Product Safety Leader - Latin America

Product Safety Leader - Latin America

Job Description

Position Purpose:

The incumbent Product Safety Leader – Latin America, provides vision, leadership, direction and management for product safety, clinical support and health risk assessment programs used across the organization. This Safety Leader ensures K-C products are safe for their intended use, comply with all applicable governmental safety rules, regulations, corporate standards, and consumer expectations. The incumbent is responsible for the management, professional development and technical leadership of a regional toxicology, risk assessment, biomedical and chemical management professionals supporting Kimberly-Clark’s consumer and professional product portfolio. This position is located in São Paulo, Brazil.

In addition to management, corporate strategy and business support responsibilities, the incumbent will be personally responsible for delivering expert hazard identification, exposure characterization, safety assessment and product safety testing guidance to project teams and senior management to enable new product development, meet post-market surveillance requirements, and promote product stewardship in support of Kimberly-Clark’s business sectors. He/she will assist Product Safety Senior Leadership as member of the departmental leadership team to develop and implement strategies and assess group performance to meet technical and business plan requirements across the Enterprise. 

The successful candidate is recognized as a Key Opinion Leader in the field of toxicology, safety and risk assessment, and will also identify and work with external Key Opinion Leaders, relevant trade associations and professional societies in all areas of product safety and keep abreast of global regulatory compliance and market trends that may impact this area.

Principal Responsibilities:

• Independently conduct and communicate human health safety risk assessments on a broad range of products, including the substantiation of safety-related claims and taking into consideration identified hazards and exposure according to the intended product use. This includes assessment of scientific literature, evaluation of the toxicological database, determination of appropriate toxicological and other safety endpoints, design hazard analysis, failure mode analysis, exposure assessments, clinical evaluation, and written documentation.  

• Lead a team of professionals to execute Kimberly-Clark’s safety management program for a broad range of product categories to ensure finished products are evaluated following state-of-the-art safety assessment practices, design hazard analysis, risk methodologies, and regulatory safety requirements to deliver products that are safe for consumers and compliant in the countries of sale.

• Anticipate, monitor, and influence changing safety standards and scientific data relevant to all products marketed by Kimberly-Clark. Develop and implement safety assessment strategies to ensure compliance to internal standards and external stakeholder requirements. Represent K-C’s key business interests on trade association and governmental task forces.

• Provide expert guidance to the product development community on safe design to minimize product hazards and effectively manage residual risk. Proactively identify and lead cross-functional programs to manage emerging safety issues and continuously improve the safety of K-C products for consumers and the environment.

• Effectively support life cycle management through collaboration with cross-functional teams and quality leadership to review and respond to safety post-market surveillance data with documented assessments for regulatory authorities, risk-benefit analysis, health hazard and harms assessment and risk management activities.

• Conduct her or himself in accordance with expected Kimberly-Clark leadership behaviors with a focus on building talent by enhancing their and team members’ technical, professional, leadership and communication skills through professional development and participation in scientific conferences and meetings, publication of appropriate work in peer-reviewed journals and other aspects of technical and leadership development.

Basic Qualifications:

Degree in toxicology, pharmacology, biomedical or related scientific field with relevant product safety experience in the design, development, regulatory approval, and maintenance of products in global markets;

• Bachelor’s degree with 7+ years of experience, or
• Master’s degree with 5+ years of experience, or
• PhD, MD, DVM with 3+ years of experience

Demonstrated ability to lead people from diverse backgrounds and cultures in a matrix, cross-functional, or direct reporting relationship.

Excellent interpersonal communication and technical writing skills with demonstrated proficiency working effectively with technical staff from diverse backgrounds and cultures and ability to influence key decision makers and senior leaders. Must be an effective communicator in oral and written correspondences as well as presentation formats.

Demonstrated proficiency in authoring quantitative health risk assessments on a range of product types and the ability to independently design and implement effective testing strategies and protocols to identify potential human health hazards through accepted or novel scientific methods and techniques.

Expert knowledge in the design, monitoring, and interpretation of in vitro / in vivo toxicology or clinical safety and efficacy studies conducted under current Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) or Good Clinical Practices (GCP). 

Ability to communicate fluently in Portuguese as well as in English (speak, read, write).

Preferred Qualifications:

Certification by the American Board of Toxicology (DABT) or other equivalent scientific or medical professional certification.

Ability to communicate effectively in Spanish.

Demonstrated proficiency working within SAP database environments and Microsoft programs.

Ability to travel up to 10-15% (domestic and international).

Primary LocationSao Paulo Office

Additional Locations

Worker TypeEmployee

Worker Sub-TypeRegular

Time TypeFull time