Director FSQR, Customer Relations Americas

About the role: 

Barry Callebaut is a global organization poised for growth; a company which has embraced the vision to delight its customers, while out-performing its competitors, a business which is committed to sustainability, has innovation in its DNA, is a leader in complex manufacturing and supply chain solutions and is focused on being a best-in-class employer. Barry Callebaut seeks diverse and passionate people who thrive in a dynamic environment, focused on continuous learning, living Barry Callebaut (BC)’s Values and of course loving chocolate.

The Director, FSQR Global Customer Relations is a key global leadership role responsible for shaping and driving the company’s customer-facing quality strategy across all regions.

Reporting to the Senior Director Global Customer Quality, this role serves as the global interface between strategic customers and the Food Safety,  Quality & Regulatory (FSQR) organization, ensuring consistent delivery of customer requirements, proactive risk management, and excellence in quality performance.

The role is critical in protecting business continuity, strengthening customer trust, and enabling sustainable growth by translating complex customer expectations into scalable, standardized global solutions.

Key responsibilities include:  

Global Strategy & Governance
●    Define and lead the global customer relations strategy within FSQR, ensuring alignment with business priorities and global quality objectives
●    Establish and govern standardized processes, tools, and performance frameworks across regions
●    Drive harmonization of customer requirements and their integration into global systems and ways of working

Strategic Customer Engagement
●    Act as the global quality lead for strategic customers, supporting key accounts on complex or high-impact topics
●    Define and steer the global customer engagement model for quality, in partnership with Commercial teams
●    Lead executive-level customer interactions on quality, compliance, and performance topics

Customer Performance & Continuous Improvement
●    Define and monitor global customer quality KPIs (complaints, audits, service levels, compliance status)
●    Translate performance data into actionable insights, risks, and improvement plans
●    Lead global initiatives to drive continuous improvement in customer satisfaction and operational performance

Compliance, Risk & Issue Management
●    Ensure global alignment with customer requirements, regulatory frameworks, and internal FSQR standards
●    Oversee major customer escalations, incidents, and crisis situations, ensuring timely and effective resolution
●    Strengthen global capabilities in root cause analysis and CAPA execution

Cross-Functional & Global Leadership
●    Partner with Commercial, Operations, Regulatory, R&D, Supply Chain, and Sustainability to ensure end-to-end delivery of customer commitments 
●    Translate customer and regulatory expectations into business-relevant, scalable solutions
●    Act as a key contributor to global FSQR leadership priorities and transformation initiatives

Organization & Capability Building
●    Lead and develop a globally distributed customer relations capability, including regional directors and teams
●    Define future operating model, roles, and responsibilities for customer-facing FSQR teams
●    Drive capability building in customer engagement, compliance, and issue management excellence

About you:

●    Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in food science/food technology or equivalent
●    12–15+ years of experience in FSQR / Quality / Regulatory roles, including strong customer-facing exposure 
●    Proven experience in global or multi-regional leadership roles
●    Strong background managing complex stakeholder environments and strategic customers
●    Fluent English, additional languages are an asset
●    Practical experience to handle complexity and ambiguity
●    Customer-focused, oriented on problem solving, positive mindset
●    Regulatory and legal understanding
●    Travel requirements: customer meetings, audits or for special situations.

What you can expect from Barry Callebaut:

●    Salary Range of $160,000 - $180,000, depending on factors such as experience and location, plus annual bonus and our comprehensive benefits package. 
●    Paid time off, Paid Holidays, and Flex Days
●    Environment that welcomes workplace flexibility 
●    An atmosphere where diversity is embraced, and inclusivity is second nature. We call it #OneBC! Just ask our champions with the Americas Women’s Forum and the Racial Equality Forum!
●    Ability to grow personally and professionally within an organization that values development and internal career growth.
●    Be part of our mission in making sustainability the norm through Forever Chocolate with priorities centered around prospering farmers, zero child labor, carbon and forest positive, and creating 100% sustainable ingredients in all of our products.