part of your normal daily duties but may be necessary due to the operational requirements of the Company. Preference will be given to EE candidates in line with the Company’s employment equity plan and BBBEE strategy. To consider any application for employment, we will have to process your personal information. The Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), provides that when one processes another’s personal information, such collection, retention, dissemination and use of that person’s personal information must be done in a lawful and transparent manner.

To give effect to the above, we are required to provide you with information regarding the processing of your personal
information. This information is recorded under the HR Processing Notice, which can be accessed and viewed on the Company website at https://www.libstar.co.za/legal/.