Job Description

Trouw Nutrition’s Companion Animal business is focused on advancing nourishment of the world’s pets by providing premium pet food companies with the highest-quality custom ingredient blends supported by exceptional customer care and nutrition expertise. We are seeking a Quality and Food Safety Director, Highland, IL, US to lead and collaborate with Quality Managers in the Companion Animal business unit, Nutreco and around the world to ensure compliance with Nutrace, regulatory and industry standards and manage customer expectations for the Safety, Quality and Integrity of our pet food products.

About The Role: Driving Quality and Food Safety Excellence:

Responsibilities:

• Lead the development, implementation and continuous improvement of quality programs for the TN US Companion Animal Business
• An engaged member of the Quality Leadership and Species Networks (Accelerate quality improvements – One voice, one set of priorities and make use of economies of scale and skill)
• A seasoned Quality Assurance expert with strong people leadership skills, deep understanding of regulations, quality management and displays effective communication

Strategy

• Contribute to the development and implementation of Companion Animal three-year quality strategy leveraging the Nutreco Quality strategy
• Attract, coach, appraise and develop the Companion Animal Quality community to ensure the right capabilities to execute the plans

Food Safety & Quality (FSQ) Capabilities

• Develop internal networks and subject matter experts in FSQ to accelerate best practice sharing and standardization
• Participate in Quality Leadership team, setting expectations and delivering best practices to the Companion Animal community, while working effective and efficiency in QFS themes at Nutreco level

Quality Performance

• Oversee and verify implementation of correction action/preventative action on complaints, internal incidents, and crisis
• Analyze QC and Quality data to identify trends, risks, develop and implement corrective and preventive actions as necessary

Customer Satisfaction

• Collaborate with customers and stakeholders to understand their quality and safety requirements, aligning Quality management and Ways of Working accordingly

External Collaboration

• Build and maintain collaborative relationships with external partners to leverage expertise and drive industry-wide quality improvements

People Leader

• Lead a team of 5-8 Quality Assurance leaders (2 manufacturing plants and two labs) fostering a high-performance culture and providing strategic direction for talent development and succession planning

Skills and Expertise:

Qualifications

• Preferred master’s degree in Quality Assurance and Regulatory, Animal Science, Food Science, Biology, Chemistry, or a related field
• 5+years of relevant manufacturing experience in quality assurance, food/feed or a related field
• Pet Food experience preferred
• Knowledge of food and feed safety regulations
• Extensive knowledge of local and national Quality Regulations and Industry Standards, including and evolving trends or changes
• Knowledge of quality management systems and certification schemes (HACCP, FSMA, GFSI)
• 30% Domestic and International travel
• Attention to detail and ability to analyze data
• Good problem-solving and decision-making skills
• People Management, professional level
• Excellent written, verbal communication and interpersonal skills with internal stakeholder
• Experienced user of MS suite Excel, Word, PowerPoint and SharePoint
• Fluency in Spanish and Portuguese is preferred, but not required

Why you Will Love Working with Us:

Global Benefits:

• Be part of our sustainable mission with opportunities to grow within Nutreco, Skretting, Trouw Nutrition and the broader SHV group
• Embrace our culture of diversity and inclusion, where we respect and value everyone

Local Benefits:

Hybrid work model, iPhone, company credit card, PTO, 401k, IRA, 10 paid holidays, medical, vision, dental, disability, life insurance, HSA, FSA, Paid Parental Leave and Tuition Reimbursement. The workdays and hours are Monday thru Friday-8:00am-5:00pm, but flexible.

Next Steps:

We value a seamless candidate's experience and will review your application within five (5) business days. We appreciate your interest in joining our mission to innovate and sustainably shape the future of food production. We thank you for choosing a career with us and sharing your ambition to “Feed the Future!

Please note that candidates applying to US job openings must be authorized to work in the United States. Employer Sponsorship is not available for this position.

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