Job Description

Job Title: Food Supplier Quality Assurance Transformation Technologist

FLSA Code: Exempt

Status: Full Time

Reports to: Director of Purchasing, Planning, and Logistics

Location: Stockton, CA

Summary:

The purpose of this job is to support the onboarding of Kevin’s Natural Foods to the Mars Material Quality Management standard. This will be a 14-month transformational period, followed by ongoing/long-term maintenance and management. Part of the role is to perform Material Risk assessment, lead quality audits, and to build a professional relationship with suppliers. Further, to guard and improve the quality of inbound raw & pack materials for the sites as per the global Quality Management standards.

In this job, the jobholder will have support from the wider Mars Commercial team as well as several functions in Mars R&D. The jobholder will work closely with peers from the Mars and Kevin’s Q&FS and Supply. The jobholder is on short term assessing, approving, verifying & developing supplier capability to meet specification of incoming materials.

• Being an active part of a highly engaged, highly transparent & highly enthusiastic local team
• Opportunity to work with team of professionals
• Opportunity to learn new functionality and business processes

What You’ll Do:

The jobholder will support the transition and manage the long-term success of Kevin’s Natural Foods to the Mars Material Quality Management process.

Support the transition Kevins to the Mars Material Quality Management process.

- Perform Quality & food safety risk assessment of low, medium, High Risk commodities of Kevins current Supplier portfolio:

• Assessing the risks of existing Raw Materials and ensuring these risks are transferred into specifications (microbiological, chemical and physical).
• Collect the relevant documents, certifications & information from Supplier to support the Material risk assessment creation.
• Understanding the controls that suppliers have in place for controlling risks
• Partner with buyer to ensure material risk assessment & specifications are reviewed, understood and agreed by the supplier
• As an outcome of the Material risk assessment establish in collaboration with QFS inbound verification and Supplier material testing

- Support the deployment of relevant Material Quality processes and metrics.

- Perform supplier audits & initial assessments of High, medium & low Risk supplier

• Verifying the quality and effectiveness of the controls by auditing the suppliers’ production facilities and implement & follow up corrective actions where needed.

- Represent Mars at suppliers and ensure all suppliers are assigned a current status and defined verification plans

- Non Conformance Management:

• Establish in collaboration with QFS RM non conformance investigation processes
• Investigate & resolve material quality issues, non conformities and derivations through root cause analysis
• Initiate, drive and follow-up on corrective actions related to materials & suppliers and inform internal stakeholders.

What You’ll Need:

• Higher Education in Science / Food Science Technology or related area.
• Minimum of two years practical working experience in Quality & Food Safety / Technical function or Supplier quality assurance or close related technical area.
• Good understanding of Quality & Food Safety and Material Quality management standards & legislation.
• HACCP trained & certified.
• GMP & ISO 22000 trained.
• Experience in Supplier quality assurance & Food Safety risk assessment.
• Cover multiple food industry technologies.
• Understanding Quality Management Systems and preferable auditing techniques (LRQA lead auditor course is a pre).
• Proactive, problem solving & cooperative attitude.
• Stakeholder management.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Prepared to travel (20-30% of time) to suppliers within North America

Competencies:

• Drive for results.
• Functional & technical skills in Quality Management.
• Problem solving & listening.
• Standing alone.
• Ethics and values.

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

What’s Cooking at Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is a line of healthy entrées, sides, sauces, and seasoning blends, on a mission to make clean eating delicious and accessible. Kevin’s guilt-free, sous-vide entrées and sides, and signature certified paleo, keto, and gluten-free sauces allow health-conscious home cooks to whip up delicious meals in five minutes or less.

With restaurant-quality ingredients and recipes, Kevin’s products are readily available on the shelves at leading grocery retailers nationwide including Costco, Whole Foods, Albertsons, HEB and Publix. All Kevin’s products contain no refined sugar, artificial ingredients, grains, or soy, and are made with antibiotic- and hormone-free meat. A true market disruptor, Kevin’s Natural Foods is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand. For more information, please visit www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com.