Plant Quality Systems and Compliance Lead

POSITION TITLE: Plant Quality Systems and Compliance Lead

REPORTING TO: Sr. QA Manager

LOCATION: St. Albans, VT

About the Role: 

Site Quality Systems and Compliance Manager is accountable to developing, maintaining and communicating the site’s quality management system (QMS) that supports implementation of BC’s policies and standards on Quality, Food Safety, Sanitation and Regulatory Compliance. Additionally, they will ensure that the site's QMS meets and exceeds regulatory requirements, GFSI and customer requirements. This position contributes to and nurtures a culture of “Safety, Food Safety First and Quality Always” mindset across all teams and leaders in the site, in line with the Barry Callebaut ‘Go for Zero’ objective (0 accidents, 0 defects, 0 delays, 0 environmental impact and a 0-loss mindset). She/he/they have the responsibility to act and speak up when deviations cannot be solved locally (example: infrastructure or resource issues that prevent complete execution site’s QMS procedures).
Key responsibilities include: The duties and responsibilities described are not a comprehensive list and that additional tasks may be assigned to the employee from time to time; or the scope of the job may change as necessitated by business demands. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

● Develop, implement, and maintain the organization's QMS to ensure compliance with relevant regulations and standards (e.g., ISO 9001, GMP).
● Conduct regular audits of the QMS and related processes to ensure effectiveness and compliance.
● Responsible for BC quality and food safety internal audits program for the site
● Be the leader of cross functional BC team that fronts the customer and regulatory audits
● Be the champion of good documentation practices at the site, Be a Quality Culture advocate
● Ensure all GMP documents are managed under document control procedure at factory level
● Ensure that CAPA actions of the site (from internal BC audits, customer or regulatory audits) are tracked on a regular basis through Safety Dashboard or other means
• Stay informed of industry regulations, food quality standards, and best practices, ensuring that the organization meets all necessary compliance requirements.
• Develop and deliver training programs for employees on quality assurance practices, compliance standards, and relevant regulations
• Foster a culture of quality and compliance throughout the organization
• Identify potential quality risks through QMS effectiveness checks and develop strategies to mitigate them
• Propose new CAPEX projects based on QA input and then work with Engineering and Operations to track/consolidate/follow up on local CAPEX expenditure for FSQA related projects.
• Lead best practice & Incident sharing related to implementation and effectiveness of QMS
• PIC for all quality related digital projects and ensure statistical process controls are developed at factory level
• Responsible for non-quality cost monitoring, reporting, and improvement
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure quality and compliance are integrated into all aspects of operations
• Develop, implement, and monitor quality and food safety performance metrics to ensure compliance with BC guidelines and regulatory standards.
• Manage the product transfer process for the site (to/from)
• Communicate quality and compliance issues and improvements to senior management and stakeholders 

About you:

• Master’s degree in chemistry, Biology, Microbiology or Food Science or equivalent (or engineering degree with 5 plus years in food quality assurance)
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in foods or pharma quality management system development, implementation and maintenance
• Exposure to food safety, including formal HACCP training, pathogen environmental monitoring and testing is beneficial
• Formal training in FSSC22000 or BRC
• Certification in a quality management system such as ASQ preferred
• Minimum local language fluency plus English (B2)
• Rigorous and demanding to drive the right culture
• Knowledgeable in MS Office Suite, SAP Systems and other applications used in manufacturing e.g. scheduling, CMMS, MES, etc.
• Customer focused – internal and external
• Excellent communication (written and verbal) skills both upward and downward
• Works well under pressure, enabling his/her/their team to thrive under all circumstances
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities
• Self-starter and results driven mind set and discipline to sustain results
• Multitasking and time-management skills
• Change manager seeking continuous improvement through people capability development
• Ability to convince and influence, based on facts – ability to manage transversally is key to this role
• Ability to draft SOPs and other GMP documents
• Strong knowledge of food safety systems, plant and manufacturing technologies
• Proven people management skills
• Practical knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, TPM or similar operating systems
• Experience of Project Management and associated tools and systems
• Change Manager seeking continuous improvement through QMS and documentation systems
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Can prove strong focus on procedures (standardizing)
• Rigorous and demanding to drive the right culture
• Project management skills

What you can expect from Barry Callebaut:

• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package
• 12 paid holidays, generous PTO, plus your birthday off
• 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.