Job Details

Supplier Food Safety & Quality Manager- Tech Center- Caldwell, ID

The J.R. Simplot Company is a diverse, privately held global food and agriculture company headquartered in Boise, Idaho. We are a true farm-to-table company with an integrated portfolio including food processing and food brands, phosphate mining, fertilizer manufacturing, farming, ranching and cattle production, and other enterprises related to agriculture.

This role will develop, implement and maintain food safety and quality systems to ensure that the items purchased by Global Potato conform to product, regulatory and customer requirements. This is a highly collaborative position that interacts with the development teams when ingredient functionality is being defined, sourcing is being defined and developed, and specifications are created and documented. This individual works with suppliers (i.e. ingredient, packaging, Co-manufacturers / Joint Ventures) by phone, email, or on-site visit to their location as appropriate, to clarify material requirements, assess capabilities, evaluate food safety risks/programs and verify quality systems are in place to consistently deliver and improve ingredient performance. This individual works across the Food Group Quality Assurance department and Simplot affiliates to share resources in global supplier development and management.

This role is located at the Caldwell Technical Center but requires significant travel. Collaborates closely with R&D and Purchasing on compliance issues and addresses the technical aspects of compliance. Develops, implements and maintains the documentation of policies, procedures, specifications, compliance records and vendor correspondence so that it is accessible via Simplot Web based Supplier database system.

Works with ANZ Food Safety & Quality supply chain and supports global supplier assessments and approvals.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct on site and remote supplier assessments to ensure suppliers have capabilities and management principles in place to consistently deliver safe products that meet attribute requirements for intended end uses and are compliant with regulatory requirements. This assessment includes GMPs, GAPs, HACCP plans, process controls, material supply management & continuous improvement programs & frequently requires travel to Suppliers manufacturing site to accurately assess risks & capabilities. Collaborates with Global Potato QA department, across multiple Global Food Departments & Simplot affiliates on assessment standards, processes & procedures.
• Manages subcontract assessments by means of close coordination with contractors as well as direct communications with 3rd party assessors. This process includes scheduling, assessment review, calibration and process improvement. Coordinate document retrieval from proposed suppliers by contacting them and making requests for the documents. Once documents begin to filter in, post all documents to the supplier folder and promptly notify the Supplier Food Safety and Quality Manager so an assessment for supply approval can be conducted.
• Develops supplier food safety and quality policies, procedures, data capture and documentation procedures and integrates them into the overall Food Group Quality systems program. This includes supplier audits (by Simplot and third parties), certificates, complaints, correspondence, corrective actions and product verification checks. It also involves training/educating and assessing suppliers on regulatory requirements and compliance. Communicate with suppliers to request updated specifications according to Simplot requirements. Post these documents to the specification management system.
• Works closely with Innovation, Operations and Purchasing to translate material requirements defined by the development team for specific product application into objective criteria using standard methods & terminology whenever appropriate & collaborating with external and internal resources on development of new measures where standard methods do not exist. Specification definitions, procedures & tolerances are reviewed with potential suppliers. Capabilities are reviewed with the development & purchasing group so that safety, performance, cost and consistency can be optimized.
• Manage food safety incidents and investigations. This includes performing root cause analysis and assisting suppliers with corrective action plans. Supports supplier withdrawals and recalls.

Typical Education

• Bachelor's Degree (B.A. or B.S.) from 4-year college or university or equivalent experience. Preferred food safety and quality focused.

Relevant Experience

• 5+ years related experience and/or training.

Required Certifications

• PCQI (preferred)
• FSVP (preferred)

Other Information

• Travel is expected to be about ~75% annual.