Regional Quality Manager

Job Purpose:
Manage the overall regional food safety and quality assurance activities to ensure the delivery of safe and high-quality food products delivery in the region in compliance with organizational and regulatory standards and guidelines.

Functional Accountabilities:

Strategic Contribution
• Contribute to the execution of the Quality Assurance short and medium-term strategy and ensure it is properly translated into operational plans and objectives for the Regional Quality Assurance department.
• Ensure proper implementation of the functional strategy by managing the day-to-day operations, providing guidance, encouraging teamwork, and facilitating the delivery of work processes to achieve high-performance standards.

People Management
• Manage the effective achievement of the Regional Quality Assurance department objectives by setting individual objectives, managing performance, developing, and motivating employees in order to maximize individual and functional performance.
• Coordinate the activities of the team to ensure that all work is carried out efficiently, and in line with the annual business plans, policies, and procedures.

Budgeting and Financial Performance
• Execute the Regional Quality Assurance department business plans and annual budget, in line with the company objectives.
• Control expenditure against the approved divisional budget on a regular basis and investigate and reconcile any significant variances to ensure effective cost control.

Store Audit Program
• Plan and manage the regional quality assurance audit programs for retail stores to ensure that all the stores in the region are complying with panda’s food and safety policies, procedures, and regulations in order to provide safe and high-quality food to customers.
• Manage the implementation of stores' self-audits as well as Distribution Center audits and Corrective & Preventive Action Plan (CAPA) System in collaboration with the Operations team to ensure that all necessary actions are taken to close all gaps raised in the audits and avoid reoccurrence.
• Conduct monthly QA audit review meetings with Regional Managers (RMs) & Distribution Managers (DMs) to discuss the monthly performance of stores and regions in order to highlight areas of improvement and agree on a corrective and preventive action plans.
• Review regional monthly performance and conduct follow-up visits for all low-performing stores and escalate to the corresponding DMs/RM whenever deemed necessary.
• Plan and manage the vendor audit program for all fresh food vendors to ensure that all Panda fresh food suppliers are complying with Panda food safety and quality standards in order to provide safe and high-quality fresh food to customers.
• Manage the follow-up process on CAPA for all vendor visits and escalate to concerned parties to ensure proper correction of all vendor related raised issues vendors in order to eliminate and mitigate any possible risks in advance.
• Create, develop, and maintain the department dashboard in order to monitor the overall performance (Monthly scores, food testing results records, customer complaints records, food alerts, and recall records, Distribution Centers rejection records, etc.).
• Plan and Set up the yearly regional Food Safety & Quality training needs to ensure that all employees are updated with all Panda and regulatory quality requirements.
• Approve and authorize the new equipment and tools before purchasing to ensure their safety and compliance with Panda Standards as well Regulatory Authorities standards.
• Communicate all approved specifications with DCs across the kingdom to ensure that all items are received as per the pre-agreed specifications.
• Plan and oversee the annual samples identification process (Microbiological, Physical, and Chemical) based on the risk associated with the food to ensure that all potential products are in included in the plan.
• Validate and analyze the test results, drive the root cause for failed samples, and communicate to the concerned departments (Operation, Commercial, etc.) to ensure that proper corrective and preventive actions are taken in order to eliminate risks.
• Liaise with National Health & Safety Manager to define health and safety checkpoints during QA audits and analyze the outcome.
• Manage the quality part of Panda’s projects or initiatives and project-related processes and implementation plans to ensure that these projects comply with the overall quality and food safety standards in order to avoid any potential risks or customer dissatisfaction.

Reporting
• Ensure that all divisional reports are prepared timely and accurately and meet Panda’s organizational requirements, in adherence to the company’s policies and quality standards.
• Present annual and periodic reports at senior management meetings.

Continuous Improvement
• Contribute to the identification of opportunities for continuous improvement of the Regional Quality Assurance systems, processes, and practices considering international best practices, improvement of business processes, and cost optimization.

Health, Safety, and Environment
• Ensure compliance to all relevant quality, health, safety, and environmental management policies, procedures, and controls across the Regional Quality Assurance department to guarantee employee and assets safety, legislative compliance, and a responsible environmental attitude.

Education
• Bachelor’s Degree in Food Technology, Veterinary Medicine, Microbiology, Biotechnology, or any other relevant field is required
• Master’s degree in Engineering, Microbiology, or MBA is preferred

Experience, Skills & Competencies
• Minimum of 8 years of relevant experience, including a proven record of a minimum of 3 years in a relevant managerial role
• Arabic language desired (working knowledge)
• English language required (advanced)
• Planning, organizing, communication, and negotiation skills
• Knowledge of food safety systems, quality management systems, auditing and inspection techniques, staff management
• Knowledge of local and international food safety standards (HACCP, ISO, AIB, BRC) and Saudi regulatory authorities’ standard requirements
• Knowledge of food safety regulations and standards