Product Safety & Quality Specialist - Land O'Lakes Inc.

Product safety and quality are an integral part of maintaining our excellent reputation as a company and achieving our business objectives.

The Product Safety Specialist position provides leadership in the areas of food safety and quality within dairy foods, with an emphasis on microbiology. This position ensures that our dairy products meet all safety and quality standards throughout the product life cycle, beginning with product development.

The focus areas for this position include new product development support, operations support and production plant program leadership.

New product development support includes collaboration with the product development teams to design safe and quality products. Operations support includes product safety and quality guidance and problem solving for internal and co-manufacturing production facilities. Plant program leadership includes establishing guidelines for food safety focused programs, including the Food Safety Plan Program and the Environmental Monitoring Program, among others.

Product and Process Design Leadership

• Collaborate with R&D and project teams to design product safety and quality into processes and products.
  
• Provide direction to internal and/or external laboratories on the design and execution of research trials to validate product formulations and processes.
  
• Ensure the safe production and use of experimental products.
  
• Work with Supplier Quality Assurance and external vendors to ensure purchased materials meet safety and specification requirements.
  
• Support the approvals of specifications, including purchased materials, formulated materials, and formulations.
  

Plant Operations Support

• Provide product safety and quality guidance to the internal and external Operations Quality groups.
  
• Provide problem solving guidance to the plants based on food safety and quality expertise.
  
• Review process and product deviation situations.
  
• Review process and product changes based on product safety and quality impact.
  

Food Safety Program Support

Establish requirements and documentation for product safety focused programs for all plants. Update existing programs, as necessary, and roll out changes to applicable stakeholders.

Lead reviews, in collaboration with the plants, of the plant specific programs related to product safety.

Develop/ improve hazard analysis for raw material and finished product guidelines.

Assist with ongoing specification updates for food safety attributes.

Required Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, Business, Food Science or related field. Master's degree preferred.
  
• 5+ years of relevant work experience in the Quality field, and multi-facility exposure
  
• Knowledge of food regulations and ability to conduct research and literature reviews of regulatory and food safety standards
  
• Knowledge of FSMA, HACCP, product design and raw material food safety.
  
• Experience in food hygiene auditing.
  
• Experience in teaching and training food safety related material.
  
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
  
• Demonstrated knowledge of food safety hazards (biological, chemical, physical).
  
• Demonstrated ability to lead and drive change
  
• Ability to work independently and drive projects through to completion.
  

Required Competencies:

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to teach, coach and implement change. Must be able to effectively communicate and positively interact with various functional areas within the organization.
  
• Excellent computer skills, enterprise systems.
  
• Set and maintain high goals and standards of performance for self, peers and project team members.
  
• Passionate about product safety and able to think creatively about food safety management systems .
  

This role will require a minimum 30% travel.

About Land O'Lakes, Inc.

Join us and be part of a Fortune 250, farmer- and member-owned cooperative that is reimagining the business of food. We have been named a Top Workplace by Indeed and LinkedIn, and to the TIME 100 Most Influential Companies list.

We provide a broad portfolio of benefits to keep you and your family at your best. Land O'Lakes is Where Your Future Takes Root.

Land O'Lakes, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE) M/F/Vets/Disabled. The company maintains a drug-free workforce, including post-employment substance abuse testing pursuant to a Drug and Alcohol Policy.

Neither Land O'Lakes, nor its search firms, will ever contact you and ask for confidential information over the phone or in email. If you receive a call or email like this, please do not provide the information being requested.