External Manufacturing Quality Assurance Technologist

Mars•Chicago, IL

3d•$86,720 - $119,240•Hybrid

About The Position

As the primary interface between Mars and our External Manufacturing (EM) partners, you will lead as the “face” of R&D between Mars and the EM stakeholders to safeguard great products and brands that are manufactured at EM’s are guaranteed to always delight consumers and customers and always meet Mars and legal requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in food science/technology, a related technical field or equivalent.
3+ years working experience in a Food Development/Manufacturing environment, preferably within Quality & Food Safety and with (lead) auditor experience and qualification
Visible passion, leadership, and behaviors in line with MARS’ first principle – QUALITY
Strong analytical and problem-solving capability
Proven and effective project management & organizing experience
Strong communicator & relationship builder with good commercial awareness and supplier management skills
Knowledge of Quality & Food Safety (HACCP, GMP/GHP, FSSC22.000)
Non-conformance and incidents management skills
Up to 40% travel required

Nice To Haves

Knowledge of Quality & Food Safety (HACCP, GMP/GHP, FSSC22.000)
Sound risk assessment & management skills
Basic food microbiology, analytical chemistry, and sensory methods

Responsibilities

Translating and embedding MARS principles and culture
Partnering with commercial to drive the performance and continuous improvement of our External Manufacturers, with focus on their adherence to MARS Q&FS requirements and best practices to ensure that we protect our brands and corporate reputation.
Process specific supplier development and implementation of new products at External Manufacturers.
Collaborate with functions to mitigate any Change Management impacting the product compliance to quality, legal, and food safety requirements
Own the PRIMP Incident Owner or NCMGT responsibilities regarding non-conformances impacting MARS product at External Manufacturers.
External Manufacturer approval and ongoing verification:
Assess and drive MARS quality culture and behavior
Perform all co-manufacturing Q&FS audits verifying the quality and effectiveness of their quality management systems and compliance to MARS EMQM Procedure and QMS requirements
Assess and ensure continuous improvement culture is in place
Drive implementation of QMS standards, specifically External Manufacturing Quality Management (EMQM):
Ensure that the supplier has robust and affective quality management systems and processes in place e.g., HACCP, Supplier Quality Assurance, Allergen Management and Foreign Material Management
Creation of implementation action plans and monitor progress to ensure completion in line with mandated timeframes
Development and continuous improvement of External Manufacturers:
Develop External Manufacturers to agreed status
Set Q&FS measures in line with targets like Total Conformance Index and Consumer Complaints and ensure clear action plans are in place to meet KPI’s.
Implement best practices and learning from relevant serious and critical incidents within the targeted time frame
Performance management of External Manufacturers:
Responsible for gathering and reporting of all food safety and quality related metrics and driving necessary improvement programs
Responsible for the analysis of microbiological and analytical laboratory data related to the safety of raw materials and finished goods and carrying out the correct escalation procedures
New product development:
Lead Risk Assessments to ensure that all Q&FS and legal hazards have been identified and effective control measures are in place
Create Technical Product Specifications based on risk assessment output, product specifications, and manufacturers’ process specifications.
Participate in line trials at the supplier, assess effectiveness of all control measures, and identify necessary improvements
Lead and execute Handover to approve supply solutions to self-sufficient production status
Incident Management:
Incident owner for co-manufacturer incidents
Manage Hold & Release process
Application of problem-solving tools such as RCA, 5Why, and Fishbone to aid root cause analysis as part of post incident review
Ensure Corrective and Preventative actions are implemented within agreed time frames and incident learnings are shared within the wider business