Regulatory Lead - Crop Protection, Centurion

Minimum Requirements:

• B.Sc. or M.Sc. in Agriculture, Chemistry or similar.
• Expert knowledge on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) legislation and PPP authorization in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana and at EU level.
• Knowledge of the technical disciplines related to PPP registration; toxicology, product residues, environment fate and ecotoxicology at a general level.
• General understanding of agriculture and horticulture business.
• Deliver value adding solutions to the business in countries of responsibility
• High attention to detail whilst keeping the overview.
• Capability to work in highly structured and independent manner.
• Excellent administrative skills (attention to detail whilst maintaining the overview).
• Excellent project management capabilities.

Responsibilities:

• Leading the Regulatory department in obtaining approval for products in countries of responsibility (South Africa, Namibia and Botswana) within agreed timelines.
• Effective collaboration within the regulatory team.
• Secure a competitive edge through top quality submissions and handling registration issues in an ethical, trustworthy way in cooperation with country authorities.
• Responsible for leading the regulatory team with a special focus on ensuring/growing team motivation and capability monitoring/development.
• Build and maintain excellent working relations with both internal and external key stakeholders.
• Carry regulatory product responsibility for all products in following countries South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
• Provide registration dossiers to agreed timelines according to procedures ensuring high quality and to a level of detail that enables smooth handling by the receiving authority.
• Plan, achieve, maintain and defend approvals / registrations (for new registration-NPIs, re-registration, label extensions and formulation changes) of the Portfolio in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana to the appropriate approval authority. Aiming to meet business objectives within agreed timelines and in compliance with local statutory requirements
• Manage product defense process to extend the product life cycle.
• Elaborate and implement meaningful Regulatory strategies for maintenance, aligned with the BA, the BU and the overall strategy for a sustainable crop protection.
• Liaise effectively with in-country regulatory authorities & Commercial and Development teams, colleagues in other geographies including HQ (EPR, Product Safety) and neighboring Business areas to be fully aligned regarding the business and regulatory strategies
• Ensure registration applications are progressed in an expeditious manner (i.e. prompt response to queries and provision of extra data when required)
• Accountable for management of information documentation in the regulatory databases for the allocated portfolio.
• Remain up to date with latest regulatory matters, inform Business Sustainability functions at HQ and ensure current requirements are followed in product submissions
• Analyze local and regional trends in Plant Protection Regulatory Affairs with the aim to make recommendations for improvements/changes for the countries within his/her responsibility (South Africa, Namibia and Botswana).
• Update relevant colleagues in the country organization on changes in registration deadlines, with the aim of keeping annual and 5 year plans up to date
• Ensure BA organization's awareness on competitor bans or registration problems to allow the business the opportunity to evaluate product and market gaps, which can be covered by the portfolio.
• Coordinate the work of the local Regulatory specialist for the artwork activities (warning text, SDS and UIN) of the team for newly registered and re-registered products in compliance with global standards and local standards
• Work with the in-country and Territory Stewardship Function to make sure that registration decisions and standards are implemented
• Active engagement and participation in the local Industry association (Croplife), in order to update in a timely manner both the local and HQ Business sustainability organizations; and to develop and implement impactful actions in line with Business Sustainability strategy.