Senior VP, Food Safety, Quality & Regulatory
At Barry Callebaut, we're on a journey to transform the cocoa and chocolate industry. As the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, our actions shape the future of our industry. We're a business-to-business company, serving the entire food sector from the cocoa bean to the finest chocolate product.
We believe in doing well by doing good and reinvesting in the communities we operate. Our long-standing commitment to sustainability drives our goal of shaping a sustainable cocoa and chocolate future. Headquartered in Zurich, we have over 12,000 passionate employees working in more than 40 countries worldwide.
About the Role
We're hiring an SVP Global Quality responsible for ensuring our products, facilities, processes, and systems meet required quality standards across manufacturing sites, warehouses, distribution centers, and co-manufacturers globally. This role provides short and long-term strategies aligned with global quality initiatives to prepare Barry Callebaut for customer needs and regulatory changes.
The successful applicant will work with the leadership team to ensure a robust pipeline of talent and develop strong relationships with stakeholders and customers globally.
Key Responsibilities include:
1. Drive a culture of quality at the corporate and plant level through partnerships with key stakeholder groups.
2. Create an environment to continuously develop people across the organization by upgrading competencies and skills.
3. Develop and implement a Global Corporate QA strategy and action plan to meet short and medium-term business objectives.
4. Manage the regional Quality team responsible for direct QA oversight of Barry Callebaut sites, Global Food Safety, Regulatory, Global Customer Accounts, and Center of Excellence.
5. Continually improve performance against key quality metrics such as customer complaints, quality-related costs, and audit outcomes.
6. Develop and implement appropriate quality management systems considering customer and market requirements.
7. Lead the alignment of crucial quality initiatives with internal and external Barry Callebaut stakeholders.
8. Lead the global Incident / Crisis management team.
9. Drive top-down support for Barry Callebaut facilities to ensure implementation, development, and consistency of best practices for food safety systems.
About You
Bachelor's Degree in Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, or Food Science is required.
At least 25 years of professional experience in a global QA environment within the food sector is necessary. An in-depth understanding of food safety, quality engineering/management, and regulatory requirements is essential.
Certification as an FDA Preventive Control Qualified Individual (PCQI) is preferred. Extensive knowledge of HACCP, GMP, Environmental Monitoring, and Facility/Equipment Design is also required.
Exceptional interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate complex quality issues are necessary. Exemplary leadership skills and the ability to influence and inspire others are also required.