Title: Quality Manager (Technical)

Location: Evanston, IL

Salary: 80,000-90,000 + Bonus

Reports to: Director, Project Management Office

Company Background:

A dairy co-operative that sells dairy products on behalf of its members, which include dairy processors and farmers. It is the largest exporter of dairy products from its country, exporting to 110 countries worldwide. The company is headquartered in Dublin, with annual sales of over €3.5 billion and a global team of 3,000 employees.

The company is structured across two divisions: Foods and Ingredients. It operates from 10 business units worldwide, including 16 production facilities, and has sales and marketing teams working in-market across the globe in Africa, Asia, Germany, Ireland, the Middle East, Spain, the UK, and the US.

The company's values lie at the core of everything it does and how it behaves both individually and as a business. The five values encourage seeking and embracing new ideas, making things happen, being true to oneself, showing care, and achieving great things together.

The company has a co-operative ethos at the heart of its business, driving sustainable, profitable growth underpinned by an ambitious strategy. Significant growth has been delivered in the core business, with ambitious plans for continued growth over the next five years.

Why This Role is Valuable:

Quality is at the heart of the Foods division to deliver the highest quality products to consumers. As the business continues to grow, dedication to food safety and quality needs a proactive leader to manage day-to-day operations and plan for the future. The Foods division needs a Technical & Quality Manager to lead quality support services, coordinate with a global technical team, respond to complaints, work with third parties to ensure adherence to high standards, identify potential risks, and ensure product and business compliance with local requirements.

Key Areas of Responsibility:

• Product Development: Support formulation work for projects, create and manage item specifications, lead competitive benchmarking, support shelf-life studies and product tastings.
• Regulatory Compliance: Act as the point-of-contact for FDA audits, maintain business unit audit-readiness for FSVP/FSMA, coordinate with the global audit team for site/supplier compliance documentation, and support certification and compliance work for product claims and programs.
• Customer Quality: Register, analyze, and close complaints in coordination with the global technical team. Provide reporting on complaints and trend analysis to support continuous improvement. Facilitate customer queries, audits, and forms with the global technical team.
• Product Quality: Investigate and support root-cause analysis for product quality issues/concerns, and submit products for laboratory testing.
• Audit & Risk: Lead North American site audits, act as a quality liaison with sites, support business continuity, and ensure third parties conform to company standards.

Key Requirements:

• Undergraduate degree required.
• 4-6 years of experience in a medium to large organization, preferably in CPG/Dairy.
• 4-6 years of disciplined technical, regulatory, and quality management experience.
• Experience with HACCP, BRC, FSVP, FSMA, supplier audits, customer audits, quality management, and specifications management.
• Strong knowledge in Microbiology and Food Safety, plus auditing skills and experience with Quality Management Systems.
• Experience with food manufacturing sites.
• Capability to learn sensory evaluation of dairy products.
• Strong decision-making abilities and effective delegation skills.
• Proactive driver of high standards and agile problem solver.
• Preferred: Certification in FSVP (or within 6 months of hire).

Competencies:

• Ownership: Takes responsibility for results; clarifies accountabilities, overlaps, and gaps.
• Working Together: Is supportive and cooperative, encourages and supports cross-functional working.
• Communicative: Communicates confidently, adapting style for different situations.
• Expertise: Functional SME, applies effective professional skill, analysis and decision-making, and planning/reviewing.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled

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