Director Food Safety and Quality

Director Food Safety and Quality

As our U.S. manufacturing operation continues to grow, we are seeking a strategic and hands‑on Director, Quality & Food Safety to lead the site’s Quality organization. This leader will be responsible for driving food safety, sanitation, regulatory compliance, customer quality, supplier quality, quality systems, and continuous improvement while developing organizational capability to support future growth. As a key member of the Site Leadership Team, this individual will partner closely with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Commercialization & Development to ensure the site delivers safe, compliant, and high-quality products while fostering a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

• Lead and continuously improve the site’s Quality, Food Safety, and Sanitation Management Systems, ensuring they evolve to support increasing production volumes, product complexity, and business growth.
• Ensure compliance with FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, GMP, GFSI (SQF/BRC/FSSC 22000), customer and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Develop, implement, and continuously improve the site’s HACCP plans, Food Safety Plan, allergen management, environmental monitoring, sanitation governance, and preventive controls programs.
• Provide strategic oversight of the site’s sanitation program, including SSOP governance, sanitation effectiveness, hygienic design, environmental monitoring, validation, and verification activities to ensure regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.
• Lead, coach, and develop the Quality organization, strengthening technical capacity, accountability, succession planning, and organizational capacity to support continued business growth.
• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and Commercialization & Development to optimize manufacturing processes, improve product quality, support capacity expansion, and ensure food safety and quality requirements are fully integrated into operational and commercialization activities.
• Drive supplier quality programs, raw material approval processes, ingredient and packaging compliance, and finished product quality standards.
• Lead internal and external audits, customer audits, regulatory inspections, and certification activities while ensuring ongoing audit readiness.
• Establish, monitor, and communicate Quality KPIs, driving effective root cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Lead customer complaint investigations, trend analysis, and corrective actions to improve customer satisfaction and reduce recurring issues.
• Serve as the Quality representative for commercialization and change management activities, ensuring successful transfer of new products and process changes from Commercialization & Development into manufacturing.
• Collaborate closely with Commercialization & Development, Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Corporate Quality to ensure alignment of site quality systems with company standards and business objectives.
• Provide visible leadership, coaching, and training to foster a proactive culture of food safety, quality ownership, and continuous improvement throughout the organization.
• Act as the voice of the customer, ensuring product quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and customer expectations are consistently achieved.
• Champion cross‑functional initiatives that improve product quality, reduce waste, enhance operational performance, and support sustainable business growth.
• Develop and present quality performance metrics and strategic improvement plans to the Site Leadership Team, supporting informed business decisions and long‑term operational excellence.

$150,000 - $170,000 + Bonus Benefits Available

• Bachelor degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, or related field (Master preferred).
• Minimum 8+ years of progressive experience in food manufacturing quality and food safety, including chocolate, confectionery, and/or protein bar production.
• Proven experience leading Quality and Food Safety in a growing food manufacturing operation, including successful stabilization following start-up, production scale-up, or significant operational expansion.
• Deep knowledge of FDA, FSMA, GMP, HACCP, or GFSI standards (SQF, BRC, or FSSC).
• Strong experience with audits, regulatory inspections, and customer quality programs.
• Certification such as PCQI, HACCP, SQF Practitioner, or BRC Professional strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated leadership ability to build, engage, and develop teams, fostering a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.