AMEA Regional FS and Lab Improvement Specialist

About the role

At Barry Callebaut, we are aiming for a higher degree of assurance of food safety procedures, microbiological testing of products and training of our microbiologists. This role would be supporting this aim by working closely with the Global Microbiology Lab Lead and Regional FS Lead, and by providing physical support to the BC internal labs, external lab partners and factories. Key deliverables of this role are –

• Conduct physical audits of external lab partners to ensure compliance with BC lab expectations


• Conduct verification of microbiological testing procedures at BC internal labs to improvement consistent and compliance to SOP


• Conduct HACCP plan verifications and effectiveness reviews at BC factories

Key responsibilities include

Conduct physical audits of external lab partners to ensure compliance with BC lab expectations

• Review past desktop audit reports for the external labs in the region


• Conduct business & technical risk assessment to define priority list for audits


• Get in touch with external labs and schedule audits


• Conduct the audits and record the observations in a thorough documented manner


• Work with external lab contact and local BC QA Manager to define appropriate CAPAs versus the observations


• Track the CAPA actions and seek support / clarifications / escalations, as necessary

Conduct verification of microbiological testing procedures at BC internal labs to improvement consistent and compliance to SOP

• Review past audit reports of the BC Internal labs


• Work with the AMEA Lab Lead and BC Site QA Manager to schedule the 3-4 day on site verification of the microbiology laboratory procedures


• Work with AMEA Site Lead and BC Site QA Manager to define appropriate CAPAs versus the observations


• Track the CAPA actions and seek support / clarifications / escalations, as necessary

Conduct HACCP plan reviews and verification at BC factories

• Review the HACCP plans of BC factories


• Work with Regional FS Lead & Cluster Leads to define schedule of verification visits


• Conduct on-site verification of the HACCP plans


• Identify gaps and support the mitigation of the same through suggested approaches

About you

• Master’s degree in Chemistry, Biology, or Microbiology or equivalent


• Minimum 10 years’ experience in managing foods or pharma laboratory


• Exposure to food safety, including formal HACCP training, pathogen environmental monitoring and testing is beneficial


• Exposure to or formal training in FSSC22000 or BRC is preferred


• Certification in a quality management system such as ASQ preferred


• Minimum local language fluency plus English (B2)


• Knowledgeable in MS Office Suite, SAP Systems and other applications used in manufacturing e.g. scheduling, CMMS, MES, etc.

• Travel requirements: 10 – 12 days travel per month across the region

• Strong and hand on knowledge of food analytical procedures – chemistry and microbiology


• Strong knowledge of food safety systems, plant and manufacturing technologies


• Ability to work with complex data, statistics and draw interpretations


• Ability to understand man, material, information flows and streamline the same

• Acts as a servant leader


• Customer focused – internal and external


• Excellent communication (written and verbal) skills both upward and downward


• Works well under pressure, enabling his/her/their team to thrive under all circumstances


• Multitasking and time-management skills