Regional Supplier Assurance Officer

BE - Ardo Headquarters

Quality & Food Safety

Permanent contract

Ardo supplies its continuously growing markets around the world with high quality frozen vegetables, herbs, and fruit with 3300 employees and 16 production, packing & distribution sites in 7 different countries. The family business sells in more than 100 countries and has a turnover of more than 1.4 billion euros. The proximity of our factories to our crops is one of our key strengths and ensures that only minutes are lost between harvest and locking in the product's natural goodness in our freezers.

Ardo's mission is to preserve the gift of nature for future generations by providing fresh frozen, plant-based food while minimizing our impact on the planet. Ardo achieves this goal thanks to an integrated network of growing areas, production units, freezing units, packaging equipment, appropriate logistics and thorough quality control. The group's know-how and flexible structure ensure that it can respond quickly to new trends and that innovative product can be brought onto the market quickly.

Your Scope

Location: Chili, Peru or Ecuador

The objective of this function is the continuous monitoring of Foodsafety compliance of external suppliers and their products , located in the region of LATAM. This function is important in maintaining the supplier complaints to an absolute minimum and in the follow up and guarantee on the delivery of foodsafe products.

What you'll do:

Lead Supplier Food Safety Audits: Conduct thorough food safety audits of regional suppliers of frozen fruits, vegetables, and herbs, ensuring full compliance with Ardo's safety and quality standards.

Implement Supplier Sustainability Programs: Develop and execute the sustainability program for regional suppliers, promoting responsible sourcing and long-term environmental and ethical commitments.

Ensure Effective Corrective Actions: Oversee timely follow-up on supplier corrective action plans issued after food safety audits or complaints, driving continuous quality improvement.

Manage Critical Supplier Complaints: Take ownership of serious supplier-related complaints, including food safety and supply chain issues. Proactively update and optimize the sampling plan where required.

Support Strategic Product & Supplier Development: Work closely with Lead Buyers and sales teams to support new product development and assess active suppliers. Provide regular crop updates.

Lead Supplier Evaluation & Classification: Conduct regular supplier performance assessments and classifications. Provide up-to-date performance evaluations to direct procurement decisions and strategic supplier development action plans.

Drive Supplier Onboarding Decisions: Play a key role in the assessment and selection of new suppliers, ensuring they meet Ardo's high standards in quality, safety, and sustainability.

Develop & Maintain Procedures: Create, update, and manage group-level procedures related to supplier assurance, ensuring operational consistency and regulatory compliance across the supply base.

Your profile

You have a master or an engineering degree in Food Science, Food processing Technology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Agriculture or similar Agronomy- Food related qualification.

Experience in food industry, including auditing experience is a must.

Good knowledge of GFSI standards , including primary production standards (Globalgap or other ), is an asset.

Being aware of priorities - handling problems on the right time, with the right perception.

Criticism, controlling capacities – good communication capacities – structured way of working.

Sense for order and neatness.

Fluid in English , working in an international team . Speaking Spanish , other languages is an asset.

Willing to travel regularly and you work from Chili, Peru, or Ecuador (or home office).

We offer

We offer you the opportunity to be part of an authentic and sustainable international company, with real growth opportunities and the freedom to actively participate in shaping the business and the opportunity to develop professionally. You will receive a full remuneration package in line with the level of this position.