Vp Food Safety & Quality Na

Position Title: VP Food Safety & Quality NA

Position Type: Regular - Full-Time

Position Location: Oakbrook Terrace

Grade: Grade 08

Requisition ID: 20939

Mandate

The Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will be responsible for the strategic leadership and management of the food safety & quality function. The Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will ensure world-class food safety and quality of products and meeting the required needs of McCain’s customers, stakeholders and applicable regulatory agencies. The Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will lead the transition to create a pro-active operations process design whereby food safety and quality is built as a core component of any manufacturing process or program from the beginning.

The Vice President will represent McCain as the face of product quality and food safety with the Senior Executive Leaders, key NA customers and regulators. He/she will drive ongoing quality improvements while adhering to McCain Foods’s vision, values, strategic plan, and financial objectives.

To drive success, the Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will proactively identify opportunities to continuously improve food safety, productivity, product quality, cost, accuracy and performance standards. The Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will influence the business by liaising with the Leadership and Executive team leveraging and creating effective communication strategies.

As part of the company’s Integrated Supply Chain leadership group, the Vice President, NA Food Safety and Quality will provide expertise to institute robust and state of the art food quality principles and techniques while helping implement process improvements and increased optimization. This role will bear an immediate and significant impact on the ongoing and continued success of the McCain Foods brands as quality is a cornerstone of their brands’ equity and strength, providing a competitive edge that fuels the company's overall growth.

Key Leadership Responsibilities

Lead and Influence Global Quality and Operational Alignment

• Develop and implement effective quality control programs to ensure that quality standards and objectives are met.
• Investigate and implement new processes, methodologies, and technology to improve productivity, food quality and safety, cost of operations and maintenance across all facilities
• Ensure alignment of safety and quality processes globally and resolve operational conflicts
• Influence the senior leadership team and plant operations
• Drive Continuous Improvement

• Monitor performance against goals to ensure progress is being made and corrective actions are taken
• Provide leadership/mentoring/training to all levels of the organization on the use, practice, and implementation strategy of quality methodology and tools
• Drive effective on-going communications throughout the organization on the implementation of continuous quality improvement thinking to help drive culture change and advance quality processes; provide clear and regular communication regarding goals and objectives and provide a system for measurement of quality results on an ongoing basis
• Take a strategic view of the organization. Create a company-wide culture and methodologies to drive food quality processes to help best respond to the various stakeholders needs

Champion the quality visioning and culture: Help shape and develop operations strategy, process and organization

• Identify recurring trouble spots by maintaining ongoing connections, contact and visibility, install the right systems and culture to create a structured and disciplined quality approach while building the proper processes with internal and external partners
• Ensure both the operational and other functional teams are focused on the right quality processes and activities: Glean insight from the marketplace, as well as use real-time and historical analytic capabilities to redirect operational resources on the highest have an impact on opportunities
• Influence operations and manufacturing to evaluate and take actions that are consistent with the company's quality standards and overall strategy. Challenge basic assumptions underlying each facility's operations and act as an effective sounding board for operational partners
• Help identify opportunities and areas for improvement within each step of operations

Manage an effective partnership with manufacturing and operations

• Formulate and implement manufacturing policies and programs that will maintain and improve competitive quality position
• Leveraging the existing elements of quality to drive improvement in global quality systems, including the development of additional capability and simplification where appropriate
• Continued development of quality assurance standards, policies and procedures for product safety, quality, and customer acceptance
• Identify the key drivers: Determine what elements of operational quality strategy and tactics need to change to keep pace with the company’s future business needs
• Champion Crisis Management processes
• Provide ongoing research of best practices and identifying new/needed skills, processes, or methods to deliver against best quality practices
• Oversight of the execution of standards, policies and procedures reflecting Global and Regional regulations and circumstances

Develop quality-related strategic goals and integrate them into business plans and integrate into staff performance objectives globally

• Foster an attitude of teamwork, as well as serve as a critical team member on cross- functional regional initiatives
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives regarding product quality and consistency, including shifting the focus of quality management to the production floor as well as upstream in the process
• Develop programs to ensure that product design is competitive within various markets concerning quality and cost
• Monitor quality trends, confer with key customers to define quality issues, communicate issues to cross-functional management teams, and achieve alignment regarding resolution strategies

Be McCain’s subject matter expert leader for all quality assurance and food safety matters

• Anticipate problems and establish practices to prevent and mitigate risks
• Closely monitor and evaluate new developments, anticipated changes, and innovative methods. Proactively recommend how McCain Foods should prepare and respond
• Rapidly and effectively address any safety, quality and compliance issues that arise
• Develop and maintain working relationships with relevant regulatory agencies, serving as a highly regarded counterpart on all safety, quality and regulatory matters
• Establish quality policies and procedures, monitor adherence and report on performance. Work directly with Manufacturing, Procurement, New Product Development, Logistics and other departments to develop, implement and improve quality, safety and compliance programs and procedures
• Understand and anticipate needs of key customers to ensure quality systems meet or exceed their standards. Champion best practices in quality and provide guidance to McCain’s leadership
• Deliver thorough, timely and insightful reports on quality to senior leaders, from internal and external data, audits, and assessments.
• Maintain a high level of expertise on all food safety and quality related subjects, including regulations, legislation, and trends throughout the global business units
• Manage investigations, analysis, and reporting of quality issues. Identify root causes and take necessary actions to prevent recurrence

Monitor quality performance, develop relevant metrics, report on quality performance, and lead improvement initiatives based on findings and performance relative to industry best practices

• Directs the continuing review of the quality assurance program and the creation of new or revised procedures to effect improvements, reduce costs, and enhance efficiency. Improve established procedures for maintaining high standards of manufacturing operations to ensure that products conform to established quality standards
• Educate and coach colleagues in other teams on quality, safety and compliance matters. Collaborate with other leaders at McCain’s to ensure quality considerations are given proper consideration in all relevant activities. Champion best practices in quality and apply judgement and teamwork to ensure quality initiatives contribute to overall success
• Assure the processes used in the manufacturing of McCain products are properly developed, characterized, qualified, and validated to assure the highest possible quality and to ensure an uninterrupted supply of quality product to meet the needs of our customers

Leadership Characteristics

Successful change agent - can strategize to effectively deliver better business results by bringing in new thinking and approaches. Able to push back and be assertive when faced with less than optimal ideas or processes. Knows how to guide a large global organization to change and evolve.

Finds the way - to consistently add profit to the business. Understands the effects and impacts of strategic change on people. Can bring about fundamental change while gaining alignment to effectively execute plans. Is able to quickly separate the mission-critical from the nice to dos and the trivial; senses what is the next most useful thing to work on and focuses on the critical tasks that really add value.

Organizational capability - Is well-organized and resourceful; effective and efficient at marshalling multiple resources to get things done; lays out tasks in sufficient detail to mark the trail; is able to get things done with less and more quickly; can work on multiple tasks at once without losing track; foresees and plans around obstacles. Brings persistence and thoughtfulness to the task at hand.

Agile - Succeeds in leading and managing change. Grasps the evolving needs of employees and the business and can build bridges to join them. Thrives in a nimble environment. Can manage and execute well in a fast-moving business and deals well with uncertainty or changes.

Inspiring Others - Is skilled at getting individuals, teams, and an entire organization to work together and embrace change; negotiates skillfully to achieve a fair outcome or promote a common cause; communicates a compelling vision and is committed to what needs to be done; inspires others; understands what motivates different people. Collaborate and build relationships with all the key AGI functional areas to align HR operations with overall initiatives and direction.

Making Complex Decisions - Can solve even the toughest and most complex of problems; great at gleaning meaning from whatever data is available; is a quick study of the new and different; adds wisdom and experience to come to the best conclusion and solution, given the situation; uses multiple problem-solving tools and techniques.

Communicates Effectively - Writes and presents effectively; adjusts to fit the audience and the message; strongly gets a message across. Can build effective business cases.

Required Experience/Knowledge

• The incumbent will have highly developed interpersonal skills, including the ability to collaborate successfully with others representing diverse styles and cultures
• 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
• Demonstrated ability to participate and contribute multi-functionally in a complex business context
• Well-rounded with the business acumen to identify, analyze and lead the fast-paced quality organization to strategic and operational excellence. Will have a deep understanding and competency in food safety
• He/She will be strategic and function fluently in counsel to the executive team, others on the management team and is also well versed in the more tactical areas of quality and operations
• Adept at turnarounds. Develops a robust quality strategy and has successfully gained buy-in across a geographically dispersed business
• Possess an operational orientation and able to quickly build credibility and respect throughout the business. Ability to influence effective decision making with cross functional business teams
• Builds effective cross-functional alliances and partnerships with the appropriate balance of skills, experience, and influence to optimize results
• Proven track record of leading significant improvements to the quality function. Ability to build strong relationships across a broad range of constituencies and support their efforts through a collaborative approach
• Will have the interpersonal style and successful prior experience to execute change management processes to upgrade and energize food quality and operations
• High level of drive and initiative, and the ability to inspire and motivate others, create and deepen business relationships, and gain support

McCain Foods is an equal opportunity employer. We see value in ensuring we have a diverse, antiracist, inclusive, merit-based, and equitable workplace. As a global family-owned company we are proud to reflect the diverse communities around the world in which we live and work. We recognize that diversity drives our creativity, resilience, and success and makes our business stronger.
McCain is an accessible employer. If you require an accommodation throughout the recruitment process (including alternate formats of materials or accessible meeting rooms), please let us know and we will work with you to meet your needs.
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Job Family: Quality & Food Safety
Division: NA Supply Chain
Department: Quality North America
Location(s): US - United States of America : Illinois : Oakbrook Terrace || CA - Canada : Ontario : Toronto

Company: McCain Foods USA, Inc.