Job Description:
Entity: Royal Canin
Location: Aimargues ideally (30 min from Montpellier in France), or Cambrai (30 min from Lille in France), or Niepolomice (Poland)
Type of contract: 1 year mission to cover parental leave
The Raw material SQA Lead is the owner of the quality of his/her category in compliance with the Corporate Standards, the regulatory and food safety requirements and the need of continuously improve existing baseline. The regional Raw material SQA Lead supports the deployment of the Innovation roadmap and Influence the category strategy thanks to the connections that are developed with Suppliers and a clear vision of the quality opportunities and threats of the portfolio.
Develop extensive knowledge and experience to improve business partnering and leverage external capabilities:
- Be the expert of a portfolio of raw materials and suppliers in the Region to support internal and external stakeholders
- Assure quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, sustainability of the materials supplied to the manufacturing sites by implementing MQM Standard and its associated procedures (HRCI, UHBI, Moulds & Mycotoxins)
- Assess and validate supplier capabilities to meet Mars & Royal Canin Standards and specifications through the material risk assessments, audits and deployment of qualification plans. The SQA Lead animates a cross functional team of regional, local or global stakeholders to guarantee best in class risk assessments.
- Practice excellence in quality:
- Anticipate and manage effectively quality exceptions, non-conformances and complex problems to minimize business impact,
- Represent not only his/ her portfolio but also his/her category in case of business critical event or escalation to senior leaders,
- Identify opportunities and propose improvement of the existing processes and Standards in place to build knowledge of the company, demonstrate capacity to bring new perspective on existing solutions
- Advise SQA coordinators and officers of the category when facing complex business issue
- Participate, Lead and/or drive projects to support and allow a sustainable business growth with the highest quality Standards (cross functional & cross regional scope):
- Enhance the quality of our raw materials and our processes
- Support the global SQA and Commercial strategy deployment in the Region, aligned with EU strategic roadmap
- Deploy new raw materials to support Commercial and R&D strategies
- Support Business continuity and do it best initiatives by partnering with Sourcing, Operations, Suppliers and internal stakeholders
- Analyze & Improve suppliers and raw materials’ performance:
- Confirm efficiency of the actions taken and determine priorities for the business
- Identify opportunities & threats for the category, propose mitigation plans in partnership with Sourcing and Operations
- Maintain and Improve supplier relationship
- Engineer in Food Science, Chemistry, Biology or similar scientific or technical field or university degree
- A minimum of 3+ years of experience in a similar position or in technical area such as Production, Lean manufacturing, Q&FS, Laboratory
- Fluent English required, knowledge of another language will be an asset
- French is not mandatory but will be appreciated
- Being accredited as Lead auditor FSSC 22000 will be a strong asset
- Openness for business travel (up to 30% travel in the role)
What can you expect from Mars?
- Work with diverse and talented Associates, all guided by the Five Principles.
- Join a purpose driven company, where we’re striving to build the world we want tomorrow, today.
- Best-in-class learning and development support from day one, including access to our in-house Mars University.
- An industry competitive salary and benefits package, including company bonus.
- You will work in a unique campus, which gathers more than 800 Associates working for: the international HQ, the French subsidiary, two laboratories, a kennel and a cattery with more than 200 cats & dogs, and finally the most important factory of the Royal Canin group
#LI-CB1
#LI-Hybrid
Skills Required
- University degree or engineering qualification in Food Science, Chemistry, Biology, or a similar scientific or technical field
- At least 3 years of experience in a similar supplier quality role or a technical area such as production, lean manufacturing, quality and food safety, or laboratory work
- Fluent English
- Knowledge of another language
- French language skills
- Lead Auditor accreditation for FSSC 22000
- Openness to business travel of up to 30%
Mars Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Mars and has not been reviewed or approved by Mars.
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Healthcare Strength — The benefits package is positioned as comprehensive, with broad medical coverage and additional protections like life insurance and short- and long-term disability. Mental health support is emphasized, including free mental health services and wellbeing programming under initiatives such as Mars Be Well.
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Parental & Family Support — Paid parental leave is highlighted as market-leading in the U.S., with an example of 18 weeks fully paid for both parents. Additional family-related leave types such as sick time for caregiving and bereavement leave are also described as part of the overall package.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are described as strong, including 401(k) matching (with a 6% match cited) and pension plans in some cases. The broader package also references retirement savings options and contributions aligned to local market practice, supporting long-term financial security.
Mars Insights
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What We Do
For more than a century, Mars, Incorporated has been driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. This idea is at the center of who we have always been as a global, family-owned business. Today, Mars is transforming, innovating and evolving in ways that affirm our commitment to making a positive impact on the world around us. Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of confectionery, food, and petcare products and services, we employ 133,000 dedicated Associates who are all moving in the same direction: forward. With $40 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’s®, MILKY WAY®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, ORBIT®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, SKITTLES®, WHISKAS®, COCOAVIA®, and 5™; and take care of half of the world’s pets through our pet health services AniCura, Banfield Pet Hospitals™, BluePearl®, Linnaeus, Pet Partners™, and VCA™. We know we can only be truly successful if our partners and the communities in which we operate prosper as well. The Mars Five Principles – Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom – inspire our Associates to take action every day to help create a world tomorrow in which the planet, its people and pets can thrive.
