Director of Quality & Food Safety

Director of Quality & Food Safety | National Food Packaging Distributor & Custom Manufacturer | ONSITE in Bloomingdale, IL Area

A well-established national distributor and custom manufacturer of flexible food packaging materials is seeking a Director of Quality & Food Safety to lead quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and supplier quality across the organization. This is a hands‑on leadership role for someone who understands the intersection of food safety and food-contact packaging and can own the systems, standards, certifications, and processes necessary to ensure product quality and regulatory compliance.

• Lead and continuously improve company-wide quality management and food safety programs
  .
• Maintain ISO 9001 or comparable QMS standards and ensure ongoing audit and certification readiness.
• Lead food safety programs including HACCP, GMPs, traceability, product hold/release, and third‑party audits
  .
• Ensure compliance with applicable FDA food‑contact packaging requirements and 21 CFR regulations
  .
• Own CAPA, root‑cause analysis, nonconformance, corrective/preventive actions, and change control
  .
• Lead investigation and resolution of customer quality complaints, recurring defects, and product issues.
• Manage supplier quality, including supplier qualification, documentation, corrective actions, and ongoing performance.
• Establish and maintain product specifications, quality standards, inspection requirements, and testing criteria.
• Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Sales, suppliers, and customers on quality and food safety matters.
• Lead, coach, and develop the QA team of four direct reports while building a strong culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• 10+ years of progressive Quality, Food Safety, or Quality Systems experience
  , including leadership responsibility.
• Experience with in food packaging, flexible packaging, food manufacturing, or a closely related regulated environment
  .
• Candidates coming from food manufacturing must have direct responsibility for the quality and food safety of packaging materials used in food products
  .
• Strong hands‑on experience with QMS, ISO 9001, HACCP/GMP, audits, CAPA, root‑cause analysis, and supplier quality
  .
• Working knowledge of FDA food‑contact packaging requirements and applicable regulatory documentation.
• Experience with flexible packaging, films, paper packaging, labels, printing, laminating, converting, or similar packaging materials is highly preferred.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem‑solving, and cross‑functional collaboration skills.

The ideal candidate is a hands‑on quality and food safety leader who understands food‑contact packaging either from a food packaging organization or from a food manufacturer where they have directly managed packaging quality, supplier compliance, food safety requirements, audits, and regulatory standards. This person should be comfortable owning the entire quality function
, not simply supporting testing, inspections, or documentation.