Manager, Food Safety & Quality

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and maintain compliance with FDA, USDA, state and local regulations.
• Manage regulatory inspections and act as primary contact during audits and agency visits.
• Ensure compliance with labeling regulations and customer specifications.
• Lead root cause investigations related to non-conformances, consumer complaints and deviations.
• Serve as primary contact for all audits, GFSI, Organic, and third-party customer audits.
• Lead, mentor, and drive continuous improvement across sanitation processes.

Quality Management System

• Maintain and oversee the plant’s HACCP plan, Food Defense, and QMS system for the facility.
• Maintain document control, SOPs, policies and quality records.
• Lead internal audit program and Manage corrective / preventative actions (CAPA).
• Manage allergen control programs.
• Oversee product hold, release, traceability, mock recalls, and recall management processes.

Continuous Improvement & Customer Quality

• Acts as a key support resource to the organization through actively monitoring and reporting complaint trends for all customers.
• Works actively with customers, sales, and quality assurance teams to troubleshoot complaint trends and drive continuous improvement by resolving incongruities between customer expectations and BA specifications.
• Manage and monitor quality KPI metrics, trends, and reporting for organization to drive improvement initiatives.
• Owns quality data management and reporting, including presentations and scorecards as required.
• Manage, Train, and coach QA Team Leads, Technicians and all other quality personnel.
• Partner with operations to ensure accountability for quality standards.

Team Leadership & Collaboration

• Support facilities and customers through alignment visits to plants, distribution centers, and stores for troubleshooting.
• Manage, Train, and coach sanitation teams.
• Will require to periodically work the 3rd shift to collaborate with Sanitation.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a business or food science related field preferred.
• PCQI certification preferred.
• HACCP certification.
• SQF practitioner certification, 5 years of experience within the produce industry.
• 5+ years of leadership experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing regulatory and third-party audits.
• Advanced working knowledge of Microsoft 365 and experience with large data sets.
• Experience with Tableau/Power BI or similar data visualization tools highly preferred.
• Personable with experience working directly with customers.
• Strong analytical, communication, and collaboration skills.
• Able to travel up to 25%.
• Experience with ERP systems.
• Experience leading sanitation teams.

Physical Work Environment

• The associate will mainly work in an office environment and use a computer, telephone, and other office equipment as needed to perform duties.
• The noise level in the work environment is typical of that of an office.
• The associate is regularly required to sit, talk, or hear; frequently required to use repetitive hand motion, handle or feel, and to stand, walk, reach, bend, or lift to 30 pounds.
• The associate is occasionally in a manufacturing environment and exposed to wet, cold, and/or humid conditions.
• The noise level in the manufacturing environment is usually loud.