Supplier Quality Assurance Lead F/M/X

Job Description:

Entity : Royal Canin

Location : Aimargues ideally (30 min from Montpellier in France), or Cambrai (30 min from Lille in France), or Niepolomice (Poland)

Type of contract : 1 year mission to cover parental leave

Key Responsibilities

• Develop extensive knowledge and experience to improve business partnering and leverage external capabilities:
• Be the expert of a portfolio of raw materials and suppliers in the Region to support internal and external stakeholders
• Assure quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, sustainability of the materials supplied to the manufacturing sites by implementing MQM Standard and its associated procedures (HRCI, UHBI, Moulds & Mycotoxins)
• Assess and validate supplier capabilities to meet Mars & Royal Canin Standards and specifications through the material risk assessments, audits and deployment of qualification plans. The SQA Lead animates a cross functional team of regional, local or global stakeholders to guarantee best in class risk assessments.
• Practice excellence in quality: Anticipate and manage effectively quality exceptions, non-conformances and complex problems to minimize business impact,
• Represent not only his/ her portfolio but also his/her category in case of business critical event or escalation to senior leaders,
• Identify opportunities and propose improvement of the existing processes and Standards in place to build knowledge of the company, demonstrate capacity to bring new perspective on existing solutions
• Advise SQA coordinators and officers of the category when facing complex business issue
• Participate, Lead and/or drive projects to support and allow a sustainable business growth with the highest quality Standards (cross functional & cross regional scope): Enhance the quality of our raw materials and our processes
• Support the global SQA and Commercial strategy deployment in the Region, aligned with EU strategic roadmap
• Deploy new raw materials to support Commercial and R&D strategies
• Support Business continuity and do it best initiatives by partnering with Sourcing, Operations, Suppliers and internal stakeholders
• Analyze & Improve suppliers and raw materials' performance: Confirm efficiency of the actions taken and determine priorities for the business
• Identify opportunities & threats for the category, propose mitigation plans in partnership with Sourcing and Operations
• Maintain and Improve supplier relationship

What are we looking for?

• Engineer in Food Science, Chemistry, Biology or similar scientific or technical field or university degree
• A minimum of 3+ years of experience in a similar position or in technical area such as Production, Lean manufacturing, Q&FS, Laboratory
• Fluent English required, knowledge of another language will be an asset
• French is not mandatory but will be appreciated
• Being accredited as Lead auditor FSSC 22000 will be a strong asset
• Openness for business travel (up to 30% travel in the role)

What can you expect from Mars?

• Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
• Join a purpose driven company, where we're striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
• Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
• An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.

You will work in a unique campus, which gathers more than 800 Associates working for: the international HQ, the French subsidiary, two laboratories, a kennel and a cattery with more than 200 cats & dogs, and finally the most important factory of the Royal Canin group