Director, Food Safety Quality Assurance; FSQA – Product Management

Position: Director, Food Safety Quality Assurance (FSQA) – Product Management

10 West Walnut Street Pasadena, CA 91103

Based in Pasadena, California, Dine Brands Global, Inc. (NYSE: DIN), through its subsidiaries, franchises restaurants under Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar®, IHOP® and Fuzzy's Taco Shop® brands. With over 3,500 restaurants combined in 18 countries and 354 franchisees as of December 31, 2023, Dine Brands is one of the largest full-service restaurant companies in the world. For more information on Dine Brands, visit the Company's website located at

The FSQA Director of Product Management is responsible for leading the food safety and quality strategy for menu products across the Dine Brands portfolio. This role ensures that all products—from new menu innovations to core menu platforms—meet brand safety, quality, regulatory, and operational standards across IHOP, Applebee’s, and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop systems.

This position partners closely with culinary, supply chain, operations, and suppliers to ensure safe and successful commercialization of new menu items while maintaining consistent product quality across the system.

Responsibilities

• Lead FSQA oversight for all menu products across IHOP, Applebee’s, and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop.
• Ensure food safety and quality standards are embedded throughout the product lifecycle from ideation to national rollout.
• Define product specifications, safety parameters, and quality attributes for ingredients and finished menu items.
• Support culinary menu innovation initiatives while ensuring food safety risk mitigation.
• Establish cross-brand product governance to standardized FSQA product management processes across Dine Brands.
• Provide technical oversight to ensure consistent quality standards while accommodating brand-specific menu platforms (e.g., breakfast-focused IHOP vs casual dining Applebee’s).
• Manage product approval gates for new menu launches.
• Partner with culinary and marketing teams to ensure FSQA requirements are integrated during product development.
• Evaluate ingredient risks, processing controls, shelf life, and quality attributes. Support pilot testing and national rollouts of new products and limited time offers.
• Collaborate with supply chain to qualify new suppliers and ingredients.
• Establish supplier quality requirements and product specifications.
• Monitor supplier performance and implement corrective actions when necessary.
• Ensure compliance with food safety and labeling regulations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.
• Lead investigations related to product complaints, food safety incidents, or recall events.
• Monitor consumer complaint trends and product performance data.
• Drive initiatives to improve product consistency, shelf life, and supplier performance.
• Continuous Improvement & Data Analytics.
• Target base salary $170-200k depending on experience

Skills & Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Public Health, Biology, Chemistry or related field required; advanced degree in food or nutritional science required.
• 8 years of experience in food safety, quality assurance, or product development
• Experience supporting restaurant or food service brands
• Experience working with franchise restaurant systems
• Experience with multi-brand portfolios preferred.

Technical Expertise

• HACCP and preventive controls
• Product specification and ingredient standards
• Shelf-life and product stability testing
• Food microbiology and risk assessment
• Supplier quality programs
• Regulatory compliance and labeling

Leadership Skills

• Strategic leadership in cross-functional environments
• Strong collaboration with culinary and innovation teams
• Supplier relationship management
• Crisis management and issue resolution
• Ability to influence franchise stakeholders.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Dine Brands Global strongly supports equal employment opportunity for all applicants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, genetic information, or any other status protected by federal, state, or local law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need.

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act and/or other applicable laws and regulations in other jurisdictions.

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