Quality & Compliance Manager

About the Role

Permanent - 39 hours per week

This is a field-based role with national and international responsibilities. The Quality Manager will be required to visit suppliers, factories, retail stores, and distribution centres across the UK as needed. The role will attend head office as required by the business or to meet business needs. The role also involves international travel, including frequent visits to factories in the Far East and other regions, ensuring compliance with quality standards and supporting supplier performance globally.

The Quality & Compliance Manager plays a crucial role in safeguarding Lakeland’s brand integrity, customer trust, and commercial success. This role ensures that all products meet the highest standards of quality, safety, and legal compliance. The Quality & Compliance Manager drives a “quality-first” culture across the business, enabling innovation that is safe, responsible, and trusted by customers. You will be the senior subject matter expert on product compliance, legislation, and risk management, ensuring due diligence at every step of the product lifecycle. The portfolio spans own-label developments and branded goods, sourced from a global supply chain with hundreds of factories across the UK, Europe, and the Far East.

Key Responsibilities

•Quality & Compliance Leadership: Lead the Quality & Compliance function, setting the strategic direction and managing a small team to ensure business objectives are met. Develop and maintain quality standards, processes, and KPIs for all product categories.

•Supplier and Factory Management: Oversee the quality performance of a global supplier base, including manufacturers across the UK, Europe, and Far East. Manage supplier onboarding, conduct factory audits, and implement ongoing quality assurance programs.

•Continuous Improvement: Drive initiatives with suppliers to resolve quality issues, reduce returns, and enhance customer satisfaction. Lead continuous improvement efforts to ensure product quality standards are consistently met.

•Own Label & Brand Management: Ensure all own-label products comply with relevant regulations (e.g., UKCA/CE, REACH, RoHS, FCMs, food safety). Collaborate with NPD, Buying, and Product Development teams to ensure compliant product launches. Work with branded suppliers to ensure alignment with Lakeland’s quality standards and ethical sourcing policies.

•Product Safety & Testing: Oversee product testing and certification processes, ensuring compliance with relevant safety standards (e.g., EN, BS, IEC). Manage internal product evaluations, risk assessments, and ensure proactive compliance with evolving legislation.

•Customer Focus: Lead investigations into customer complaints, product failures, and safety incidents. Analyze customer feedback and trends to minimize product returns and enhance product quality.

•Documentation & Reporting: Maintain technical documentation, including declarations of conformity, test reports, and technical files. Provide clear and detailed reports to senior leadership on product compliance, issues, and risk mitigation strategies.

Knowledge & Experience

•Experience: Extensive experience in Quality, Technical, or Compliance roles within retail or consumer goods, covering both food and non-food categories. Proven expertise in managing global supply chains, supplier networks, and product compliance.

•Legislation & Standards: In-depth knowledge of UK and EU product legislation, including electrical safety, food contact materials, CLP, and general product safety. Familiarity with both own-label and branded product development processes.

•Supplier & Factory Management: Experience in supplier quality management, conducting factory audits, and running ethical sourcing reviews. Skilled in developing and leading continuous improvement programs.

•Testing & Certification: Strong proficiency in third-party testing, certification processes, technical documentation, and risk management.

•Regulatory Expertise: Demonstrated ability to interpret and apply complex regulatory requirements within a commercial environment. Ability to stay up-to-date with regulatory changes and ensure compliance across all markets.

•Preferred Qualifications: Degree in Product Development, Quality Management, Food Science, Engineering, or related fields. Certifications in Product Safety, Quality Management (ISO 9001), or Regulatory Affairs are desirable.

Core Capabilities

•Strategic & Technical Leadership: Strong strategic thinking with technical judgment and commercial awareness to navigate complex challenges.

•Collaborative Leadership: Able to build effective relationships across teams and with suppliers. Proven ability to influence and drive change.

•Communication Skills: Clear and concise communicator, capable of simplifying technical and regulatory information for diverse audiences.

•Problem-Solving & Risk Management: A decisive, proactive problem solver who can manage risk while driving continuous improvement initiatives.

•Customer-Centric & Detail-Oriented: Demonstrates a strong customer focus and attention to detail, always striving for quality excellence.

•Resilience & Adaptability: Able to perform under pressure while maintaining high standards of compliance and quality.

•Cultural Leadership: Champions a culture of integrity, responsibility, and quality across the organization. Influential in promoting a quality-first mindset.

About Lakeland

Founded in the early 60s, with the same strong values of quality and customer care now as when we first started. From selling plastic bags for home freezing from the Rayner family garage in Windermere, to over 4000 kitchen and home products today, Lakeland has grown to the extent that we now send out thousands of parcels a day from our Kendal despatch centre, and we have stores nationwide, stretching from Aberdeen to Exeter, with more in the pipeline.

Benefits

There are many benefits to being part of the Lakeland team. Other than being part of a huge and happy working family, our colleagues are rewarded with a competitive salary and a group personal pension plan.

There are 29 days’ paid holiday (including bank holidays) and generous discounts on our products. We offer a great retail environment, and the chance to be part of a team who like to work and socialise together.