McCain Foods

Director, Food Safety and Quality - North America

• Lead and oversee food safety and quality functions across multiple manufacturing sites (US & Canada) 

• Partner with the VP- Food Safety & Quality in developing short and long term strategies, initiatives and action plans aligned with the regional and global strategy. 

• Support implementation and successful execution of Food Quality Systems at McCain’s manufacturing facilities by providing training, resources, assessments and metrics. 

• Develop strategies to ensure facilities meet/exceed local, regulatory and customer expectations (FDA, CFIA, USDA, GFSI, HACCP etc.) 

• Analyze, track, trend and have routines around KPI review and improvement plans for all facilities under your jurisdiction 

• Provide technical support and troubleshooting for food safety and quality at manufacturing sites as needed to ensure highest quality and safest food to consumers and customers 

• Develop and manage a team of professionals and associated budget to ensure successful execution of short and long-term strategies.  This includes both direct reports and matrixed reports (Plant FSQ Managers etc.) 

• Establish and enhance effective communication mechanisms to build trust with key business partners such as manufacturing plants, R&D, Sales, Supply Chain etc. 

• Own the ALBD process with Supply chain and supplier quality to ensure hold and release process is effective and efficient 

• Partner with cross functional group to conduct problem solving on trends in consumer complaints using every day and advanced problem-solving methodologies; have ability to coach, train others on such methodologies. 

• Oversee food safety incident response process including recalls, withdrawals and other food safety emergencies with a calm and thoughtful approach 

• Work with internal and regulatory agencies to manage crisis effectively 

• Proven ability of contributing to a broad range of operational and business issues. He or she is a well-rounded manager who does not make decisions in a vacuum, but considers the broader implications of these decisions to the organization, all stakeholders and the industry at large. 

• Builds effective cross-functional alliances and partnerships with the appropriate balance of skills, experience and influence to optimize results. 

• Adept at turnarounds. Develops a robust quality strategy and has successfully gained buy-in across a geographically dispersed business. 

• Demonstrated ability to participate and contribute multi-functionally in a complex business context 

• Strong leadership and problem solving skills including root cause analysis, risk assessment and corrective action. 

• Degree in Food Science Microbiology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Biology or similar scientific discipline and minimum of 10+ years leading and applying broad technical knowledge of end-to-end manufacturing operation environment.   

• Leadership roles within manufacturing, food safety and quality, and innovation. 

• Strong network within the FSQ profession as evidenced by working on Trade Organization technical committees. 

• Experience with GFSI (SQF, BRC or ISO ) 

• Knowledge of food safety principles required (HACCP certification, FSVP etc) 

• Knowledge of quality systems, audits, regulatory,  sanitation systems, statistics, analytical and microbiological lab methods desired. 

• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and written, with diverse audiences ranging from highly scientific/technical to non-technical personnel and customers.?  

• Ability to influence without authority and experienced in influencing change across an organization.?