Director of Quality Assurance & Safety
Role Summary
This director-level leadership role reports to the North America Sr. Safety Manager and serves as the strategic leader, technical subject matter expert, and central point of contact for both Quality Assurance (QA) and Safety Excellence across the Bay Area region.
The Director will define regional team expectations, establish robust performance standards, and formulate the long-term safety and compliance strategy to support the account's culinary and hospitality vision.
In this role, you will lead and develop a unified, high-performing QA and Safety team of HSE Managers and Associate Managers across the region.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & Team Expectations
Strategic Vision: Translate the global safety strategy and the Food program’s mission into a multi-year regional safety and QA roadmap.
Promote a proactive, preventive approach to safety and quality management.
Define Expectations: Establish clear performance metrics, KPIs, and deliverables for the Bay Area QA and Safety team, driving absolute accountability across all operational areas.
Lead and develop a unified, high-performing QA and Safety team of HSE Managers and Associate Managers.
Direct, mentor, and coach a team of HSE Managers and Associate Managers.
Allocate regional tools, budgets, and resources effectively to ensure stable scaling of safety and QA support as the business expands.
Direct the unified governance and process standardization across all Bay Area LOBs (Cafes, Coffee hubs, Commissaries, Flex, Microkitchens, Warehouse, Catering, Childcare).
Crisis & Incident Leadership: Direct the regional QA and Safety team in times of crisis, partner decisively with Senior Leadership, and take immediate action to eliminate operational risks.
Compliance & System Management
HACCP, SQF, and GFSI Management: Direct the development, implementation, maintenance, and verification of robust HACCP, SQF, and GFSI plans and prerequisite programs (PRPs)—such as Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOPs)—across Bay Area sites as required.
Regulatory Compliance: Serve as the ultimate authority on all local and state regulatory health and safety frameworks (including OSHA, Cal/OSHA).
Translate complex regulatory updates into direct, actionable site-level procedures.
Audit and Inspection Management: Coordinate, lead, and oversee responses to all internal, third-party, and regulatory audits. Direct the implementation of corrective and preventive actions across all regional operations.
Injury & Safety Recordkeeping: Ensure rigorous maintenance of injury record-keeping in accordance with state and federal regulations, monitoring regional safety performance metrics (including FSIR and TRIFR).
Standardized Operations & Quality Assurance
SOP Development & Standardization: Standardize, review, and enforce all QA and food handling/service Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across the contract portfolio to eliminate variance. Ensure strict compliance with high-risk guidelines, such as allergen management and cross-contamination prevention.
Supplier & Traceability QA: Ensure regional procedures for ingredient traceability from source to service are intact and managed. Collaborate with procurement to evaluate, improve, and monitor food suppliers, verifying their safety certifications.
Claims & Incident Investigation: Serve as the senior investigator and authority for all foodborne illness complaints, major contamination incidents, recall events, or workplace injuries. Review claims management investigations and apply benchmarking and root cause analysis to recommend preventive measures regional-wide.
3Cs Alignment: Ensure total regional alignment with Compass’s 3Cs approach and stay closely connected with Compass and Bay Area sector leadership to meet client needs.
Training & Culture Leadership
Culture Development: Champion a world-class safety culture built on employee participation and accountability. Maintain the vision of a proactive, preventive health and safety environment.
Training Oversight: Oversee the facilitation and development of large-format training, new-hire orientations, and safety programs—including Safety Champions and ServSafe—to drive behavioral change across operations.
Technical Consulting: Serve as the primary regional subject matter expert, offering expert guidance to culinary, operational, and vendor teams on complex health, safety, and QA issues (e.g., implementing advanced cooking technologies or coordinating high-risk off-site catering).
Think Fast, Use Technology: Find innovative, technology-driven ways to meet QA/safety goals, demonstrate conviction in decision-making, and respond decisively under pressure.
Openly Share and Co-Create: Delegate tasks to develop and empower team members, building regional HSE capability.
Passion for Quality: Take personal responsibility for resolving issues, set demanding performance and team expectations, and prioritize actions that maximize safety benefits.
Win Through Teamwork: Build supportive partnerships with culinary, operations, and client leads, sharing insight and showing high commitment.
Embrace Diversity: Actively listen, value diverse contributions, build on team ideas, and operate with a deep sense of social responsibility and ethical conduct.
Take Responsibility and Make the Big Calls: Use strong influencing and stakeholder management techniques to gain necessary commitment and support from internal and external partners in a highly matrixed environment.
Leading, coaching and mentoring skills: Building food safety culture and crisis management
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Quality Safety Management, Environmental Health, Food Science, or a related field (or equivalent operational experience) is required.
Experience (Operational & Leadership): A minimum of 8–10 years of dedicated experience in an operational safety, Quality Assurance, or regulatory affairs leadership role, specifically managing multi-site or complex retail food/hospitality service operations. Minimum of 5 years of experience supervising senior managers, HSE professionals, or regional teams.
Proven experience in a highly matrixed environment with exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills.
Certifications Required (or completed within 6 months of start): Certified Professional - Food Safety (CP-FS) credential or Accredited Safety Auditor (ASA) or Certified Manager of Quality (CMQ). ServSafe Instructor/Proctor certification. HACCP, HARPC and ISO 22000 certifications. Professional safety certifications such as NEBOSH, OSHA (e.g., OSHA 30), or Certified Health & Safety Technician (CHST).
Technical Capabilities: Proven experience managing integrated compliance management systems. Lead Auditor (e.g., ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001). Expertise in developing and maintaining safety/QA data dashboards, benchmarking, and tracking regional KPI/FSIR/TRIFR metrics. Strong critical thinking and analytical capability to interpret risk factors and implement preventive actions in a timely manner.