Plant Quality & Food Safety Director

About the Role

At Danone, Manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for our plant teams. We are currently looking to hire a QFS director based in Dallas, TX!

The QFS (Quality & Food Safety) Director will oversee the plant quality department and contribute to the overall, long‑term success of the organization. The QFS Director will deliver the value promises to the customer and consumer by ensuring conformity in product, processes and behaviors. Act as guardian of compliance to legal and regulatory standards (master governance) by driving the delivery of the "best product every day, every time" and acting as a product superiority ambassador at the plant level.

• Ensure Food Safety & Conformity of all products delivered to market, consistently with the plant’s overall safety, quality, cost, delivery, mobilization, and nature scorecard specifications.
• Responsible for validating and signing all specifications related to raw materials, packaging, and finished product, including workflow validations associated with the plant.
• Ensures full compliance with finished product Quality & Food Safety Sampling /Control / Monitoring plan.
• Ensures compliance with Local regulations, global Danone procedures and systematically execute against Danone North America specifications.
• Drive the culture of quality at the plant level – support KPI tracking and improvement.
• Build / animate and implement solid action plans for key Quality metrics (KPIs) including but not limited to consumer complaints, first pass cases, specification conformance/ABC, and finished goods losses (micro and non‑micro).
• Act as primary point of contact for quality at plant level: ensure quality voice presence for all matters within the plant.
• Establishment and leadership of the plant’s Quality Pillar within the company’s IWS/TPM program.
• Ensure full compliance with Raw & Packs & Process Quality & Food Safety Sampling, Control and Monitoring plan.
• Manage Plant Laboratory ensuring maintenance of service to production, analytical expertise, equipment maintenance, and analyst training.
• Accountable for the plant metrology program (calibrations), SPC, and Quality & Food Safety preventive maintenance (cPM) program.
• Ensure full compliance with the Danone Food Safety Policy, and Danone standard's execution, demonstrated by internal audit program (FSI) score.
• Comply with Federal and Local regulations including Low Acid Canned Foods, and Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (among other required certifications).
• Organize with suppliers & sourcing quality and implement incoming inspection processes with consistent feedback for suppliers.
• Develop process capability & quality visual management at all steps of the manufacturing process (incoming, production, storage, maintenance, etc.).
• Eradicate critical Q&FS issues through improved RCA investigation and a systematic PDCA approach as they arise.
• Manage non‑conformance & continuous improvement in timely manner.
• Accountable for product release and adhering to rules and reporting for non‑conforming product (PNC) management.
• Ensure compliance with sanitation and environmental programs.
• Promote Risk Assessment and "Built‑in Quality" in all projects: productivity, new products, new equipment in compliance with Danone Global Technical Standards, regulatory standards, etc.
• Responsible for the quality related elements of the company change management process – including but not limited to validation activities associated with plant trials.
• Organize audits vs internal & external referential and use them as improvement opportunities, leading plant action plans to address audit findings.
• Continuously engage key stakeholders inside and outside the organization on quality initiatives (plant leadership, universities, federal, state, local regulatory agencies, corporate function representatives, etc.).
• Communicate and assure the execution of QFS policies including the escalation and communication of issues and results in a timely manner.
• Lead by setting behavioral examples aligned with the Danone Leadership Behaviors.
• Build and manage the Q&FS budget for the plant (FTE, Opex, Capex) in collaboration…