manager product safety & quality

About the role

The manager, product safety & quality – food team plays a critical role in advancing Starbucks food safety and quality programs across a dynamic, global supply base—ensuring safe, wholesome, and premium-quality food products while continually elevating how we anticipate, measure, and manage food safety risk.

This role leads a team of partners and combines deep technical expertise, manufacturing experience, and forward-thinking leadership to influence cross-functional stakeholders, strengthen supply base performance, and foster a proactive food safety and quality culture.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing team – directly managing and coaching food safety and quality professionals, building capability, accountability, and a culture of ownership, continuous improvement, and partner growth.
• Drive and continuously evolve food safety & quality programs – leading the execution and enhancement of product safety and quality standards, identifying opportunities to modernize programs, simplify processes, and strengthen how we manage risk at scale.
• Advance supply base management – leading and evolving supply base management practices, including supplier qualification, auditing, and performance management, ensuring consistent execution and identifying opportunities to elevate supplier capability and resilience.
• Establish and leverage metrics & KPIs – defining, monitoring, and leveraging food safety and quality metrics to proactively identify trends, inform decision-making, and drive accountability across suppliers and cross-functional teams.
• Foster a proactive food safety & quality culture – moving the organization beyond reactive issue management by embedding preventive practices, data-driven insights, and continuous improvement into how we operate every day.
• Leverage manufacturing expertise to inform decisions – applying hands-on knowledge of food manufacturing environments to assess supplier capabilities, support commercialization, and proactively identify emerging risks and opportunities.
• Lead complex issue management with forward impact – leading investigation and resolution of complex food safety, quality, and regulatory issues, ensuring not only closure but systemic learnings and long-term improvements.
• Influence across a matrixed organization – building strong, trust-based relationships across sourcing, R&D, regulatory, and operations, using data and insight to influence decisions and elevate food safety outcomes.
• Navigate ambiguity and drive clarity – operating effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment, bringing structure, prioritization, and forward momentum to complex and ambiguous challenges.
• Communicate with clarity and impact – translating complex technical topics into clear, compelling insights and recommendations that drive alignment and action.

Requirements

• 4-year degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Public Health, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience in food safety, quality, manufacturing, regulatory, or public health.
• Direct experience in food manufacturing environments, including plant or co-manufacturing operations.
• Experience in corporate or enterprise environments, supporting complex food or CPG businesses.
• People leadership experience, including managing and developing technical professionals.
• Strong knowledge of GMPs, HACCP principles, and GFSI schemes.
• Experience with supplier quality management, audits, and supply base performance.
• Proven ability to work effectively in matrixed organizations and influence across functions.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, metrics, and KPIs to drive proactive decision-making.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, lead through change, and drive continuous improvement.
• Strong communication and storytelling skills for technical and non-technical audiences.

Preferred Qualifications

• Food safety certifications (e.g., HACCP, PCQI, CP-FS).
• Advanced degree in Food Science, Food Safety or related discipline.
• Prior auditing experience, quality engineering, and commercialization support.
• Experience driving metrics-based performance systems or continuous improvement programs.

Benefits

As a Starbucks partner, you (and your family) will have access to medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, and other voluntary insurance benefits.

Partners have access to short-term and long-term disability, paid parental leave, family expansion reimbursement, paid vacation from date of hire*, sick time (accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked), eight paid holidays, and two personal days per year.

Starbucks also offers eligible partners participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match, a discounted company stock program (S.I.P.), Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock), incentivized emergency savings, and financial well-being tools.

Additionally, Starbucks offers 100% upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, student loan management resources, and access to other educational opportunities.

You will also have access to backup care and DACA reimbursement.

Pay

The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate will be based on multiple factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge/skills, experience, geographical location, and internal equity.

We believe we do our best work when we're together, which is why we're onsite four days a week.

Schedule

We’re onsite four days a week.