Vice President of Quality

Department: Quality & Food Safety

A rapidly growing beverage manufacturing company is seeking a VP of Quality to lead Quality and Food Safety across its expanding operations. This is a hands-on leadership position for a quality executive who can operate both strategically and on the plant floor. The VP of Quality will own food safety, regulatory compliance, quality systems, sanitation, audit readiness, and the development of a scalable quality infrastructure as the business continues to expand.

The role will partner closely with the VP of Operations and senior leadership and will serve as the company's senior Quality and Food Safety leader.

• Own compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 117, FSMA, and applicable GFSI standards.
• Serve as the primary contact for regulatory inspections, third-party audits, and customer audits.
• Lead HACCP plan development, verification, and hazard analysis across facilities.
• Oversee process authority relationships and pasteurization/thermal processing validation.
• Lead environmental monitoring, allergen control, and shelf-life/microbial testing programs.

• Build and standardize quality systems across multiple sites, including document control, product release, CAPA, deviation management, and traceability.
• Establish quality KPIs around complaints, holds, non-conformances, and corrective actions.
• Lead finished product and ingredient testing programs.
• Establish a strong Gemba-based QA presence across production operations.
• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing Quality organization as the business scales.
• Design and lead comprehensive sanitation programs across dry and wet processing environments.
• Own SSOPs, ATP/visual verification, chemical control, and environmental swab programs.
• Develop sanitation leadership structures as the organization grows.
• Partner with Operations and Maintenance on hygienic design, equipment cleanability, and CIP systems.

• Serve as a strategic partner to Operations and senior leadership.
• Present quality strategy, audit results, and risk assessments to ownership.
• Represent Quality in new facility planning, equipment selection, and process design.
• Support customer-facing technical discussions involving Quality and Food Safety requirements.

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of progressive Quality/Food Safety leadership experience within food or beverage manufacturing.
• Strong experience with canning and/or thermal processing strongly preferred.
• Proven experience leading FDA inspections, customer audits, and GFSI certification.
• Strong technical knowledge of microbiology, sanitation, and thermal processing/pasteurization validation.
• Experience building or scaling Quality functions across multiple facilities.
• Dairy/whey processing experience strongly preferred.
• Dietary supplement manufacturing experience is a plus.
• Co-manufacturing and customer-facing experience is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to build teams and develop floor-level Quality leadership.
• Comfortable operating at both a strategic, executive level and a tactical, plant-floor level.
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred but not required.