Technical Manager - Agricultural certification

Job Description

The Technical Manager of Agriculture oversees the development and implementation of agricultural certification programs, ensuring compliance with industry standards and regulations and provides technical support to WQS staff and clients. This role involves team management, stakeholder engagement, customer service, risk assessment and a focus on continuous improvement to uphold the integrity of certification processes.

Key Responsibilities include

• Assume authority and responsibility for the evaluation, review, and certification decisions of assigned food safety certification programs for agricultural schemes (scopes and sub-scopes).
• Act as the technical contact (Scheme Manager) with scheme owners (CPO), responsible for direct communication related to technical questions between WQS and the CPO.
• Clarify technical issues with QIMAWQS staff, contractors, and audited organizations.
• Conduct initial and ongoing technical training to maintain the competence of QIMAWQS staff and contractors by ensuring they are trained in the most current version of each standard, including when a new version is released.
• Develop and implement technical interpretations to deliver consistent interpretations for food safety hazards and risk mitigations with respect to agricultural schemes requirements.
• Sign off on approval for new auditors.
• Perform witness assessments.
• Monitor agricultural schemes technical KPIs (key performance indicators).
• Ensure compliance with QIMAWQS Quality Management rules, certification, and international regulations.
• Manage the technical requirements of the certification/accreditation processes to ensure consistency and compliance with relevant internal and external requirements.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements

In order to succeed in this role, you have:

• Post-high school diploma or equivalent (minimum 2 years duration) in agriculture or food-related discipline.
• A minimum of 4 years’ experience in the agricultural industry (experience working in a certification body is desirable). Candidates must also have experience with GLOBALG.A.P. and PrimusGFS schemes.
• ISO 9001 – Lead auditor training successfully completed based on ISO 19011 principles (minimum duration of 37 hours and recognized by the industry)
• Successful completion of a HACCP training of 8 hours (minimum)
• Food hygiene training covering site management, water, fertilizer, equipment, facilities, product handling, and site and personal hygiene (minimum 8 hours)
• Scheme trainings (GLOBALG.A.P., PrimusGFS, NOP, among others)
• Familiarity with NOP Organic and social schemes is desirable

                                             EOE/M/F/Vets/Disabilities

Additional Information

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.