External QFS Scientist

Headquartered in Lakeville, Minn., Post Consumer Brands, a business unit of Post Holdings, Inc., is dedicated to providing people and their pets with delicious food choices for every taste and budget. The company’s portfolio includes beloved brands such as Honey Bunches of Oats®, PEBBLES®, Grape-Nuts® and Malt-O-Meal® cereal, and Peter Pan® peanut butter, as well as Rachael Ray® Nutrish®, Kibbles ‘n Bits® and 9Lives® dog and cat food. As a company committed to high standards of quality and to our values, we are driven by one idea: To make lives better by making delicious food accessible for all. For more information about our brands, visit www.postconsumerbrands.com and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest news.

Post Consumer Brands recently acquired several iconic pet food brands, venturing into a new market while remaining true to our purpose to provide delicious and accessible food that our consumers love. We’re always searching the center store for the next exciting product to add to our portfolio, and right now, we’re growing and need passionate, driven individuals with diverse perspectives to help us reach greater heights. That’s where you come in. Join a team where your voice is not only heard but valued. Make a real impact on brands enjoyed by millions of people and their pets.

Post Consumer Brands corporate headquarters in Lakeville, Minn. is about 20 miles south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Lakeville has all the benefits of smaller town living with access to everything a large metropolitan area has to offer. Join more than 400 team members collaborating on the two-building campus to help put breakfast on the tables of millions of consumers in North America. 

OVERVIEW

This position will oversee the quality and food safety of a portfolio suppliers for the Post Consumer Brands Pet External Quality Food Safety (xQFS) department.  Included in the scope of this position are ingredient suppliers and brokers.  Responsibilities primarily include QFS support at our pet ingredient suppliers by conducting new material and supplier risk assessments, supporting quality and food safety programs to assigned materials and/or suppliers, performing initial and routine supplier audits, reviewing supplier corrective actions and monitoring supplier KPI metrics.  This position will interact and serve as the liaison between our ingredient suppliers and many of the Post cross functional teams. 

Location: when not traveling, this role offers hybrid flexibility out of our Lakeville, MN corporate campus.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Conduct initial quality and food safety risk assessments of all new materials and suppliers within the assigned areas of responsibility based on documentation provided and external literature search. Identify food safety risks, assign food safety risk ranking and identify controls and verification requirements.  Properly document and communicate results.   
• Schedule and conduct assigned on-site supplier audits, write, and circulate audit reports in a timely manner, review, approve and file corrective actions from suppliers and keep management abreast of suppliers with significant non compliances especially those that can be considered a food safety risk.
• Work collaboratively with both internal resources (i.e., R&D, Procurement, Plant Quality and Supply Chain) and external resources (i.e., suppliers, industry organizations or other experts) in support of material and supplier activities, quality and food safety issues, corrective actions, etc. within the assigned areas of responsibility.
• Assure all documentation within the assigned areas of responsibility are accurate and up to date. These include, but are not limited to, Ingredient Specifications, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Work Instructions, risk assessments, etc.
• Provides information, corrective actions, results, and other pertinent information pertaining to the quality and food safety within the assigned areas of responsibility as part of the QFS Scorecard.
• Review and update supplier risk assessments annually in support of auditing activities as well as being in line with 21 CFR Part 507 Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk Based Preventive Controls for Animal Foods”.
• Participate in project meetings as required by the business representing xQFS. Identify project opportunities around cost savings, improving work efficiency, and/or improvement of QFS systems. Lead projects as assigned.
• Keep abreast of industry trends in food safety, regulations and/or new food safety risks. Work collaboratively to modify current procedures to meet these changing conditions.  
• Share best practices and build relationships both internally and externally. Be active in industry groups as well as within the greater Post Holdings organization sharing information, concerns and solutions to material and supplier related issues.  
• All other duties as assigned.

Education

• Minimum 4-year college degree in a science discipline, preferably food science, meat science or food safety.
• Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) certification is preferred.
• Meat Industry Experience is preferred but not required.
• 3rd Party Quality or Food Safety Audit Experience Preferred (SQF, BRC, FSSC 22000 or other GFSI equivalent)
• Certification in auditing (CQA or SQF Practitioner) is preferred.

Experience

• A minimum of 5 years of experience in a Quality and Food Safety discipline inclusive of manufacturing plant experience.
• Prior experience with meat is preferred although not required.
• Thorough understanding and practical experience with the requirements in 21 CFR “Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk Based Preventive Controls”.
• Development, implementation and monitoring of Quality and Food Safety Systems such as, but not limited to, GMP’s, Food Safety Plans, microbiological control programs, adverse events response, etc.
• Project management experience,

Skills

• Must have advanced organizational skills and the ability to prioritize work. Results-oriented with strong attention to detail and meets deadlines. Good problem-solving skills with the emphasis on presenting solutions. A team player with strong interpersonal skills who demonstrates good judgment, initiative, and works with a sense of urgency. Excellent computer skills including the use of database systems are needed, as are excellent written and oral communication skills. 
• Must have sharp problem-solving skills to be able to assess and make recommendations addressing Quality & Food Safety compliance.
• Must be able to read, write and communicate in the English language.

Travel

• Must be able to travel both within the United States and internationally up to 50% of the time.