Director of Quality and Safety

About the Role

This position provides strategic and hands‑on leadership for quality assurance, food safety, regulatory compliance, and occupational safety programs across manufacturing operations. The role is essential for supporting rapid growth, ensuring product integrity during expansion, and fostering a culture of quality and safety. The successful candidate will collaborate with various departments to scale systems that protect consumers, employees, and the brand.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of comprehensive Food Safety and Quality Management Systems.
• Ensure full regulatory compliance in a USDA‑inspected environment and manage interactions with USDA‑FSIS inspectors.
• Oversee third‑party certifications, audit readiness, and drive corrective and preventive actions.
• Manage environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, allergen control, pathogen control, traceability, and recall readiness programs.
• Establish and monitor quality metrics and testing to ensure consistent high‑quality output.
• Lead supplier quality and raw material programs to support ingredient integrity.
• Build, mentor, and develop the Quality and Safety team.
• Partner with Operations and Engineering on new equipment commissioning and process validation.
• Oversee workplace safety programs and promote a safe working environment.
• Support incident management, root‑cause investigations, and consumer complaint handling.
• Provide strategic input to leadership on quality/safety risks and opportunities.

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Food Technology, Chemistry, or a related field.
• 10 years of experience in quality assurance and food safety within food manufacturing, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
• Experience in USDA‑inspected meat, poultry, or protein snack/RTE environments is highly preferred.
• Deep knowledge of USDA‑FSIS regulations, HACCP, SSOP, FSMA Preventive Controls, GMPs, and GFSI standards.
• Current certifications such as HACCP, PCQI, and GFSI scheme practitioner strongly preferred.
• Proven ability to lead teams and scale quality systems in a high‑growth environment.
• Strong analytical, problem‑solving, and communication skills.
• Experience supporting new equipment installation, process validation, and product commercialization is desirable.