Overview
As a Plant Food Safety & Quality Manager, you will lead all aspects of food safety and quality across the plant, ensuring full alignment with Ferrero’s global Food Safety Management System (FSMS) and standards. You’ll be responsible for safeguarding product integrity by driving compliance across processes, monitoring performance, and embedding best‑in‑class food safety and hygiene practices. Working closely with operational teams, you’ll implement and maintain robust quality systems, proactively identify risks, and ensure all activities meet both internal standards and external regulatory requirements. A key part of the role will also be developing capability across the plant, ensuring that all colleagues are effectively trained, engaged and accountable for food safety and quality at every stage of production. This is a critical leadership role where you’ll influence culture, drive continuous improvement, and ensure we consistently deliver safe, high‑quality products.
Responsibilities
- Ensure the highest standards of food safety, quality and compliance across the plant.
- Take ownership of the full quality lifecycle, overseeing raw materials, in-process controls and finished product release, ensuring everything meets Ferrero’s global standards, regulatory requirements and customer expectations.
- Drive and maintain robust quality systems, ensuring full compliance with certifications such as FSSC 22000 and embedding HACCP‑based risk management across all processes.
- Monitor quality trends, manage non‑conformities, lead product incident responses and support audits, ensuring that risks are identified, managed and continuously improved.
- Provide technical guidance and support to production teams, ensuring processes are controlled effectively and quality is built into every stage.
- Drive a strong Food Safety & Quality culture, acting as a visible ambassador across the site and ensuring best practices are consistently understood and applied.
- Lead and develop the Plant Quality team, creating a high‑performing, engaged environment where people are supported to grow and succeed.
- Manage site‑wide initiatives linked to Food Safety & Quality Global Pillars and Enablers (CAPEX investment included) ensuring alignment with central standards and leading local plans to strengthen compliance and performance.
- Manage budgeting within the function, ensuring resources are effectively allocated to support both operational delivery and continuous improvement.
- Act as a key point of contact for both internal and external stakeholders, supporting audits, inspections and interactions with external bodies, while also collaborating with wider business functions to manage product feedback and drive ongoing improvements.
Qualifications
- Extensive experience within food manufacturing quality, ideally within a multinational environment, and a solid academic background in Food Quality, Food Science or a related field.
- Deep understanding of food safety and quality principles, including HACCP, GMP, food legislation and certification standards such as FSSC 22000 and ISO frameworks.
- Knowledge extending across areas such as food technology, microbiological and chemical analysis, packaging, pest control and statistical sampling.
- Highly analytical and detail‑focused, with strong problem‑solving skills and the ability to identify risks, make informed decisions and drive effective outcomes.
- Clear focus on delivery, comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment, leading change and continuously improving processes to achieve results.
- Experience managing and developing teams—coaching others, building capability and creating an engaged, high‑performing environment.
- Strong communication and negotiation skills, confident influencing stakeholders at all levels.
- Additional certifications or experience such as Lead Auditor accreditation, HACCP Level 4, or project management expertise are welcomed.
- Ambassador for Food Safety and Quality Culture and Awareness.
About Ferrero
Ferrero began its journey in the small town of Alba in Piedmont, Italy, in 1946. Today, it is one of the world’s largest sweet‑packaged food companies, with many iconic brands sold in countries all over the world. Find out more about Ferrero at ferrero.com.
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