JOB TITLE: Director of Regulatory Affairs

JOB REPORTING TO: President and Shareholders

WORKING ENVIRONMENT: Facility based with some hybrid

Our client is an industry leading Canadian company with over 40 years of experience and a strong track record in the development and distribution of their human and pet related food products across North America. This newly created entrepreneurial thinking Director will have a sense of the vision and wants to be an integral part of their exponential growth.

The Opportunity:

The Director of Regulatory Compliance, Sustainability, Quality, Risk Management is responsible for developing a culture of Food Safety and Quality across the entire supply chain implementing and championing strategic objectives.

Support the Quality Team managing a comprehensive Food Safety program including the implementation and maintenance of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), design and oversee new Foreign Supplier Verification Programs (FSVP) for their US operation, Supplier Approval processes, maintenance of the SQF certification, support of annual audits, Recall process, FDA/USDA Compliance.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

1. Oversee all Aspects of Regulatory and Quality Assurance on the Executive Team and support the full programs for all areas of the business.
2. Identify critical functional priorities to the Executive team for review and discussion, encouraging collective team problem solving and cross functional alignments.
3. Own applicable departmental budgets.

Regulatory

Directly manage Quality Assurance Team, with direct and indirect reports. Provide coaching, leadership, guidance on strategies to engage the business in quality objectives.

1. Lead the collaborative efforts with cross functional partners, both internal and external (Marketing, Sales, Quality, Finance, Operations, Consultants, Lawyers, Government agencies, Certification body, and others) to ensure regulatory compliance to protect consumer health, company and brand reputation.
2. Support QA team in all related matters, providing coaching, guidance and framework including Supplier Approval and monitoring program, testing protocols, audit certification maintenance (SQF/SFSF), FSVP, CFIA/FDA (EPA)/USDA Compliance.
3. Leads the creation, documentation and implementation of standard protocols for all customs processes. Leads any engagement directly with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency. Provide coaching & insight to all involved staff in the core areas of customs compliance, including tariff classification, valuation, country of origin, and best practices for managing CBP inquiries.

Sustainability

1. Lead the development and execution of a multi-year Sustainability plan that covers the areas of carbon footprint, waste reduction, energy consumption, supplier management, environmental to set realistic and value-added goals for the Sustainability plan.
2. Define appropriate metrics to demonstrate progress in the Sustainability efforts.

Risk Management

1. Risk management to provide coverages during an insurable event.
2. Attend Customer and Supplier trade events and customer audits, understand and document trends that will affect the ability to comply with customer trends, identify projects, programs, and processes to address the pending challenges.
3. Educate, inform executive team of potential risks for proactive policy and process changes to meet the trades needs as it pertains to facility management, Pesticide and Biological testing.
4. Identify areas of contractual risk for both customers and suppliers, create programs to address, and regularly refresh contractual agreements with 3rd party service providers, suppliers, and transportation companies.

What you will bring

1. 10+ years of progressive experience in regulatory compliance, quality assurance, food production, and auditing/testing and at least 3+ years at Director/Senior Manager level.
2. Proven expertise in GMPs, HACCP, CFIA, FSMA, FDA/USDA, EPA and GFSI (SQF). (Food manufacturing, Seeds, Pet foods, Grains, Pesticides, Import/Export)

• B Sc. in Food Science, Biology/Chemistry, Engineering (B. Eng.) or related science discipline.
• Minimum 5 years of experience working within a large national/global food manufacturing organization, preferably in QA/Compliance/Regulatory Affairs/Risk management.
• Able to travel across North America.