Packaging Solutions Officer, P4

The position is based in Rome and reports to Food Safety and Quality Assurance Chief.

The Packaging Solutions Officer leads research, development, and operational packaging initiatives at WFP globally, providing specialized technical support and troubleshooting to the field and manufacturers. The role drives packaging improvements and sustainability, developing and maintaining specifications, and representing WFP in technical partnerships and inter-agency forums to ensure safe, effective, and innovative packaging solutions for humanitarian supply chains.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive, within delegated authority):

• Create, update and maintain the packaging specifications to ensure consistency, compliance with WFP standards, and support for operational efficiency.

• Provide packaging development and troubleshooting support to the field and food manufacturers to ensure compliance with quality standards and resolve technical issues.

• Act as the packaging technical support to the field – including assistance to incident –

• solving and loss-reduction in topics that include packaging, ensuring timely and effective solutions to maintain product integrity and minimize operational risks and losses.

• Lead all Research & Development (R&D) and operational packaging-related workstreams in Headquarters (HQ) to ensure innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable packaging solutions that meet WFP’s quality and safety standards.

• Promote packaging improvements within WFP’s portfolio, aiming to withstand the supply chain conditions, maintain proper shelf-life and ensure food is safe for beneficiary consumption.

• Lead packaging development as part of new projects initiated by WFP’s demand to ensure timely design, testing, and implementation of innovative, safe, and cost-effective packaging solutions that meet operational and quality standards.

• Develop performance parameters to define packaging integrity in food specifications, as well as packaging integrity testing methods and parameters to be applied at manufacturing level and to be used during supplier audits.

• Visit and support manufacturers and downstream operations to troubleshoot, guide and improve packaging.

• Lead packaging-related technical partnerships – including development of scope, technical workstreams, governance, communication with partner and alignment with internally-related areas.

• Co-lead technical partnership portfolio for SCOQ’s existing partners – both packaging and non-packaging related - by contributing to strategy building, communication to partners and support to technical discussions to strengthen collaboration and alignment.

• Act as a member of the inter-agency working group (US, UNICEF, MSF, ICRC and ACF), promoting all packaging and sustainability-related workstreams and harmonization initiatives.

• Serve as the WFP packaging expert in internal and external forums, to ensure knowledge sharing and representation in meetings and workshops organized by the humanitarian sector, private sector and government support.

• Co-lead supply chain improvements projects that have a close link to packaging (e.g.: traceability, pest management).

• Lead all packaging related knowledge management initiatives, including training content development and delivery to ensure capacity building and continuous improvement across WFP operations.

• Lead sustainability initiatives related to packaging - Review WFP’s existing product range and evaluate the quality of the packaging materials used and assess their suitability for the challenging humanitarian supply chain.

Education: Advanced university degree in Packaging technology, Packaging Engineering or other related field, or First University degree with an additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience: At least 8 years of progressively responsible work experience sin the area of flexible packaging and/or multiple materials. Proven project management experience is critical. Experience in Packaging R&D and operations within the food industry and humanitarian food packaging is required.

• Sound theoretical understanding of food technology, especially in the field of packaging.

• Ability to carry out financial and risk analysis as related to packaging.

• Strong commercial knowledge with a good understanding of food commodity markets and supply chain practices.

• Good communication skills with the ability to persuade, influence and adapt communication style to different situations and individuals.

• Ability to supervise and coach staff.

• Knowledge of common business principals and processes and the ability to quickly assimilate UN/WFP specific processes and systems.

Language: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language).