Customer and Product Quality Specialist

Title: Customer and Product Quality Specialist

Location: HUNT VALLEY, MD, US, 21031

Workplace: Full-Time

Department: Quality

Job Description:

You may know McCormick as a leader in herbs, spices, seasonings, and condiments – and we’re only getting started. At McCormick, we’re always looking for new people to bring their unique flavor to our team.

McCormick employees – all 14,000 of us across the world – are what makes this company a great place to work.

We are looking to hire a Customer and Product Quality Specialist immediately in a Hybrid (50/50) capacity at our Global Headquarters in Hunt Valley, Maryland. While the role will have a traditional Monday-to-Friday daytime schedule, there will be occasional B and C shift requirements to support commercialization.

What We Bring To The Table:

The best people deserve the best rewards. In addition to the benefits you’d expect from a global leader (401k, health insurance, paid time off, etc.) we also offer:

• Competitive compensation

• Career growth opportunities

• Flexibility and Support for Diverse Life Stages and Choices

• Wellbeing programs including Physical, Mental and Financial wellness

• Tuition assistance

Position Overview 

Reporting to Director of Customer and Product Quality up through into Americas Quality and Regulatory organization, the Customer and Product Quality specialist provides analytical insight, customer program support, and product knowledge while in collaboration with manufacturing sites, Product Development, and assigned customers. The role supports deployment of customer requirements, specification management, and continuous improvement initiatives to ensure food safety, regulatory compliance, and customer satisfaction. This position also provides on-site commercialization support during product launches, scale-ups, and trials to ensure customer expectations, quality standards, and regulatory requirements are effectively translated into manufacturing execution, driving right-first-time outcomes and mitigating risk.

Key Responsibilities

• Support Customer Intimacy and Growth - Deployment of Customer Requirements, partnering with the customer on current programs, new launches and initiatives, QNs, audit support, and support to the manufacturing facilities to meet customer expectations including issue resolution for complaint management and improvements. 30%
• Deliver Business Success and Track Performance Analyze data from products, customers, sites, gaps to customer standards through support of product maintenance, on site commercialization support specifications, deviations, and sampling 30%
• Support Quality Culture and Comprehensive Continuous Improvement initiatives - Data Analysis and Improvement– Data intelligence, DPM, CPM, specifications, failures, RCA, QN resolution. Partner with PD, sites, and customer to ensure Comprehensive Continuous Improvement tools are incorporated into ways of working ensuring consistency on product quality 25%
• Support and prevent escalated issues – Provide technical support to customers and facilities to support resolution of food safety and quality issues. Partner with Department Leadership to provide guidance and risk elimination proposals to the manufacturing sites and programs. 10%
• Training and Development – Reinforce Quality Culture and development and delivery of Customer and Product knowledge training content to Americas Quality and Supply Chain functions. 15% 
• Travel expectation up to 40% for product support
• Engages Supply Chain, QA Ops, Commercialization, and Product Development functions as needed 

Required Qualifications

Level of Education and Discipline: Bachelor’s degree in food science or related discipline.

Certification and/or Licenses: Certification focused on Quality and Food Safety for Supply Chain preferred: PCQI (or HACCP), RCCA, Yellow Belt or green belt desired

Experience - functional/industry/commercia l knowledge, business acumen: 2 years of relevant food experience, plant experience in QA environment is preferred Experience in one Quality focus areas or related function, including Supply Chain, Product Development 

Interpersonal Skills - leadership, interactions, communication, influence:

Customer Focus:

• Understanding and awareness, exhibiting behaviors to support customer requirements
• Maintain responsiveness and a sense of urgency to meet customer requirements
• Engage in commercialization activities supporting PD, Sales, Supply Chain

Quality and Regulatory Culture, Programs, and Standards:

• Key liaison with QA Ops, built trust with diverse stakeholders, strong coordination and project management
• Translate technical language into plain terms to ensure stakeholder engagement and consistency
• Ability to understand Quality and Food Safety priorities within an identified area of focus
• Awareness of Quality and Regulatory best practices and developments
• Understanding how all Quality and Regulatory Elements connect (Supplier, Operations, Customer, and Regulatory) and how each needs to support the others with an identified area of focus
• Supports internal, end-to-end Quality and Regulatory excellence for identified areas of focus

Cross Functional Acumen:

• Develop an understanding of processes, procedures, focus of cross functional partners
• Understand Quality and Regulatory excellence for at least one part of the product lifecycle (develop, source, make, plan, deliver, customer) 

Other Skills and HPO Competencies:

Risk Management:

• Ability to assess and identify potential Quality and Regulatory risks within identified areas and lead mitigation efforts
• Understand internal and external Quality and Regulatory risks and failures in identified area of focus to identify opportunities for resolution
• Communicate risks to appropriate stakeholders
• Participate in risk prioritization countermeasures, based on risk tolerance, severity, and probability of occurrence

Data and Analytics:

• Ability to analyze data to develop actionable insights
• Ability to learn and leverage the latest analytical technologies
• Ability to communicate technical information to internal cross functional partners

Food Industry/Flavor Industry Insight: 

• Understanding of Food/Flavor Industry standards and requirements applicable to area of focus
• Align and support the processes and programs mandated by the Food/Flavor Industry
• Ability to assess and communicate gaps to Food/Flavor Industry standards

Effective Decision-Making:

• Ability to make decisions for identified area based on the Quality and Regulatory Standards
• Understand the escalation process where the standard does not apply or exist using cross functional team and/or external input
• Ability to use appropriate root cause analysis decision tools for decision making
• Ability to propose creative and effective decisions, based on incomplete data and end-to-end thinking

Preferred Qualifications

• Certification and/or Licenses: Certification within the Quality field preferred, continuous improvement certifications like yellow or green belt is preferred
• Experience - functional/industry/commercia l knowledge, business acumen: Experience in the Food/Flavor/Dairy Industry preferred 

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McCormick & Company is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, age, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As a general policy, McCormick does not offer employment visa sponsorships upon hire or in the future.

Base Salary: $63,250 - $110,680

Base salary compensation will be determined based on factors such as geographic location, skills, education, experience for this role, and/or internal equity of our current employees as part of any final offer. This position is also eligible to participate in McCormick’s Incentive Bonus (MIB) Plan. In addition to a competitive compensation package, permanent employees of McCormick are eligible for our extensive Total Rewards programs that include:

- Comprehensive health plans covering medical, vision, dental, life and disability benefits

- Family-friendly benefits such as paid parental leave, fertility benefits, Employee Assistance Program, and caregiver support

- Retirement and investment programs including 401(k) and profit-sharing plans