Meat Technical Schemes Operational Delivery Manager

Are you motivated by supporting people, leading teams and connecting with communities?
Do you have an interest in farming and rural life?

If so, our Meat Technical Schemes Operational Delivery Manager vacancy could be a good fit for you.

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is an executive agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We deliver over £2 billion in payments each year to farmers, traders, and landowners across England.

The Regulatory and Advice Service (RAS) within the Customer Experience Directorate includes around 250 colleagues, such as Meat Technical Inspectors, Field Officers, Inspection Support teams, and Statistical and Analytical teams. Together, these teams carry out more than 8,500 visits annually. This work ensures compliance with livestock and meat production regulations and the effective use of public funds for environmental outcomes. It also provides clear advice to customers and supports the delivery of the Government’s environmental ambitions.

Further information is available on the Rural Payments Agency website: Rural Payments Agency – GOV.UK

The Meat Technical Team delivers regulatory inspection visits to abattoirs, meat cutting and processing plants, and cold stores across England and Wales, ensuring compliance with regulations.

This Operational Delivery Manager role is predominantly a people management role. You will lead and manage a dispersed team of up to 12 Meat Technical Inspectors, with responsibility for ensuring effective delivery across key operational areas, including performance, governance, risk, finance, and people management.

You will have overall responsibility for the planning, delivery, and quality assurance of inspection visits across current and future regulatory schemes. This will include monitoring performance against agreed targets, driving improvements in efficiency, and ensuring all work is completed to the required standards and timescales.

Strong leadership and management capability is essential. While experience of the meat and livestock industry would be beneficial, it is not essential, as the role is predominantly focused on managing people and delivering outcomes. You will lead by example, demonstrating RPA values, and will work closely with other meat technical management colleagues to ensure consistency and quality across teams.

You will be responsible for supporting, developing, and managing staff in line with departmental guidance, including performance management, attendance management, wellbeing, and supporting colleagues through organisational change as the RPA five‑year strategy is implemented.

You will be an active member of the Regulatory and Advice Service Senior Management Team (SMT), contributing strategically and ensuring priorities are clearly communicated and embedded across teams.

The role will involve visits to abattoirs and meat cutting plants as part of your development, during which you may be required to spend time in operational areas. As a result, the role requires regular travel, including overnight stays. As the team is dispersed and homeworkers, you will be eligible for a vehicle through the RPA lease car scheme.

Responsibilities:

• Provide leadership and line management to a team of Meat Technical Inspectors
• Ensure all required quality assurance checks on inspectors are completed within agreed timescales
• Oversee the delivery of team outputs to agreed deadlines and quality standards
• Promote and maintain consistency across teams in line with national standards
• Engage with Senior Management Teams (SMT), including leading meetings and contributing to project groups as required
• Liaise and collaborate with subject matter experts, RAS policy teams, and internal and external stakeholders to support new schemes, pilots, and emerging projects
• Provide support for internal audits, including National Audit Office (NAO) and GIAA audits, where required
• Support cultural change as a manager and leader, promoting staff engagement, wellbeing, and inclusion
• Undertake any other reasonable duties as required by the line manager or RAS senior leaders
• Commit to personal and professional development, including developing meat industry knowledge. Any required training will be provided as part of the development program

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Disability Confident

About Disability Confident

A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .