Director of Technical Services & Quality Assurance

Reporting to the VP Technical Services, Manufacturing and QA, this position:

• Directs and coordinates Technical Services requirements for the Company’s Canadian and International businesses, including Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Product Development, Regulatory Compliance, and any associated project management activities.
• Acts as the key Canadian & International Regulatory and Industry Affairs contact for technical issues impacting the Company.
• Leads a team of three people across Domestic and International business units: Senior QA Manager, QA specialists (2).
• This role also carries a strong, indirect (“dotted line”) reporting relationship with the General Manager.
• This position is based in the Markham, ON, office and will require some travel to our sites in New Brunswick and overseas supplier locations.

Tech Services & QA Team Leadership

• Lead all efforts within the Company to ensure that the necessary resources are allocated to support the on-going development, maintenance, execution, and continuous improvement of Technical Services including oversight of Food Safety, Quality Assurance programs, Regulatory Compliance and Product Development Support.
• Ensures that these programs follow all Canadian and international standards to enable smooth execution of business activities and delivery of reliable and predictable outcomes within all markets that the Company services.
• Lead the on-going development of an effective and efficient Markham-based Technical Services and Quality Assurance team through performance reviews, personal development plans, training and coaching to make them a coherent team delivering results that meet or exceed the Company’s expectations of the Function as a whole.

• Prepare and maintain an annual budget for your area of responsibility.  Manage expenses to assure compliance with the budget.

 Quality Assurance

• Accountable for the Quality Assurance activities within the Company’s Canadian and International businesses directing the Senior Manager, QA.  For the Canadian business, ensure that all programs and procedures associated with the Company’s Preventative Control Program for Canada and International Markets are kept current with Canadian regulatory requirements including Safe Food for Canadians Act and Regulations.
• Work closely with the Corporate Technical Services team to coordinate needed support in Food Safety, Thermal Processing and Supplier Management activities. Enable strong interactions between the Markham-based team and their counterparts in the US and Asia to assure that all processes and projects are well understood and being implemented according to designated timelines.
• Establishes and tracks Quality-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relevant to the business and leads activities toward on-going improvement.

• Advocates for the adherence to companies’ strict quality standards. Identifies any gaps to meeting quality standards as reported by the Consumer Response Center and initiates appropriate corrective action with suppliers and company-owned plants.

 Regulatory Compliance and Industry Affairs

• Assure compliance of all product labels, Marketing and Sales materials, Company websites, etc. with the regulations of the countries in which the associated products are being marketed. Ensure that all such information is being stored in the appropriate internal and external (e.g. GS1 database). Provide technical support to the business’ international distributors and assure regulatory compliance within those markets.
• Establish and maintain strong working relationship with appropriate government agencies and industry associations to be regarded as the Company’s expert technical representative on matters of Food Safety, Regulatory and Industry Affairs.
• Monitor and influence regulatory change and effectively communicate the impact of potential changes within the Canadian and International businesses.  Act as the primary contact within our company for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.  Lead advocacy efforts with Health Canada.

 Consumer Affairs

• Assure that the Company has an effective and efficient Consumer Affairs investigation process in place to address complaints and concerns in an effective and timely manner.

Innovation and Project Management

• Provide direction of all products and process development and related project management activities within the Canadian and International businesses in support of their Innovation and Continuous Improvement agendas. This applies to all new products and processes as well as reformulations, line extensions, process improvements, and cost reduction initiatives.
• Coordinates activities with third party packers through the Asia team in Bangkok.