Crisis Management Lead H/F - McCain Foods

Position Title: Crisis Management Lead

Position Type: Regular - Full-Time

Requisition ID: 42563

At McCain, our people are ambitious, curious, and passionate about creating exceptional work experiences together. With a customer-first mindset, we make doing business with McCain easy.

About the role

At McCain, crisis management goes far beyond product recalls. Whether it's a food safety incident, an environmental event, a cyber threat, an industrial accident, or any situation that could impact our people, consumers, or reputation, our ability to respond quickly and effectively is critical.

To strengthen our regional resilience, we are creating the position of Crisis Management Lead.

Reporting to the Vice President, Food Safety & Quality EMENA & GB&I, you will be responsible for designing, implementing, and leading the regional crisis management framework across McCain EMENA & GB&I and Lutosa. Acting as the central coordinator, you will bring together cross-functional expertise to ensure a rapid, structured, and effective response to critical situations.

This is a highly hands-on role. You will build standards, develop processes, train teams, and lead crisis simulation exercises, while also coordinating regional crisis response during real incidents. Although the role has no direct reports, you will influence and align international teams through strong leadership, collaboration, and sound decision-making in high-pressure environments.

What you'll be doing

• Design, implement, and continuously improve the regional crisis management framework in alignment with McCain's global standards.
• Standardize crisis management processes, procedures, governance, and tools across the region.
• Lead the deployment and adoption of digital crisis management tools across McCain EMENA & GB&I and Lutosa.
• Coordinate regional crisis response during major incidents, ensuring timely, structured, and effective decision-making.
• Mobilize and coordinate cross-functional experts across Food Safety, Quality, Operations, Legal, Communications, HR, IT, Regulatory Affairs, and other key functions.
• Lead complex incident investigations, root cause analyses, and ensure corrective and preventive actions are fully implemented.
• Develop and facilitate crisis simulations, mock recalls, and emergency exercises covering food safety, cybersecurity, environmental events, employee safety, sabotage, and other business continuity scenarios.
• Foster a strong culture of preparedness, resilience, and continuous improvement across manufacturing sites and regional functions.
• Monitor regulatory developments and emerging risks that could impact the business.
• Provide strategic reporting and recommendations to senior leadership to strengthen organizational resilience.

What you'll need to be successful

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Public Health, Quality Management, or a related discipline. An advanced degree is an advantage.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in Food Safety, Quality, Risk Management, or Crisis Management within a food manufacturing environment. Experience in the pharmaceutical industry will also be considered where supported by strong quality systems expertise.
• Proven experience managing product recalls, major incidents, or regional/global crisis situations.
• Strong knowledge of food safety regulations and standards, including HACCP, GFSI, FSMA, and European and UK regulatory requirements.
• Solid expertise in risk assessment, incident investigation, root cause analysis, and corrective action management.
• Experience working across multiple countries within complex international organizations.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and coordinate cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Strong leadership, sound judgment, and the ability to remain calm and decisive during high-pressure situations.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills.
• Fluency in English and French is essential. Additional European languages are an advantage.
• Willingness to travel internationally (approximately 30%).

Why join McCain?

This is a unique opportunity to build a strategic capability within a leading global food company.

As Crisis Management Lead, you will play a key role in protecting our consumers, employees, operations, and reputation by strengthening McCain's crisis preparedness and resilience across the region.

You will work on high-impact strategic initiatives, collaborate with senior leaders across multiple functions and countries, and help shape the future of crisis management within McCain.

Benefits of the role

• Competitive salary and performance-related bonus.
• Comprehensive medical and insurance coverage.
• Retirement and pension plan.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Learning and development opportunities.
• Health and wellbeing programs.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• A highly visible role with broad international exposure.

Our mission is built on creating authentic relationships. We believe that in-person collaboration strengthens teamwork, drives innovation, and helps us grow together. At the same time, we value flexibility. That's why most office-based roles follow a hybrid working model, offering the opportunity to work remotely two days a week, depending on business needs and local practices.

About the team

You will join the EMENA Food Safety & Quality leadership team and report directly to the Vice President, Food Safety & Quality EMENA & GB&I.

You will work closely with Food Safety & Quality, Operations, Legal, Communications, Human Resources, IT, Regulatory Affairs, and Global teams to strengthen McCain's ability to anticipate, manage, and learn from crisis situations.

Success in this role will depend as much on your technical expertise as on your ability to influence, coordinate, and bring people together across international teams.