Senior Manager, Supplier Quality and Compliance

Job Description

About California Custom Fruits and Flavors

California Custom Fruits & Flavors (CCFF) develops and manufactures custom-formulated specialty ingredients and flavors for leading food brands, retailers, and co-manufacturers. With facilities in California and Indiana, CCFF has delivered innovative, high-quality solutions since 1986.

CCFF is backed by Peak Rock Capital, a middle-market investment firm that partners with management teams to support growth and performance improvement.

The Senior Manager, Supplier Quality & Compliance leads supplier quality and incoming material risk controls across CCFF, with direct responsibility for higher-risk fruit ingredients and packaging. This role manages the Regulatory & Compliance Manager and Supplier Quality Coordinator, strengthens supplier approval and performance systems, and supports food safety and quality risk assessment for new ingredients and new products.

• Lead risk-based incoming raw material and packaging evaluations, including fruits, sweeteners, functional ingredients, and packaging reviews.
• Partner with Procurement and plant leadership on supplier management.
• Own new supplier approval, assigned supplier performance management, and CCFF internal raw material specifications.
• Plan and conduct risk-based supplier audits for ingredient and packaging suppliers; track findings and required corrective actions.
• Lead raw material and material shelf-life review through supplier outreach, technical documentation review, risk assessment, and disposition recommendations.
• Conduct preliminary food safety and quality risk assessments for new ingredients and products through project management discussions and related development reviews.
• Administer Trace Gains supplier quality workflows, including supplier setup, approval, COA requirements, and raw material testing setup.
• Lead supplier-related root cause and CAPA investigations associated with plant rejections, customer complaints, or material nonconformances.
• Manage Organic and Kosher compliance for assigned ingredients and support other applicable certification requirements.
• Establish supplier quality KPIs, trend performance, communicate risks, and drive corrective and preventive improvement.
• Set priorities, provide technical direction, and manage performance and development for the Regulatory & Compliance Manager and Supplier Quality Coordinator.
• Partner with Procurement, Operations, R&D, Commercial, and plant Quality teams to ensure consistent, timely risk-based decisions.

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Engineering, or a related scientific field; master's degree preferred.
• 8+ years of supplier quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, or quality systems experience in food manufacturing, including people or program leadership.
• Strong knowledge of FDA, FSMA, CFIA, HACCP, GMP, SQF/GFSI, supplier approval, food ingredient risk assessment, and applicable certification requirements.
• Demonstrated expertise in supplier audits, specifications, COA and testing programs, CAPA, root cause analysis, validation, verification, and change management (experience in fruits, sweeteners, functional ingredients a plus).
• Experience assessing food safety, regulatory, allergen, contamination, packaging, and quality risks for raw materials and new products.
• Experience with Trace Gains or equivalent supplier quality systems; proficiency with Microsoft Office and data analysis tools.
• Experience utilizing ERP systems to support ingredient traceability, inventory control, and raw material management.
• Strong leadership, project management, analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, and cross-functional communication skills.
• Ability to travel to supplier…