Food Safety Team Leader

About the role

As the Quality Food Safety Team Leader at our Clinton facility, you will lead the Food Safety team to ensure our stringent company quality standards are consistently met. You will drive the execution of the Plant Food Safety Program, oversee continuous improvement initiatives, and champion our cleaning and sanitation processes. By ensuring rigorous compliance with food safety regulations and leading critical audits, you will directly safeguard our product integrity and our mission to provide the best nutrition for pets everywhere.

Responsibilities

• Drive the execution, continuous improvement, and documentation of the Plant Food Safety Program, including HACCP, FSMA, CCP, FDA, and Product Release requirements.
• Conduct thorough investigations of Food Safety, Environmental, and Microbiology non-conformance issues utilizing the CAPA process to implement effective solutions.
• Oversee plant cleaning, sanitation programs, pest control, and environmental microbial sampling plans to ensure compliance with Corporate Quality SOPs.
• Lead internal GMP and quality system audits, while successfully assisting with and managing regulatory and external inspections (e.g., FDA, USDA, SQF, State).
• Develop and deliver engaging food safety training to plant operations teams and collaborate with Plant Engineers to ensure proper Sanitary Equipment Food Design for new capital projects.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, Microbiology, Biochemistry, or a closely related scientific field.
• 3+ years of progressive manufacturing experience, with 1+ year(s) in a food safety, compliance, or quality role within the food or pet nutrition industry.
• Proven experience managing cleaning and sanitation programs, HACCP, FSMA, CAPA processes, and applying knowledge of FDA/USDA regulations.
• Direct experience leading internal and external audits, along with prior supervisory experience demonstrating the ability to guide and mentor teams.
• Ability to meet physical demands, including working in extreme temperatures, bending, climbing, lifting up to 55 lbs, and wearing proper personal protective equipment.

Preferred Qualifications

• PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual), HACCP, SQF/ISO 22000, and/or cGMP certifications.
• 2+ years of supervisory experience paired with a strong background in microbiology.
• Proficiency in Quality Management Systems, SAP or any similar ERP system, Google Suite, Microsoft Office, and strong experience with Lean Six Sigma or Statistical Process Control methodologies.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic life insurance, paid parental leave, disability coverage, and participation in the 401(k) retirement plan with company matching contributions subject to eligibility requirements.
• A minimum of 15 vacation/PTO days (hourly employees receive a minimum of 120 hours) and 13 paid holidays (vacation days are prorated based on the employee's hire date within the calendar year).
• Paid sick leave adjusted based on role and location in accordance with local laws.

Work visa sponsorship is not available for this position. All applicants must be currently authorized to work in the U.S. on a full-time basis and must not require the Company's sponsorship to continue to work legally in the United States.