Group Head of Product Quality and Compliance

Purpose of the Role

To provide strategic leadership across Product Compliance, Quality Assurance and Supplier Quality, bringing these disciplines together to create a more proactive and consistent approach to product integrity. The role will work closely with Production and Procurement to strengthen supplier performance, embed effective QA processes and ensure customer-specific requirements are translated into practical, sustainable ways of working across the business.

Main Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership across Product Compliance, Quality Assurance and Supplier Quality, bringing these areas together under a consistent, proactive approach to product integrity, supplier performance and customer requirements.
  
• Lead and develop the Product Compliance function, including the Head of Compliance & Sustainability and team, creating a collaborative and joined-up approach across compliance, quality and international requirements.
  
• Work closely with the Production Director and Procurement team to develop and embed a robust approach to supplier quality, ensuring quality and compliance are considered throughout supplier selection, product development, production and delivery.
  
• Take ownership of Supplier Quality Management, working directly with suppliers to improve standards, strengthen processes and reduce recurring quality issues.
• Establish clear supplier expectations, monitor performance, identify trends and drive corrective and preventative actions.
  
• Develop and embed appropriate Quality Assurance processes and governance, introducing practical quality controls and quality gates across the product development and production lifecycle, proportionate to product and customer risk.
  
• Ensure customer-specific quality, technical and compliance requirements are understood and effectively embedded within company processes, particularly for key retail partners such as Aldi and Lidl. Work closely with relevant internal teams to adapt processes as customer requirements evolve.
  
• Work closely with the Head of Production and Quality Control to ensure effective communication and alignment between Quality Assurance, Product Compliance and Quality Control, supporting a consistent approach to product quality while respecting clear ownership of the QC function.
  
• Lead the investigation and resolution of significant supplier, quality and compliance issues, ensuring appropriate containment, root cause analysis, corrective action and preventative measures are implemented and followed through, working with the relevant functional owners.
  
• Build strong working relationships with key suppliers, testing laboratories, certification bodies and customer Quality Assurance/Technical teams, using these relationships to improve technical capability, resolve issues and drive better outcomes for the business.
  
• Oversee supplier compliance and quality programmes, ensuring suppliers maintain appropriate certifications, product safety standards, ethical requirements and customer-specific expectations.
  
• Develop meaningful KPIs, reporting and management information to provide senior leadership with clear visibility of supplier performance, quality issues, compliance risks, trends and improvement activity.
  
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement across supplier quality, product compliance and QA, using data, issue trends and supplier performance to introduce preventative measures and improve processes.
  
• Act as a senior point of escalation for product quality, compliance and supplier performance issues, working closely with Production, Procurement, Product Development and Commercial teams to agree solutions and drive resolution.
  Champion a culture of quality and accountability across the organisation, encouraging teams and suppliers to take a proactive approach to product integrity rather than relying on inspection or testing to identify issues.
  
• As the function develops, identify opportunities to strengthen the QA structure and resource, including the potential introduction of additional Quality Assurance specialist resource as the scale and requirements of the business evolve.
  

Skills & Experience

• Proven experience within the children’s products, toy, craft, stationery or book publishing industry, or a closely related consumer products environment.
  
• Strong experience in product compliance, quality assurance and/or supplier quality management, with a practical understanding of product safety and regulatory requirements.
  
• Experience of working directly with overseas suppliers and manufacturing partners, ideally across Asia, with an understanding of the challenges and opportunities of international supply chains.
  
• Demonstrable experience of improving supplier performance, including setting expectations, monitoring KPIs, identifying root causes and driving corrective and preventative actions.
  
• Experience of working with retailer-specific technical, quality and compliance requirements, and translating these into clear and practical processes for suppliers and internal teams.
  
• Strong negotiation and influencing skills, with the ability to challenge suppliers constructively and secure sustainable improvements and solutions.
  
• Proven ability to lead, develop and motivate teams, creating a collaborative culture with clear accountability and ownership.
  
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to build effective relationships across Production, Procurement, Product Development, Commercial and senior leadership.
  
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, with the ability to identify trends, investigate issues and turn data and insights into practical improvements.
  
• Experience of managing complex quality or compliance issues, coordinating multiple stakeholders and driving issues through to resolution.
  
• Commercially aware, with the ability to balance quality, compliance, customer expectations, cost and delivery when making decisions.
  
• A proactive and continuous improvement mindset, with the ability to develop processes rather than simply manage existing ones.
  
• Confidence and a good communicator
  
• Initiative, honesty and integrity
  
• A Team Player
  

This role is based in our office in Bath. The successful candidate will be in commuting distance of Bath or planning to relocate.

Apply for the role here