Job Description

Key Resposibilities



Develop and manage the swine feed portfolio (including pre-starters, starters, growers, finishers, and sow diets).



Lead new product development in collaboration with nutrition, procurement, and marketing teams.



Formulate and optimize rations and premixes in line with nutritional requirements, raw material availability, and performance goals.



Support the sales and technical teams with on-farm problem-solving and complaint resolution.



Analyse production and performance data to identify opportunities for improvement and differentiation.



Conduct competitor benchmarking and market intelligence gathering.



Deliver technical training to internal sales teams and external customers.



Collaborate with R&D teams locally and globally for innovation and best practices.



Nutrition



Manage the physical and nutritional specifications of pig products by:



Monitoring and documenting feed production in line with legislation.



Product registrations with the Department of Agriculture.



Define standards for physical quality and feed structure for each feed mill and also monitoring these quality standards by visiting mills regularly.



Manage the requests for Standard Special Products (SSP's) for pigs. Approve these for production when required.



Investigate and analyze customer complaints in accordance with the Customer Action Requests (CAR) and Non-Conformance Requests (NCR) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's). Both for the market and production.

Management of the pig feed ranges and individual products:

Nutritional specifications of the standard feed ranges



Nutritional specifications of custom diets, concentrates and macro packs.



Review Global R&D reports for application in local feed ranges.



Set up and manage local product trials if required.



Frequent Product Manager meetings with the International Product Manager and the Formulations Department.



Writing of technical articles for local and international company newsletters.

Networking with:

Breeding companies



Veterinarians and animal health organisations



Suppliers of feed additives and enzymes



Customers, AFMA Technical Committee, AFMA Regulatory Committee



Attending technical meetings and conferences where relevant.



Manage raw material bounds to help realize margin budget.



Create and maintain technical database (Library).



Coordinate visits from International Pig Product Manager.



Purchase

Supporting and assisting Purchasing Department with:

Decisions on specialised raw materials such as premixes, animal by-products, oils and grains for nutritional quality, physical quality, stability, and trustworthiness of supplier when required.



In the quality audits of suppliers when required.



Sales

Provide nutritional support to the sales team:

-



By giving commercial answers and information to sales staff and customers.



Do desk research if required.



Give training to sales staff as required.



Technical legal compliance support for advertising materials such as leaflets, brochures and bags.



Assist with trouble shooting on farms when required.



Formulate complete diets, concentrates and macro packs for special markets. Sell and support these products.



Collect and analyze nutritional information and products on competitors.



Monitor and analyze data on the technical and economic performance of our products and those of competitors in the field.



Maintain Pig Sector plans in coordination with Sales and the International Product Manager



Production

Assist Production by:

Investigate, when required, production matters concerning:

product variations in raw materials, nutrients, physical quality, ext.



Maintain the contamination protocols in conjunction with the Quality Manager. This will include updated contamination tables and production sequencing.



Recoding of damaged or returned product into redress, sweepings or into another product code.



Marketing

Assist Marketing by:

Planning with the Sales Team to write 2 articles each during the year on agreed topics.



Providing information required to update the Website - product profiles and articles.



Providing information for social media posts.



Planning farmers days.



Supporting student days.



Knowledge, Qualifications & Experience



BSc Agric / BSc Animal Science (Minimum) in animal husbandry



MSc in Animal Nutrition (Advantageous)



Possession of a valid code 08/EB drivers license



Registered as an Animal Nutritionist (SANASP, Pri.Sci.Nat)



5 Years' experience in a Swine Nutrition & Feed formulation



Strong Understanding of the South African feed market, including raw materials dynamic



Hands on on-farm experience in managing swine health, performance and growth challenges



Practical experience with formulation software (eg. format, Bestmix, Brill)



Ability to troubleshoot and resolve technical complaints related to nutrition, feed quality and on-farm performance.



Between 3 - 5 Years