Head of Global Innovation

Job Description
Location :
Aimargues (30 min from Montpellier in the South of France)

Segment :
Royal Canin

Contract Type :
Permanent (CDI)

The Royal Canin Regulatory Affairs function is pivotal in ensuring our health-through-nutrition solutions are accessible worldwide. We achieve this by embedding compliance into innovation from the outset, maintaining ongoing product conformity, advocating for science-based regulatory frameworks, and safeguarding the reputation of Royal Canin and its customers.

As the Head of Global Innovation & Portfolio Compliance, you lead a team of Regulatory professionals acting as representatives of the Regulatory function in all projects & activities either aiming at maintaining the current portfolio of products & associated communication compliant with an evolving regulation or working on developing innovative solutions for our core business which are compliant by design, future-proof and ready to be deployed worldwide.

This People Leader role ensures an effective, high performing, developing and engaged Global Innovation & Portfolio Regulatory Compliance organization.

This role is a key partner to senior leaders in R&D, Demand, and Commercial teams, ensuring that innovation at Royal Canin is not only pioneering but also compliant, sustainable, and trusted by customers and regulators worldwide.

What are we looking for?

• Master or equivalent Qualification in Project or Portfolio Management is a plus
• Min. 10 years professional experience, including 5 years' with hands-on experience in Regulatory Affairs in the Life Sciences industry. Previous experience as a people leader is a must.
• Proven track record in defining novel approaches to enabling access the market of compliant products.
• Proven track record of building collaborative, x-functional business relationships
• Ability to use experience base with intuition to chart the future in an ambiguous environment
• Visible leadership: Make the tough calls on quality, associates, budget, etc.
• Continuous improvement & solution-oriented mindset and ability to identify new opportunities where Regulatory can add value to the business.
• Ability to collaborate with/lead a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, global working groups and a broad cross-functional network.
• Excellent interpersonal and written and oral communication skills.

What would be your key responsibilities?

• Operationalizing the Company's Regulatory Strategy, ensuring it meets the needs of the collaboration of the function with R&D, Demand and Commercial on projects & activities associated with Royal Canin core business.
• Responsible for selected product-related End2End compliance processes
• Responsible for the contribution of the Regulatory Function to global projects and activities aiming at maintaining the current portfolio of products & associated communication compliant with an evolving regulation or working on developing innovative solutions for our core business which are compliant by design future-proof and ready to be deployed worldwide.
• Managing timelines and resources to achieve stated objectives, ensuring tracking tools and regulatory databases are maintained up to date.
• Ensuring that the Global Innovation & Portfolio Regulatory Compliance team is staffed & organized to deliver on its mission and continuously improve its performance to meet the Business current and future needs.
• Accountable for ensuring effective team development through line management excellence behaviors and create opportunities for development of team and the wider Mars Scientific & Regulatory Affairs community.
• Accountable for recruitment, succession planning and managing performance. Define and develop the capability needs for the Global Innovation & Portfolio Regulatory Compliance organization to meet the needs of the business today and in the future.
• Contribute to best practices sharing & cross-training within the Regulatory Affairs network and create synergies across Mars segments.
• Identify, develop, manage and leverage an appropriate regional external network of experts and opinion leaders in the industry.
• Maintaining a broad knowledge of scientific, regulatory and policy environment in key markets across the globe.
• Leveraging cross-functional collaboration to ensure that businesses are guided on a sound regulatory basis, to define the appropriate regulatory strategy and resourced to support compliance as well as opportunity driven activities.

What can you expect from Mars?

• You will work in a multicultural environment (more than 40 nationalities) and where your dog will be welcomed by more than 100 other Associates' dogs at the office
• You will work in a unique campus, which gathers more than 800 Associates working for: the international HQ, the French subsidiary, two laboratories, a kennel and a cattery with more than 200 cats & dogs, and finally the most important factory of the Royal Canin group
• Since 2017, Royal Canin has supported the K-DOG program of the Curie Institute, which trains dogs to detect breast cancer via olfaction
• A unique and ideal work environment to become the leader in health through nutrition for cats and dogs

Royal Canin's CSR commitments, to build a better world for tomorrow:

• Since 2015, no waste to landfill is made by the 16 Royal Canin factories in the world
• All Royal Canin products manufactured in Europe are ISO 14001 certified from design to factory gate
• Since 2017, Royal Canin has supported the K-DOG program of the Curie Institute, which trains dogs to detect breast cancer via olfaction.