FSQ Cooler Manager. Yuma LilyLifestyle

FSQ Cooler Manager

The Food Safety & Quality Cooler Manager is responsible for providing leadership and oversight for all food safety and quality programs within Fresh Express cooling facilities, primarily in Salinas, CA and Yuma, AZ. This role leads a team of quality inspectors and a supervisor and ensures the consistent evaluation, documentation, and communication of raw product quality and food safety compliance.

This position is accountable for managing daily cooler operations related to food safety and quality, including staffing, scheduling, inspection execution, reporting, and data integrity. The manager ensures that all incoming and cooled product meets Fresh Express standards, applicable regulatory requirements, and customer expectations, while driving timely resolution of quality concerns and supporting continuous improvement efforts.

The Food Safety & Quality Cooler Manager also owns key facility food safety systems, including GFSI and customer audit readiness, environmental monitoring, compliance verification, and regulatory program execution. In addition, this role is responsible for leading food safety and quality culture initiatives and partnering cross-functionally with operations and other departments to identify opportunities, communicate risks, resolve issues, and strengthen overall food safety and quality performance.

Food Safety Program Ownership:

• Lead and manage the facility food safety programs to ensure compliance with Fresh Express requirements, regulatory standards, and applicable GFSI scheme requirements.
• Maintain compliance with customer food safety expectations and support customer visits, audits, and follow-up actions as needed.
• Ensure regulatory compliance across cooler and cooling operations, including implementation and verification of required food safety programs.
• Manage and maintain organic certification for each facility, ensuring full compliance with program requirements and documentation standards.
• Ensure food safety records, investigations, corrective actions, and verification activities are complete, accurate, and audit-ready.
• Manage environmental monitoring and related verification programs, including Listeria, APC, sanitation, and other required sampling activities.
• Ensure proper collection of samples, documentation of results, timely investigation of findings, and effective corrective actions.
• Lead food safety culture initiatives that drive accountability, awareness, and consistent execution across departments.
• Lead internal, third-party, regulatory, and customer audits and visits, including preparation, participation, corrective action response, and follow-up closure.

Quality & Cooler Operations Management:

• Oversee daily cooler quality operations, including inspection activities, staffing, scheduling, workload balancing, and shift coverage.
• Lead and develop quality inspectors and supervisory staff through coaching, training, performance management, and clear accountability.
• Ensure raw product and cooled product inspections are completed accurately, consistently, and in a timely manner.
• Verify timely and accurate reporting of inspection findings, product conditions, and quality concerns to appropriate teams.
• Review inspection data, identify trends, and communicate quality risks, recurring issues, and improvement opportunities.
• Assess supplier, grower, harvester, and raw material performance through routine data review and field-to-cooler feedback.
• Partner with operations, harvest, maintenance, sanitation, procurement, and other cross-functional teams to resolve quality issues and improve execution.
• Make or support product disposition decisions related to quality, food safety, and specification compliance.
• Escalate significant food safety or quality concerns in a timely manner and ensure appropriate containment and follow-up actions are taken.

Continuous Improvement and Systems Management:

• Analyze quality and food safety data to identify trends, root causes, and opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Drive corrective and preventive actions to address recurring defects, inspection gaps, audit findings, and process breakdowns.
• Maintain accurate…