Safety & Compliance Officer

Job Description Role: Safety & Compliance Officer Hospitality & Leisure Estate | Lake District Circa £45,000 – £50,000 | Full-time, Permanent We’re supporting a well-established, values-led hospitality estate in the Lake District to appoint a Safety & Compliance Officer into a senior, highly visible role. This is a hands-on, influential role with real accountability - protecting a complex, guest-facing operation where food safety, health 'safety and fire compliance are business-critical. The successful individual will work closely with operational teams, senior leaders and external regulators to ensure the estate remains safe, compliant and commercially resilient. The Role Reporting directly to the Managing Director, you’ll take ownership of safety and compliance across a multi-site hospitality environment, with a particular emphasis on food safety.You’ll be trusted to set standards, guide teams, manage risk pragmatically and act as the organisation’s primary point of contact with Environmental Health Officers and other regulatory bodies. Crucially, this role requires someone who understands how hospitality works - balancing compliance with operational reality, supporting and guiding teams, and embedding high standards through influence, collaboration and sound judgement. Key Responsibilities Food Safety & Regulatory Compliance - Lead food safety compliance across all hospitality operations, ensuring ongoing readiness for inspection - Act as the primary contact for Environmental Health Officers and regulators - Manage inspections, audits and follow-up actions, ensuring issues are resolved proportionately and sustainably - Protect the business from food-related operational and reputational risk Health, Safety & Fire Compliance - Lead health 'safety and fire safety compliance across the estate - Oversee risk assessments, policies, procedures and incident management - Ensure compliance frameworks are practical, up to date and embedded into day-to-day operations - Support managers in understanding and applying legislation confidently Leadership, Influence & Culture - Build strong, trusted relationships with operational teams - Provide guidance, coaching and training to build capability and ownership at all levels - Promote a positive, proportionate safety culture that supports both people and performance Governance & Reporting - Maintain compliance systems, records and documentation - Track and report KPIs, trends and risk areas to senior leadership What We're Looking For You’ll be a confident and credible food safety–led compliance professional with experience operating in hospitality or other complex, guest-facing environments. You understand the realities of running food operations at pace and the risks involved if standards slip. You’re comfortable working with Environmental Health Officers, leading inspections, responding to findings, and putting proportionate, practical improvements in place. Just as importantly, you communicate well with operational team building trust, offering guidance, and embedding high standards. Essential - Level 3 Food Safety qualification (minimum) - Proven, hands-on experience managing food safety in a hospitality environment, including leading or supporting EHO inspections - Strong working knowledge of food safety legislation and practical application in live operations Desirable - Level 4 Food Safety qualification, or willingness to work towards it - Broader health 'safety experience within a multi-site or guest-facing environment - Experience overseeing fire safety compliance and working with external assessors Don’t meet every single requirement? At Realise, we are dedicated to helping our clients build diverse, inclusive and authentic workplaces, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every requirement, we would encourage you to apply anyway — you might just be the candidate we’re looking for! Realise HR Ltd is operating as a recruitment agency on behalf of its clients. We may keep your CV on file for the purposes of providing recruitment services and in accordance with our privacy policy, which can be found on our website:

Created: 2025-12-15