FSQA Director

Overview

The Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) at Echo Lake Foods provides strategic leadership for all food safety, quality, and regulatory programs across the organization. This role is accountable for protecting the consumer, the customer, and the Echo Lake Foods brand while enabling operational excellence and future growth.

The Director of FSQA leads the development of robust food safety systems, strengthens quality culture, and partners with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Commercial teams to ensure food safety and quality are embedded into how the business operates—not inspected in at the end.

This role is both strategic and hands-on, focused on building capability, standard work, and disciplined execution across multiple facilities.

• Food Safety & Regulatory Leadership
  • Own and lead the enterprise food safety strategy for Echo Lake Foods, ensuring compliance with FSMA, FDA, USDA, and customer requirements.
  • Serve as the Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) and ensure HACCP / Food Safety Plans are effective, current, and consistently executed.
  • Act as the primary point of contact for regulatory agencies, third-party auditors, and key customers related to food safety and quality matters.
  • Lead responses to regulatory inspections, audits, recalls, and food safety incidents, ensuring timely and effective resolution.
• Quality Systems & Standardization
  • Establish and maintain standardized FSQA systems, policies, and procedures across all Echo Lake Foods facilities.
  • Drive continuous improvement of quality management systems, including document control, corrective actions, change management, and verification programs.
  • Ensure strong supplier quality and ingredient approval programs aligned with operational risk and customer expectations.
• Operational Partnership & Risk Management
  • Partner closely with Operations and Engineering to ensure food safety and quality are built into equipment design, capital projects, process changes, and daily execution.
  • Identify and mitigate food safety and quality risks through data-driven analysis, root cause problem solving, and preventive action.
  • Support plant leadership in building accountability for food safety and quality performance at all levels of the organization.
• Culture, Training & Capability Building
  • Lead the development of a strong food safety and quality culture across Echo Lake Foods.
  • Build FSQA knowledge and capability through effective training, education, and coaching at both the plant and leadership levels.
  • Ensure frontline teams understand why food safety matters—not just what the rules are.
• Data, Metrics & Performance Management
  • Establish meaningful KPIs and dashboards to monitor food safety and quality performance.
  • Use data to move the organization from reactive problem solving to proactive risk prevention.
  • Provide clear, executive-level reporting on food safety risks, trends, and performance.
• Team Leadership & Development
  • Lead, develop, and mentor the FSQA organization, including site-level and corporate FSQA leaders.
  • Ensure the FSQA team is structured, trained, and resourced to support current operations and future growth.
  • Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the FSQA team.

• Enterprise mindset with the ability to balance risk management and business growth
• Strong communicator who can translate technical food safety requirements into clear operational expectations
• Decisive, calm leader during high-pressure situations (audits, recalls, incidents)
• Builder of systems, people, and culture—not just compliance
• Ability to travel regularly to production sites in WI, IN, and KY

This position is responsible for the direction, coordination, and evaluation of the facility while on shift. This position carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

The…