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Process Improvement Lead, Portillas Café Ltd t/a Fidela Coffee Roasters

  • Sector: Science
  • Location: Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland
  • Salary: £35k - £45k
  • Contract Length: 18 Months
  • Closing Date and Time: 08/12/2025, 17:00
  • Fixed-Term Contract, 18 Months

Job Summary

Portillas Café Ltd is a direct trade coffee business established in 2019, operating from our roastery in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. We import Colombian coffee directly from small-scale farmers, cutting out intermediaries to ensure fairer prices for growers and full traceability for customers. Our business serves multiple market segments through two distinct brands: Fidela & Comuna. In addition, we supply green coffee beans to selected roasters in Ireland and mainland Europe, leveraging our position as one of the largest direct importers of speciality Colombian coffee in Ireland.

Job Description

We are seeking a motivated and experienced professional to join our team as a Continuous Improvement Lead in the Food Manufacturing sector and to lead the development of new formats and processes within the business. This role is critical to driving operational excellence, developing new products and processes, integrating data management tools, and delivering cost-effective improvements across our production processes.

Key Responsibilities

  • Lead the development of two new product formats.
  • Analyse food manufacturing processes to identify opportunities for cost reduction, productivity improvement, and quality enhancement.
  • Design and implement continuous improvement initiatives using data-driven methodologies.
  • Ensure compliance with food industry quality and safety standards.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver project outcomes within tight deadlines.
  • Monitor and report on the effectiveness of implemented improvements.

The successful graduate will lead this project, in a supportive partnership with Teagasc as part of the InterTradeIreland Innovation Boost Programme.

Interviews will be held approximately week commencing: 15/12/2025

Essential Criteria

  • Degree in Food Process Engineering, Production Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering or similar.
  • Minimum 2 years’ experience in designing and implementing production improvements and ensuring compliance with quality and safety standards in the Food Industry.
  • Must be legally entitled to work in Northern Ireland/UK and travel through the island of Ireland if required; if you do require a visa/work permit allowing you to work in Northern Ireland/UK you must upload a copy of it with your application. Failure to provide a relevant visa/work permit may result in your application not being considered.

Desirable Criteria

  • Strong understanding of food manufacturing processes, continuous improvement methodologies and data analysis to reduce costs, improve productivity, and enhance product quality and safety in a food production environment
  • Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement frameworks
  • Conscientious self-starter, disciplined, organised, with attention to detail and capable of working independently to progress projects within tight deadlines.
  • Ability to work as part of a team, including consulting, collaborating and building relationships with key stakeholders.
  • Ability to interpret data and improve data processing management systems
  • Flexible, can-do attitude, with an ability to prioritise tasks effectively, with a quality customer service focus.
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