Product Safety Lead

Job Title:

Food Merchandise Product Safety Lead

Job Description

This role leads product safety and quality for retail food merchandise and consumer products, with a strong focus on packaging, supplier qualification, and manufacturing readiness. You will oversee the onboarding and qualification of new suppliers and manufacturing sites, ensure compliance with food safety, GMP, and merchandise quality standards, and act as a trusted quality advisor across cross-functional teams. The position offers meaningful, broad, cross-functional work, strong local partnerships, and an excellent work-life balance.

Responsibilities

+ Lead the onboarding and qualification of new suppliers and manufacturing sites, ensuring they meet food safety, GMP, and merchandise quality requirements.

+ Conduct and coordinate risk assessments, audits, and readiness evaluations for new and existing suppliers and manufacturing locations.

+ Collaborate closely with R&D and Merchandising Development teams to define material, process, and performance qualification standards for packaging and merchandise.

+ Ensure packaging and merchandise solutions are robust, fit for use, and compliant before commercialization.

+ Provide quality oversight during pilot runs, scale-ups, and first production, identifying gaps early and driving corrective actions to minimize downstream risk to retail operations.

+ Assess manufacturing process capability, including Cp/Cpk, control plans, and validation activities, to confirm suppliers can produce consistent, high-quality merchandise prior to full-scale manufacturing.

+ Act as a trusted quality advisor on innovation governance, balancing speed-to-market objectives with the organization's commitment to product safety, quality, and customer trust.

+ Apply in-depth technical knowledge to projects and gather insights through testing and assessment of suppliers and products across a wide variety of merchandising materials and items, including toys, textiles, drinkware, accessories, and other consumer products.

+ Proactively analyze product and supplier quality signals, metrics, audit data, customer feedback, regulatory input, and workgroup feedback to identify risks and opportunities.

+ Identify trends and lead investigations and resolution of merchandise and consumer product-related concerns raised by regulators, retail stores, field QA partners, or internal and external customers.

+ Interface with and influence suppliers and cross-functional teams, including internationally based partners, to deliver results within demanding timelines.

+ Act as a subject matter expert on retail food merchandise product safety and quality systems in the development of new merchandise initiatives and operating practices.

+ Coordinate product-level tracking, working with suppliers to collect and review test data points and documentation.

+ Track supplier product testing to ensure ongoing compliance with safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.

+ Work collaboratively with multiple cross-functional teams while also being able to work autonomously on assigned projects.

+ Assist with getting samples analyzed, including coordinating lab work and basic product testing activities.

+ Perform product analysis and testing related to product safety and quality for multiple merchandise categories.

Essential Skills

+ 3-5 years of experience in product safety, quality assurance, or a closely related field, preferably within consumer products or merchandising.

+ Hands-on basic laboratory experience, including handling samples and conducting or coordinating product safety tests.

+ Ability to test and evaluate products for safety and compliance with relevant standards.

+ Experience working with merchandising and multiple consumer product categories such as toys, textiles, drinkware, accessories, ornaments, and other retail merchandise.

+ Strong understanding of packaging, food safety systems, and quality assurance principles.

+ Knowledge of HACCP and food safety practices as they relate to packaged food merchandise and consumer products.

+ Demonstrated ability to assess manufacturing process capability, including understanding of Cp/Cpk, control plans, and validation activities.

+ Strong communication skills, with the ability to interface effectively with cross-functional teams, suppliers, and international partners.

+ High attention to detail in reviewing product data, test results, and documentation.

+ Ability to respond to and support multiple cross-functional teams simultaneously.

+ Capability to work autonomously and manage priorities in a fast-paced environment.

+ Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and basic computer skills.

+ Experience using Smartsheet or similar collaborative project and tracking tools.

Additional

Skills & Qualifications

+ Degree or relevant certifications are preferred but not required.

+ Experience in packaging development or packaging quality for consumer products or food merchandise.

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Experience with food safety systems and quality assurance…