Quality & Food Safety Director at ofi North America; Olam Food Ingredients Oxnard, CA

Position Summary

Reporting to the Sr. Operations Head of Private label Spices of North America and dotted line to VP of Quality and Food Safety North America - the Director of Quality and Food Safety - Olam Industrial Spices will be responsible for the management of all QFS activities across the ofi Spices Plants in North America. The individual will manage the development of QFS systems in the business including continuous improvement of QFS processes and systems, development, and implementation of QFS policies, GFSI/BRC audits and certifications.

This individual will work to ensure connectivity and collaboration between Spices business unit functions and will direct the management of overall external QFS environment including customer, supplier, and regulatory interfaces for the business unit. In addition to extensive experience and demonstrated knowledge in Food Safety and Quality Systems and Operations, they should have advanced risk assessment skills and perform complex investigations and lead root cause analysis and complaint trend analysis.

Ability to work well within and lead a team across multiple geographies and business units will be required. The ideal candidate for this position will have experience and understanding of food laws and regulations, primarily with the FDA.

• Manage the implementation and maintenance of QFS policies, customer, and supplier standards across all locations of Ofi PL
  - Spices.
• Responsible to ensure connectivity and collaboration between QFS functions across the manufacturing facilities, mediate and resolve all QFSA issues in the business.
• Serve as a key contributor in the Business Unit (BU) crisis management team in the event of a food safety incident.
• Monitor FDA/EU/USDA regulatory activities and standards to ensure all regulatory compliance is met within all plants and business units. Also, act as the compliance liaison for all manufacturing locations.
• Apply Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) to identify food safety hazards and provide solutions to the business to mitigate risks through a “preventive” approach.
• Identify and address supplier quality issues with raw materials, packaging materials and ingredients to manufacturing unit in collaboration with purchasing/ supply chain team.
• Build effective external partnerships with customers. Be a representative for the BU to review product performance, respond to complaints and questions and provide proactive and preventive corrective actions as needed.
• Build effective internal partnerships with manufacturing operations to ensure regulatory and customer expectations are met on food safety and quality parameters.
• Work with planning and plant teams to maintain optimal stock levels while minimizing excess inventory. Implement inventory control measures to prevent stockouts and overstock situations.
• Provide input to Quality Senior Leadership related to capital needs to maintain food safety leadership position in the industry.
• Identify and share best practices in executing of QFS programs across the globe through standardization of policies, standards, and standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Maintain high level engagement with regulatory issues within the industry and provide information both internally and externally as required for the BU success.
• Manage both internal and external compliance issues by demonstrating leadership and project management skills.
• Lead and engage a group of associates across different geographies. Work to develop and grow their abilities and contributions to Olam.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in food science, Microbiology, Chemistry, or related fields is required. Master’s degree is preferred.
• Ten (10) years of experience in the management of Quality and Food Safety, function, is required.
• Food manufacturing or retail experience required
• A working knowledge of Food Laws & Regulations is preferred.
• Advanced knowledge of Global Food Safety Initiatives (GFSI) audit protocols such as British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Safe Quality Food (SQF), documentation, document management and interface with external auditors and…