Sr. Supervisor, Food Safety and Quality Assurance

Position Summary

The Senior Supervisor, Food Safety & Quality Assurance is responsible for leading and optimizing the food safety, regulatory compliance, and quality systems within a food production and distribution environment across one or more facilities. This role ensures compliance with all Local, State, and Federal regulations while advancing a culture of continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and operational excellence.

This leader serves as a senior subject matter expert and escalation point for quality and food safety matters, overseeing the integrity of the SQF system, HACCP program, QMS processes, and recall readiness. The Senior Supervisor partners cross-functionally with Operations, Supply Chain, Transportation, and Corporate Quality to ensure alignment with enterprise standards and brand protection priorities.

This role balances strategic oversight with hands-on leadership and is accountable for both compliance execution and long-term quality performance.

Key Responsibilities

Food Safety & Regulatory Leadership

* Ensure full compliance with FDA, USDA (as applicable), GMP, SQF, HACCP, FSMA, and all applicable regulatory requirements.

* Serve as the site SQF Practitioner and PCQI, maintaining responsibility for the integrity and continuous improvement of the Food Safety Plan.

* Maintain and continuously enhance HACCP and Preventive Controls programs.

* Lead audit readiness efforts and serve as primary site contact for third-party, regulatory, and customer audits.

* Oversee mock recall and traceability exercises; ensure recall readiness at all times.

Quality Systems & Continuous Improvement

* Own site-level Quality Management System (QMS) processes and ensure proper documentation, control, and audit trails.

* Identify systemic quality risks and implement preventive and corrective actions.

* Analyze quality data, trends, and KPIs to drive proactive improvement initiatives.

* Lead root cause investigations (RCA), CAPA development, and effectiveness verification.

* Partner with Operations to embed quality into production workflows without disrupting throughput.

Operational Quality Oversight

* Provide direct oversight of QA Supervisors and/or QA Technicians.

* Ensure effective process monitoring including equipment setup verification, product specifications adherence, and in-process inspections.

* Oversee finished product quality verification including sensory, physical, and measurement testing.

* Authorize product holds and release decisions; escalate material risks to senior leadership.

* Manage environmental monitoring, pest control, ethylene monitoring, sanitation verification, and other food safety programs as assigned.

People Leadership & Capability Building

* Lead, coach, and develop QA team members; build bench strength for succession planning.

* Oversee hiring, onboarding, and ongoing training of QA staff.

* Ensure all food safety and quality training requirements are completed and documented.

* Partner with Operations to ensure frontline associates are trained in GMPs, QA standards, and regulatory expectations.

* Foster a culture of accountability, compliance, and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional & Enterprise Partnership

* Partner with Operations, Supply Chain, and Transportation leaders to ensure alignment on quality standards.

* Participate in production meetings and provide weekly quality performance updates to leadership.

* Communicate risks, compliance gaps, and improvement initiatives clearly and proactively.

* Support corporate-level quality initiatives and enterprise standardization efforts as applicable.

Financial & Performance Accountability

* Manage departmental budgets and control quality-related costs.

* Drive efficiency improvements that protect both compliance and margin.

* Monitor key metrics including audit scores, non-conformances, hold rates, customer complaints, and training completion rates.

* Meet or exceed performance and budget goals.

* Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, or related field preferred.

* 5-8+ years of progressive experience in food safety and quality within a food manufacturing or distribution environment.

* 2+ years of leadership experience managing QA teams.

* Certified SQF Practitioner and PCQI required (or ability to obtain immediately upon hire).

* Strong working knowledge of GMP, HACCP, FSMA, and regulatory frameworks.