Label, Specs & Regulatory Specialist (VN & Export)

General Introduction

Marou - Faiseurs de Chocolat connects the world with award-winning Vietnamese chocolate. The company is vertically integrated and dedicated to crafting artisanal chocolates using high-quality ingredients, with a focus on exceptional taste, sustainability, creativity, design, and customer satisfaction. Its products are distributed worldwide.

Role Purpose

• Serve as the single official reference for every Marou label in Vietnam and export markets, including the United States, France, the multi-EU market, and other markets.
• Manage label information from the exact recipe through the printed wrapper, catalogues, website images, and point-of-sale materials (POSM).
• Own QA's official Label Database as the single source of truth.
• Ensure that nothing is printed, ordered, or published without the approved database version.
• Ensure Procurement and Design always work with the latest approved information.
• Make regulatory decisions in-house based on official regulations and maintain the company's regulatory knowledge.
• Scope and manage external regulatory advice when required.

Key Responsibilities

Official Label Database

• Own and maintain the QA Label Database as the single source of truth, with one record per product, market, and version.
• Maintain approved artwork, status, version, approval date, approver, recipe version, ingredient lists, allergens, nutrition tables, claims, shelf-life wording, date-coding format, barcodes, specifications, Packing Instruction references, and laboratory analysis links.
• Audit the existing database at handover and close all gaps.
• Define naming, access, and archiving rules for superseded versions.
• Issue a Label Release Notice for every validation, including the product, market, version, changes, checks performed, file link, and status.
• Ensure no print order is placed using a version that is not marked Approved.

Communication with Design and Procurement

• Act as the primary label-related contact for the Design Manager.
• Provide Design with the latest official version, ingredient lists, allergens, and mandatory market-specific statements.
• Review label-related content in catalogues, website visuals, and POSM before publication, including ingredients, allergens, claims, nutrition, net weight, and origin.
• Inform Procurement and Supply Chain about approved and superseded versions to prevent old packaging from being ordered or used.

Recipes and Source Data

• Obtain the exact current recipe for each product from R&D, CK, and Production, including percentages, ingredient origins, and final weights.
• Reconcile recipes with specifications, certificates of analysis (COAs), and allergen statements.
• Identify and resolve discrepancies before information reaches a label.
• Link every label and nutrition table to a dated, validated recipe.
• Update records whenever a recipe changes.

Laboratory Analyses

• Identify missing analyses for each product and market, including nutrition, allergens, microbiology, contaminants, and shelf life.
• Propose and order analyses with the laboratory.
• Plan backwards from launch and shipment dates while accounting for laboratory lead times and safety margins.
• Check that results are conclusive and consistent with the recipe and specification, including methods, units, limits of quantification, and regulatory limits.
• Question inconsistent results and request retesting when necessary.
• Ensure analysis reports provide nutrition tables in Vietnamese, United States, and European Union formats.
• For the United States, ensure nutrition information is provided per serving and per container, using defined serving sizes and FDA rounding rules.

Vietnamese Label Compliance

• Check every Vietnamese label against applicable regulations covering labeling, food safety, nutrition, claims, date marking, and language.
• Validate every claim against regulations and supporting data before it appears on packaging.

Export Label Compliance

• Prepare and check export labels for the United States, France, and the multi-EU market.
• Apply relevant requirements, including FDA 21 CFR 101 and EU Regulation 1169/2011.
• Verify allergens, units, energy in kilojoules and kilocalories, date formats, importer information, and operator statements.
• Edit French, German, and Swedish translations with the regulatory AI agent.
• Maintain a market comparison matrix covering Vietnam, the United States, France, and the multi-EU market, including differences such as shelf life and date coding.
• Respond to customer, importer, and customs requests regarding labels.

Packing Instructions and Production Release

• Own the Packing Instruction for every product, packaging format, and market version.
• Write, version, and release Packing Instructions to Production, QC, and Planning.
• Include the product and version, label reference, coding format, barcode and position, approved reference sample, translated key terms for line staff, and market-specific requirements.
• Enforce the rule that production cannot begin for a new or changed packaging version without an approved Packing Instruction.
• Update Packing Instructions whenever a label, barcode, recipe, or format changes.
• Withdraw superseded Packing Instructions from production lines.
• Compare new artwork with the previous approved version, the database, and the market matrix.
• Support first-print approval by checking the printed sample field by field against the Packing Instruction, including barcode scanning, and filing the signed result.

