**Job Title**: Food Safety and Standards Advisor
**Reports To**: Chief of Party
**Duty Location**: Quezon City
**Job Summary**:
The Food Safety and Standards Advisor leads capacity development work with the Food Safety Regulatory Agencies (FSRAs) of the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), involving selected local government units under the Department of Interior and Local Government as needed.
The Advisor leads the project's work on assessing capacity and alignment of Philippine SPS regulations with international standards (Activity 1) and capacity building of FSRAs in risk-based systems, facilitating access to food safety testing laboratory facilities and strengthening interagency coordination including LGUs (Activity 2).
This staff will bring experience and knowledge in SPS systems, Good Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, and other international compliance standards for four priority commodities - corn (Bukidnon), milkfish (Pangasinan), coco sugar (Misamis Oriental), and hogs (Batangas).
**Essential Functions**:
- Lead the work under Activity 1 (Conduct SPS Capacity Gap Assessment and Benchmark Capacity Needs) including subsequent monitoring of progress and Activity 2 (Enhance DA and FDA Capacity in Risk-Based Systems)
- Liaise with FSRAs to support the development of standards, management procedures, risk management plans, and expand laboratory facilities and capacity to enable efficient testing of key export commodities.
- Identify technologies, practices, or approaches in research, development, and uptake stages and in the improvement in packaging, equipment, transportation or cold storage to promote SPS for specific commodities including coco sugar, hogs, corn and milkfish.
- Support Filipino small and medium enterprises of key commodities identified above in complying with food safety regulations in coordination with the Private Sector Engagement Advisor.
- Coordinate implementation of capacity building plan with FSRAs, including the FDA and the Food Safety Regulatory Coordinating Board.
- Support the development of a five-year national strategic plan for the strengthening of laboratory services to address SPS and food safety issues.
- Support the Department of Agriculture and Food Development Center in the ISO 17025 certification process for at least two of their laboratories.
- In coordination with the Capacity Development Officer, develop and implement in-person and online training events in support of the project's capacity development work.
- In coordination with the Communications and Technical Officer, develop content for a web-based platform to link buyers to food safety and SPS standards service providers and an SPS infrastructure system mapping for presentation at an investor forum.
- Supervise the Risk Assessment Specialist and Capacity Development Officer.
- Support MEL Manager in implementation of MEL Plan and tracking of key SPS related indicators particularly those tracking project accomplishments under Activities 1, 2, and 4
- Contribute to the development of annual workplans, performance monitoring systems and tools, and writing of program reports under Activities 1, 2, and 4 of the workplan.
**Other Functions**:
- In the boundaries of responsibility, train and mentor staff as required.
- Any other duties assigned by the Chief of Party.
**Minimum Qualification**:
- Master's degree in Food Science, Agriculture, or closely related field with 10 years or more experience.
- Deep understanding of GAP, HACCP, ISO, etc.,
- Experience working with the Government of the Philippines Food Safety Regulatory Agencies under the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the LGUs
- Demonstrated knowledge of international agricultural trade issues and international and Filipino food safety standards
- At least 5 years supervisory experience
**Knowledge, Skill & Ability Requirements**:
- Must be familiar with laboratory use for food safety, pest residue, etc.
- Knowledge of SPS policy, capacity assessment and technical capacity building.
- Strong communication and organizational skills.
- Able to produce high quality work under deadlines.
- Ability to manage multiple assignments.
- Ability to motivate staff for optimum performance.
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite.
**Equipment Used**:
- Personal computer and other standard office equipment.
**Physical Working Conditions**:
- Office conditions & some in-country travel as and when required.
Winrock is an equal opportunity employer.
We are committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all people and value diversity and inclusiveness.
Winrock recruits, employs, trains, promotes and compensates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, or