Technical & Compliance Lead

Dis-Chem Pharmacies; Midrand; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Dis-Chem Pharmacies seeks a Technical & Compliance Manager to lead regulatory compliance, product safety, and quality oversight across all categories. You will ensure vendor compliance, regulatory adherence, and product integrity for national and exclusive brands.

You will guide NPD teams on compliance, test requirements, and labeling, while managing risk assessments, recalls, and audits. Join a cross-functional team focused on governance, change readiness, and consumer protection.

Qualifications

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Dietetics, Nutrition, Biochemistry, Consumer Science, Quality Assurance or a related field.
• Postgraduate qualification or relevant certifications advantageous
• 3-5 years’ experience in technical compliance, product safety, regulatory, quality assurance in Pharmacy, Health & Medical or Retail FMCG sectors.

Responsibilities

• Oversee evaluation and approval of new vendors by assessing risk profiles, regulatory compliance.
• Oversee ongoing supplier regulatory, technical and quality assurance; drive vendor compliance including audits, approvals, and risk assessments.
• Ensure all product formulations, labelling, and claims meet regulatory, quality and technical requirements.
• Provide expert guidance to New Product Development (NPD) teams on compliance, technical, and quality matters throughout the development cycle, including product testing, labelling accuracy, permissible claims, and packaging requirements.
• Lead testing programmes and quality assurance initiatives including budget control.
• Drive compliance of advertising, labelling, and product claims to regulations across all marketing channels.
• Lead and develop Technical Compliance Officers to ensure consistent execution.
• Collaborate with Category, Buying, NPD, Customer service, Private label and Marketing teams to ensure compliance alignment.
• Promote regulatory visibility and cross-functional alignment, supporting governance and change readiness.

Skills

Regulatory compliance

Product safety

Quality assurance

Stakeholder engagement

Risk assessment

Education

Bachelors in Food Science/related field

Postgraduate qualification advantageous

Job description

The Technical & Compliance Manager leads product compliance, safety, and quality oversight across all categories, ensuring regulatory adherence, vendor compliance, and product integrity throughout the product lifecycle for national and private label or exclusive brands.

Minimum Requirements…

Essential:

• Degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Dietetics, Nutrition, Biochemistry, Consumer Science, Quality Assurance or a related field.


• Postgraduate qualification or relevant certifications advantageous


• 3-5 years’ experience in technical compliance, product safety, regulatory, quality assurance in Pharmacy, Health& Medical or Retail FMCG sectors.

Responsibilities

Regulatory Compliance & Product Assurance

• Oversee the evaluation and approval of new vendors by assessing risk profiles, regulatory compliance,


• Oversee on going supplier regulatory, technical and quality assurance. Drive vendor compliance including audits, approvals, and risk assessments.


• Ensure all product formulations, labelling, and claims meet regulatory, quality and technical requirements.


• Provide expert guidance to New Product Development (NPD) teams on compliance, technical, and quality matters throughout the development cycle, including aspects such as product testing, labelling accuracy, permissible claims, and packaging requirements.


• Lead testing programmes and quality assurance initiatives including budget control.


• Drive compliance of advertising, labelling, and product claims to regulations across all marketing channels.

Leadership and collaboration

• Lead and develop Technical Compliance Officers to ensure consistent execution.


• Collaborate with Category, Buying, NPD, Customer service, Private label and Marketing teams to ensure compliance alignment.


• Promote strong regulatory visibility and fosters cross-functional alignment, supporting governance and change readiness and provide expert guidance on regulatory and compliance matters across the business


• Engage with regulatory bodies, authorities and industry organisations.


• Manage day-to-day team workflows and delegate responsibilities to ensure efficient execution of compliance duties and seamless operational delivery.

Governance and risk

• Monitor regulatory risks, compliance gaps, and product safety issues.


• Lead product recalls, investigations, withdrawals, and incident management.


• Ensure compliance with regulatory frameworks across all channels (in-store, digital, marketing, packaging)


• Lead and execute internal and external audits and maintain audit readiness.


• Provide internal reporting as mandated and support formal enterprise risk reporting.


• Supports enterprise risk mitigation by ensuring product integrity, regulatory conformance, and consumer protection.

Key Skills

• Strong regulatory and compliance expertise.


• Understanding of product safety, quality assurance, and risk management.


• Strong stakeholder engagement and influencing capability.


• Analytical capability in compliance and risk assessment

Key Performance Indicators

• Product compliance adherence rates.


• Audit outcomes


• Vendor compliance.


• Product recall effectiveness.


• Regulatory issue resolution time