Sr. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager

Overview

In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, pollution, and population growth, conventional vegetable production is unsustainable. Greenhouse hydroponics uses up to 90% less water, increases yields, reduces food waste, uses fewer pesticides, eliminates fertilizer runoff, and enables local production. Still, greenhouse producers remain a niche due to high capital and labor costs and operational complexity.

Hippo Harvest has broken through this barrier by developing the first vertically integrated physical AI platform for growing leafy greens that are cost-competitive with conventional field production. Hippo’s products deliver longer shelf life, better flavor, and more reliable supply. We’re recruiting a FSQA manager to help us build and improve an FSQA program that maintains a high standard of quality and safety as we scale our operations.

• Own and lead the Food Safety & Quality Assurance program across growing, packing, and shipping operations.
• Develop, implement, and maintain Primus
  
  GFS-aligned food safety and quality systems, ensuring audit readiness and certification maintenance.
• Lead the company’s roadmap toward LGMA compliance, including gap assessments, implementation, and ongoing verification.
• Oversee FSMA Produce Safety Rule compliance, GMPs, SSOPs, environmental monitoring, product testing, and sanitation programs.
• Manage food safety investigations, non-conformances, customer complaints, CAPAs, and risk mitigation efforts.
• Own traceability, recall readiness, and mock recall execution for a fresh leafy greens.
• Partner cross-functionally with operations, plant science, and engineering to embed food safety into daily decision-making.
• Lead and develop FSQA staff; drive training programs and a strong food safety culture at all levels.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for regulators, auditors, and customers on food safety and quality matters.
• Maintain clear documentation, reporting, and KPIs to communicate risk, performance, and improvement opportunities to leadership.
• Develop a base of easily queriable, objective data to track compliance and targets and quickly highlight gaps and areas of need.
• Prepare to scale the FSQA function—identifying future hires, driving training programs, cultivating a food safety culture, and introducing frameworks and processes for growth.

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Agriculture, or related field.
• 7–10+ years of progressive FSQA experience, with senior-level ownership in fresh produce and leafy greens strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience in a grower-packer-shipper environment (field + facility).
• Deep working knowledge of Primus
  
  GFS, FSMA Produce Safety Rule, HACCP principles, and fresh produce food safety.
• Experience building or scaling food safety programs in growing operations; LGMA experience or readiness strongly preferred.
• Proven audit leadership experience (Primus
  
  GFS and customer audits).
• Strong problem solving skills; excellent communication, problem solving, and project leadership abilities.
• Strong leadership and communication skills to self-unblock and independently drive initiatives; yet collaborative, empathetic, and team-first.
• PCQI, HACCP, or equivalent food safety certifications preferred.
• Bilingual English/Spanish is a plus.

• Mission-aligned:
  Shape the future of sustainable agriculture!
• Autonomy:
  High level of agency and freedom to lead, build systems & own outcomes.
• Team-first:
  We value integrity, empathy, hard work, and results-driven collaboration.
• Growth opportunity:
  Your efforts will define our trajectory; you ll lead first and scale next.

• Compensation: $120,000 – $150,000 in annual compensation dependent on skillset, seniority, and background.
• Stock option package included in offer.
• Competitive benefits: package including Medical and Dental, Paid Sick, Vacation, Holiday Time, and Personal Hours.
• If you’re interested in this position, please visit our careers page at

Hippo Harvest is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.