Product & Regulatory Compliance Manager

The Product & Regulatory Compliance Manager drives process improvements and efficiencies and plays a critical role in ensuring seamless oversight and guidance throughout the complete Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) process. This position supports the accurate creation, validation, and maintenance of specifications and graphics, contributing to product accuracy and regulatory compliance prior to production,
while leading other managers and team members across multiple business units and areas of expertise.

– This is a salary exempt position.

Leads cross-functional initiatives related to strategic planning, fostering alignment across teams and driving regulatory integration. Ensures adherence to all state, federal, and international regulations as they pertain to the Simmons portfolio. Manages artwork review and claim substantiation in partnership with Marketing, R&D, and Legal, ensuring claims are defensible and labels meet regulatory requirements before release. Manages overall compliance for Simmons products, including tonnage reporting and state and federal registrations where applicable, and prepares annual cost reporting to inform budgeting.

Remains current on regulations impacting USDA, FDA, AAFCO, and other government entities, while monitoring export guidelines to ensure product accuracy and support Regulatory Affairs team members. Provides expert guidance on overall regulatory compliance. Manages responses to customer and sales team requests for product information. Flags and escalates unresolved registration or compliance issues to appropriate internal and external stakeholders and agencies.

Provides guidance and oversight for stewardship of specifications and projects through the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system across all business units and all specification types, ensuring specification data supports efficient production workflows. Oversees verification of submitted specifications for completeness, accuracy, and proper routing before release. Manages specification change management across business units, including formulation, packaging, supplier, and regulatory-driven changes. Serves as a business-side steward of the specification system, partnering with MDM and IT teams on system governance, configuration, and roadmap.

Oversees data integrity across PLM modules and downstream system references. Owns training and support for specification system users across Simmons. Owns operational reporting on cycle time, work-in-flight, and change order activity.

Provides guidance and oversight for the supplier documentation program across business units, working with Procurement, R&D, and suppliers to ensure documentation in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is current, complete, and accurate. Ensures new and existing vendors meet defined compliance criteria. Oversees supplier set-ups within the specification management system and the maintenance of accurate supplier data to enhance project launch efficiency and streamline operations.

Owns the operational rhythm for renewal cycles, aging reports, and gap closure for new suppliers, ingredients, and packaging components. Partners with Procurement leadership on supplier onboarding documentation standards. Partners with the Food Safety & Quality team to ensure supplier documentation supports food safety and quality programs. Manages coordination with suppliers and internal stakeholders on ongoing compliance updates and audit readiness across customer, third-party, and regulatory audits.

Provides guidance and oversight for specification authoring across business units and item types, ensuring consistency and alignment with organizational standards. Leads partnership with R&D on specification authoring support, capacity, and the transition of product knowledge into structured, system-ready specifications. Owns the templates, naming conventions, and required attributes that define what a Simmons specification looks like, and oversees the standards layer that supports…