Principal Innovation Quality

Foods you love. Brands you trust. And a career that empowers you to grow.
At Nestlé USA, we’re all working towards the same goal – to delight and deliver for our consumers. With a rich portfolio of beloved brands, including DiGiorno, Toll House, and Coffee mate, in 97% of U.S. households, we have a unique opportunity – and responsibility – to be there for every moment in our consumers’ lives.

Joining Nestlé means becoming part of an inclusive workplace that inspires innovation, encourages strategic thinking and creativity, and celebrates your achievements. No matter where you work within the organization, you are empowered to challenge the status quo, embrace risk-taking, and pioneer new ideas. Our supportive and collaborative environment encourages bold ambitions and continuous learning so that everyone can grow and thrive.
This position is not eligible for Visa Sponsorship.

Position Summary:

The Principal Innovation Quality serves as the primary point of contact for Quality and Food Safety across the Dairy Culinary Solutions category, with additional oversight for frozen and chilled products. This role leads quality and food safety initiatives throughout product and process development, ensuring products are safe, compliant, and ready for successful commercialization. Partnering cross-functionally with R&D, Manufacturing, Operations, and Quality teams, the incumbent drives risk assessments, scientific studies, continuous improvement initiatives, and quality-by-design strategies while providing technical leadership, regulatory guidance, and project management expertise to support innovation, consumer safety, and business growth.

Responsibilities:

• Represent Quality & Food Safety on designated product and process development projects. Execute end-to-end Quality and Food Safety project deliverables, ensuring appropriate quality, food safety, and compliance assessments are correctly completed before industrialization to enable flawless implementation and assure consumer safety.
• Assess the food safety of products, ingredients, and processes by designing, overseeing, and interpreting scientific studies, including shelf-life studies, challenge studies, method development, and validation activities, utilizing sound Design of Experiments (DOE) principles.
• Serve as the primary Quality and Food Safety contact for the Dairy Culinary Solutions category, with additional responsibility for frozen and chilled product categories.
• Lead cross-functional working groups to identify category needs, develop action plans, and implement strategic improvements that strengthen end-to-end Quality and Food Safety performance with focus on quality by design.
• Define category requirements, documentation, and knowledge-transfer strategies to support Innovation & Renovation (I&R) initiatives. Establish project scope, identify gaps, and lead plans to ensure requirements are clearly defined and effectively implemented.
• Author, maintain, and support the implementation of Quality & Food Safety standards and guidelines to ensure alignment with company and regulatory requirements, with focus on dairy culinary solutions category.
• Provide Quality and Food Safety expertise to factories, markets, and zones, supporting technical problem solving, risk assessments, continuous improvement initiatives, and technical assistance requests.
• Demonstrate digital savviness and agility by rapidly learning, adopting, and applying digital tools and solutions to increase efficiency, improve decision-making, and enhance Quality & Food Safety outcomes.
• Prepare clear, concise, and impactful communications for stakeholders, including Business Review of Quality (BRQ) materials, ensuring key quality, food safety, risk, and/or project insights are effectively communicated to support decision-making and awareness.
• Identify opportunities for innovation, value creation, and continuous improvement. Lead projects that accelerate innovation, deliver business objectives on time, and maintain strong stakeholder communication and alignment throughout project execution.
• Support site Quality and Food Safety team in maintaining compliance, preparing for and participating in…