Finished-Product Specifications

• Prepare one finished-product specification per product covering all formats and market versions.
• Incorporate sensory and physico-chemical data provided by R&D/RDQ.
• Coordinate review by the QA/QC Manager and approval by the Head of NPD.
• Cover product characteristics, ingredients, shelf life, allergens, storage, certifications, regulatory references, microbiological, heavy-metal and mycotoxin criteria and methods, packaging information, mandatory label statements, GTINs, and nutrition information.
• Present nutrition tables in Vietnamese, United States, and European Union formats, including FDA serving-size and rounding requirements, added sugars, and EU kilojoule and kilocalorie information.
• Include the current approved label image in customer-facing specifications.
• Reissue specifications after every Label Release Notice that changes content.
• Keep specifications, labels, recipes, laboratory results, Packing Instructions, and barcode records consistent.
• Maintain editable source files and signed PDFs with version and date information.
• Use specification acceptance criteria to validate laboratory results and report out-of-specification results to QA.
• Collect raw-material and packaging specifications from QA, Procurement, and Packaging, and compare them with the recipe and label.

Barcodes

• Own the barcode registry for GTIN/EAN-13 codes by product, format, and market.
• Manage GTIN-14/ITF-14 codes for master cartons where required.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain under the company's GS1 membership.
• Allocate codes for every new SKU, format, and market version.
• Never reuse or duplicate codes.
• Maintain a master list linked to Supply Chain item codes and the Label Database.
• Provide Design with the correct barcode file for each artwork.
• Check barcode digits, size, quiet zone, position, scanability, and readability.
• Verify barcodes during first printing and record the results.
• Communicate new, changed, or retired codes to Supply Chain, Procurement, Sales, and customers.
• Respond to barcode requests from retailers and importers.

Regulatory AI and Continuous Improvement

• Use the Marou regulatory agent daily and critically review its outputs.
• Log errors and help train the agent, particularly on Vietnamese regulations.
• Develop structured rules and test cases with expected answers.
• Monitor regulatory changes in Vietnam, the United States, and the European Union.
• Update rules and checklists as regulations change.
• Contribute to nonconformance and corrective/preventive action reports related to labeling and follow up on actions.

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Biotechnology, or a related field.

Must Have

• Three to five years of relevant experience in labeling, product specifications, regulatory affairs, or a related field.
• Good professional English, written and spoken, including the ability to write emails and reports and read FDA and EU regulations.
• Exceptional attention to detail, including proofreading for punctuation, units, allergens, and differences between versions.
• Strong Excel skills, including XLOOKUP or INDEX-MATCH, data validation, conditional formatting, structured tables, and rigorous database management.
• Practical knowledge of food labeling, including ingredients, allergens, nutrition facts, claims, date marking, and interpretation of analytical results.
• Knowledge of Vietnamese food regulations is a strong advantage.
• Proactive and organized approach, with the ability to plan backwards from deadlines and follow up independently.
• Honest and willing to verify information rather than guess.

Nice to Have

• Basic knowledge of FDA and EU labeling rules.
• Knowledge of barcodes, including EAN-13, GTIN, and GS1.
• French, German, or another additional language.
• Experience in QA, regulatory affairs, or food manufacturing.
• HACCP, ISO 22000, or FSSC 22000 knowledge.
• Comfort using AI tools.
• Basic ability to read artwork files such as PDFs and Illustrator files.

Desired Behaviors

• Sharp-eyed and curious, with a habit of comparing, questioning, and verifying.
• Assertive and respectful, with the ability to explain why work cannot proceed until requirements are met.
• Persistent in coordinating with R&D, CK, Production, Design, and laboratories.
• Clear communicator who writes short, precise messages explaining what is wrong, where it is wrong, and what is expected.
• Owner mindset from the recipe through the printed sample and published visual.

Workplace Commitment

Marou is committed to a transparent, diverse, and inclusive workplace. Recruitment and career development decisions are based on qualifications, skills, and experience. The company promotes equal learning and growth opportunities, fair compensation, safe working conditions, and a respectful workplace free from harassment and discrimination.

Marou welcomes candidates from diverse backgrounds and can provide reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process upon request. Candidate information is processed according to Marou's Personal Data Processing Notice and applicable data protection regulations.