Bill of Materials; BOM Governance & Process Lead

Reports To: Director, Research & Development

Location: Hamilton, ON

The pay range for the role is $75,300 to $125,300 plus bonus, comprehensive benefits, retirement savings plan, paid vacation, and other perks and opportunities.

The BOM Governance & Process Lead is responsible for overseeing and governing the end-to-end Bill of Materials (BOM) lifecycle within Research and Development and across cross-functional teams. This position is accountable for establishing and maintaining stable BOM processes and ensuring that product data is accurate, complete, controlled, and ready to support execution.

• Act as the gatekeeper for BOM creation and modifications
• Ensure adherence to workflows, timelines, and documentation standards
• Maintain consistency in BOM structures and templates

• Manage intake, prioritization, and tracking BOM requests
• Ensure completeness of all inputs prior to workflow progression
• Drive follow-ups and ensure timely approvals
• Maintain visibility of BOM status across stakeholders
• Prevent release of incomplete or unapproved BOMs

• Govern BOM revision control and change documentation
• Ensure traceability and proper version control
• Validate release readiness
• Completeness & structural accuracy
• alignment with specifications
• Support audit readiness and documentation control

Act as the central coordination point across: R&D, Operations, QA / Regulatory, Finance, Procurement, Master Data / IT.

• Ensure correct engagement and alignment across functions
• Resolve ownership gaps and data inconsistencies

• Ensure accuracy and integrity of BOM data across systems (D365, Optiva, SharePoint)
• Maintain version control and traceability
• Validate:
• formulation-to-manufacturing alignment
• mass balance and yield consistency
• Align formulation data with system records
• Identify process gaps and inefficiencies
• Standardize templates, workflows, and data practices
• Reduce cycle time, rework, and manual dependencies
• Improve compliance with defined processes
• Collaborate with IT/Digital teams on improvement and support workflow automation integration
• Contribute to development of tracking and validation tools
• Support analysis of BOM data to identify:
• Contribute to cost visibility and operational improvements

• Authorized to hold, return, or reject incomplete BOM requests
• Ensures no BOM is released without proper validation and approvals
• Escalates delays, gaps, and unresolved issues
• Acts as process authority for BOM governance

• BOM Cycle Time (Request to Release) The speed at which BOMs are processed from request to final release, with a focus on consistent cycle time reduction.
• First-Time-Right Accuracy Rate — The percentage of BOMs approved without correction or resubmission, reflecting quality and attention to detail.
• Data Completeness Compliance — The rate at which submitted BOMs contain all required fields, attributes, and documentation prior to submission.
• BOM Validation Standards Compliance — The proportion of BOMs that successfully pass internal validation checks against defined standards.
• Rework and Error Reduction — The measurable reduction of BOM-related rework and downstream errors over time through proactive root cause resolution.
• System Consistency (Formulation vs. ERP) — The rate of data discrepancies between the formulation system and ERP platform, with success defined as maintaining a single source of truth.

• Bachelor’s degree in food science, Engineering, or related field
• 8-10 years’ experience in similar function; process manufacturing (food/dairy preferred)
• Experience with BOM, formulation, or product data management
• ERP experience (D365 preferred)
• Strong cross-functional team communications, analytical & problem solving skills
• Strong process governance mindset
• High attention to detail and data accuracy
• Strong coordination and organizational skills
• Ability to manage multiple workflows

Gay Lea Foods is an equal‑opportunity employer and values diversity in our workplace.

Reasonable accommodation is available upon request throughout our recruitment and selection process.

Gay Lea Foods may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support aspects of the recruitment process, including screening and assessment.

We are currently accepting applications for this open position.