Food Safety & Quality Product Design Ice Cream Manager
Job Location: Alba
Company description
Ferrero is a family-owned company with a truly progressive and global outlook and iconic brands such as Nutella®, Tic Tac®, Ferrero Rocher®, Raffaello®, Kinder Bueno® and Kinder Surprise®. As the love for our brands continues to grow, so too does our global reach. Represented in more than 50 countries, with products sold in more than 170, the Ferrero Group is loved by generations around the world. The secret to our global success? 40,000 dedicated employees who celebrate care and quality to craft a business, careers and brands we are proud of. Join us, and you could be one of them.
Diversity Statement
Ferrero is committed to building a diverse and inclusive culture in which all employees feel welcomed and appreciated and have the same opportunities. We believe all of our people are equally talented in their own way. In nurturing the curiosity and natural abilities of our employees, we provide them, generation after generation, the means to succeed personally and professionally, enabling them to craft their journey at Ferrero. The diversity of our talents is what makes our work environment multicultural, innovative and highly rewarding.
About the Role:
As the Food Safety & Quality Product Design Ice Cream Manager, you will play a central role in supporting the development of new ice cream products from a Food Safety & Quality (FSQ) perspective. Your mission is to ensure that FSQ principles are embedded into every stage of the product development process — from concept to launch — by designing and updating product specifications that are clear, actionable, and aligned across the global value chain. You will act as a key point of contact between FSQ and other core functions such as R&D, Marketing, and the Global Brand Soremartec team, facilitating product innovation while safeguarding compliance and quality standards.
The scope of the role is global, covering branded products as well as integration support for other industrial portfolios.
Main Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for writing and maintaining FSQ product specifications for the ice cream category, setting out the rules that production plants and partners must follow to meet our standards. These rules apply to the entire value chain, including raw materials, process parameters, shelf life, sensory aspects, and final product characteristics. You will lead the continuous improvement of these specifications by integrating data from field operations, plant audits, and consumer feedback, and by actively engaging with Group FSQ Industrial & Supply.
You will support all stages of the product innovation pipeline, working closely with Technical Category R&D (DTC – Direzione Tecnica di Categoria) and other stakeholders to ensure FSQ criteria are integrated from the beginning of the development process. Your involvement in industrial trials will ensure that safety and quality expectations are respected in real-world production settings.
You will manage exceptions to specifications in case of recipe or process variations, and act as a global point of contact in the event of non-conformities or incidents. Your role will also include participating in key governance meetings to ensure that FSQ perspectives are fully embedded in strategic decisions.
On the data side, you will lead the development and management of KPIs and FSQ dashboards, providing insights at both the category and product levels. Internally, you will coach and guide your direct report, promoting FSQ awareness, capability-building, and safe working practices across teams.
Who we are looking for:
You bring a strong technical foundation built through studies and Master’s Degree in food science, food technology, chemistry, or biology and have developed significant expertise in food safety, R&D and industrial production. You have a deep understanding of ice cream products, their processes, and their risks, and you know how to translate that knowledge into precise, actionable FSQ specifications. With an extensive experience in the food industry, you are ready to manage complexity and lead with confidence.
You are comfortable interacting with diverse stakeholders and you know how to balance innovation with compliance. You have a proactive mindset, strong organizational skills, and a collaborative approach that helps you align global teams around shared standards. Your managerial experience allows you to lead and develop others, and your ability to navigate change makes you a valuable asset in transformation and integration projects. You speak fluent English and you are open to international mobility and available to travel globally.
Ready to shape the future of Food Safety & Quality in one of the most beloved product categories?
Apply now and help us bring safe, high-quality innovation to every scoop.
How to be successful in the role and at Ferrero:
Consumers, quality and care are at the heart of everything we do. So, to be successful at Ferrero, you’ll need to be just as consumer and product centric as we are - dedicated to crafting brilliant results for consumers around the world.