Food Safety and Quality Scientist (Finance)
Provide technical leadership to assure safety/quality of Our Brands (OB) products. Work to approve OB products and manufacturing plants; ensure all packaging meets legal requirements. Monitor quality of procured OB products. Demonstrate the company's core values of respect, honesty, integrity, diversity, inclusion and safety.MINIMUM
- Bachelor's Degree in food science technology, dairy science, bakery science, food microbiology or related field
- 2+ years experience in a food-related position/industry
- Advanced knowledge in a specialized area (e.g. food microbiology, refrigerated foods, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations, specialty ingredients or supplement regulations)
- Strong critical thinking skills and attention to detail with a high degree of accuracy/precision
- Strong oral/written communication skills
- Demonstrated excellence in project planning, problem solving and execution
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills
- 2+ years experience in quality assurance and quality control/quality systems
- Plant experience in quality assurance
- Experience with statistical process control (SPC) and Lean/Six Sigma
- Experience implementing/maintaining robust quality systems (e.g. ISO 9001, 22000, SQF, BRC, etc.)
- Proficient with product lifecycle management (PLM), Infinity and SharePoint
- Analyze customer comments; partner with manufacturing facilities to resolve product quality issues
- Collaborate with product development teams to maintain/improve finished product specifications
- Develop/provide guidance to implement, achieve and maintain Safe Quality Food (SQF) level 3 certification at Kroger manufacturing facilities
- Oversee factory compliance and interactions with SQF certification body
- Develop/analyze statistical data/product specifications to determine present standards; establish proposed quality/reliability expectations for finished products
- Manage, develop, maintain and ensure SQF policies, procedures, training materials, logs, documentation, certificates of analysis (COAs), product specification sheets and records meet SQF level 3 certification requirements
- Provide guidance to manufacturing facilities to develop, maintain and improve food quality plans for all processes (e.g. inspection plans, product testing protocols and methodologies)
- Oversee root cause/corrective action processes to ensure timely completion and thorough analysis of root cause/corrective actions, as well as effective implementation of sustainable changes to prevent reoccurrence
- Follow established programs, policies and practices to produce safe quality foods that meet regulatory and company requirements
- Accountable to the Kroger Manufacturing Food Safety and Quality Principles
- Must be able to perform the essential job functions of this position with or without reasonable accommodation
