Job Opportunity for Regulatory Affairs Officer (Food) at Fortify Health in Pune

About Fortify Health

Fortify Health is an NGO with a team of dedicated entrepreneurs working to improve nutritional status at population scale through fortification, a recognised, effective public health intervention. We work to  tackle anaemia and birth defects by supporting fortification of wheat flour with iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid. We support millers willing to adopt fortification by making it cost-neutral to them, and we work with state governments to expand fortification in social safety net programs and on the open market. Complementing our entrepreneurial model, we provide nutrition training, career development opportunities and a wide range of resources to guide the team. 

Fortify Health’s model addresses micronutrient deficiencies through work with industry partners, NGOs and state governments. Maintaining collaborative relationships with our partner mills and ensuring they meet their fortification-related compliances is essential to successfully achieving Fortify Health’s important goals. The Regulatory Affairs Officer will assist in coordinating compliances and administrative deliverables between partner mills, Fortify Health and external stakeholders, during and after implementation.

Position overview

The Regulatory Affairs Officer will be based out of Pune, but will be open to traveling extensively to plant locations. They will assist the programs team in ensuring that fortification-related administrative, compliance and packaging work in partner mills is conducted efficiently. This includes working with the Operations team to prepare and update documentation, assisting mills with regulatory compliances related to fortification and coordinating the administrative aspects of a mill partnership at the ground level.  It requires strength in a range of soft skills: ability to learn quickly, organisation, communication skills, strong sense of judgement, approachability, and high attention to detail. It also requires knowledge of and experience in navigating relationships in the food manufacturing sector. 

The Regulatory Affairs Officer will be responsible for ensuring collaborative work takes place with our miller partners. They will be a self-starter, have excellent verbal and written communication skills and have prior experience in communicating with various types and levels of professionals in the food manufacturing sector. They will have the exciting opportunity to bring their own unique experience into this role, as they will be the first member of our new compliance team and will be an essential part of Fortify Health’s growth. They will initially report to Fortify Health’s Associate Director of Business Development.

Responsibilities and activities

• Assist the Program, M&E, Operations and Business Development teams in efficient implementation by helping partner mills to complete administrative and regulatory compliance related work, especially in the initial stages of a mill partnership.
• Develop strong and trusting relationships with partner mill staff, mill management and owners
• Lead fortification-related regulatory compliance work within partner mills. This work includes collecting and updating documents, assisting mills with their FSSAI fortification endorsement application and approvals, liaising with local government officials and assisting partner mills with labeling modifications according to FSSAI standards 
• Identify, build relations with and communicate effectively with food regulators from local FDA offices as well as regional FSSAI offices for fortification related compliance work. 
• Work closely with the Program Officer and Junior Program Officer to ensure effective implementation of our programs within partner mills
• Ensure work is well documented
• Work alongside others in the organisation to ensure mill partnerships are transitioned smoothly across different team members when necessary
• Proactively learn from regulatory consultants, packaging and labeling technologists and operations team members to develop expertise in all mill-related administrative work
• Actively participate in team calls and meetings

Requirements

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to manage multiple stakeholders at varying levels of seniority
• Excellent ability to learn, absorb and implement new information
• Minimum 3-5 years of experience in administrative, regulatory compliance or packaging work within the food manufacturing sector in India
• Knowledge of and prior connections within the food regulatory ecosystem (local and state FDA, FSSAI, regulatory consultants etc.)
• Strong problem solving skills and ability to get things done in challenging situations
• Willingness to travel around 70% of the time (this may include within base location, intra-state travel and relocation)
• Bachelors or higher degree in related field
• Proven ability to manage professional relationships and to work under pressure
• Excellent organisational skills and ability to work effectively on multiple projects
• Excellent documentation skills
• High attention to detail
• Strong teamwork and interpersonal skills
• Willingness to relocate to and work out of Fortify Health’s Pune hub
• High proficiency in MS Office and ability to learn relevant software quickly
• Authorisation to work in India (Indian national, eligibility for OCI, etc.)
• Fluency in Hindi 
• Professional fluency in English

Desirable attributes

• Bike license and own vehicle
• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Law or Commerce
• Experience working with remote team members
• Experience working independently 
• Enthusiasm about our opportunity to improve people’s lives
• Fluency in Marathi

Terms of employment: Contract for one year, renewal by mutual agreement

Salary and benefits: INR 63,000 per month 

If you’re not sure about applying because you don’t know if you’re qualified, we would really love you to apply anyway!