Food Safety and Quality Manager

Overview

The Food Safety and Quality Manager is responsible for owning, leading, and continuously improving the Food Safety, Quality Assurance, and Sanitation programs at Safety Fresh Foods. This position functions as a strategic leader and decision-maker, partnering Operations, Sales, and Senior Leadership to drive a strong food safety culture, continuous improvement, and readiness for internal, customer, and third-party audits while supporting company growth.

• Own and manage the site Food Safety and Quality Management System, including HACCP, GMPs, SOPs, SSOPs, and employee training programs.
• Serve as audit lead for all third-party, customers, and regulatory audits, including BRC, and Organic certifications.
• Coordinate audit preparation, execution, corrective actions, root cause analysis, and verification of effectiveness.
• Act as primary liaison with regulatory agencies (FSA, USDA, state and local authorities) and customers on food safety and quality matters.
• Maintain traceability, mock recalls, crisis management procedures, and food defense programs.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve quality and food safety documentation and policies.
• Conduct internal audits and trend analysis to identify risks and improvement opportunities.
• Lead investigations into quality deviations, complaints, and non-conformances using CAPA and root cause methodologies. Analyze process control charts, develop quality cost analysis, and inspect system design annually.
• Analyze product and environmental testing data and process control metrics to drive corrective and preventative actions. Complete product and environmental sample collection.
• Evaluate and implement food safety and quality software solutions to support system effectiveness and scalability.
• Implement necessary internal quality assurance systems and infrastructure to support company growth.
• Maintain current knowledge of trends and changes affecting food safety and develop and recommend appropriate program changes to ensure food safety and governmental compliance.
• Promote a strong food safety culture through engagement, visibility on the floor, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Partner with Operations to ensure Safety, Quality, Cost, and Delivery objectives are aligned. Advise Senior Management staff of any quality control and food safety issues, in addition to presenting plausible solutions.
• Provide concise, executive-level summaries of food safety and quality risks, trends and recommendations.
• Support customer quality requirements, specifications and inspections.
• Actively support company values, culture, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support and assist with Occupational Health and Safety programs in coordination with Operations leadership.
• Promote compliance with OSHA and workplace safety requirements.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Quality Assurance, Food Science, Biology, Microbiology, Engineering, Operations Management, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Technical knowledge of food safety and quality.
• Knowledge of GFSI audit schemes and the GFSI audit process.
• Experience dealing with regulatory agencies (i.e. USDA, FDA, and BRC) and working knowledge of local, state, and federal regulations.
• Hands-on experience supporting or managing Organic certification programs.
• Experience with BRC issue 9.
• 5-7 years experience in Quality Assurance or Food Safety Leadership.
• 3-5 years experience in management handling: hire, termination, discipline, training/development, employee relations, mediation, and retention.
• Previous experience in produce preferred.
• Previous HACCP and PCQI certification preferred.
• Bilingual (English & Spanish) preferred.

• Strong leadership skills.
• Strong verbal and written English communication skills.
• Strong implementation and execution skills.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Good organizational and planning skills.
• Ability to be relatable, personable, and productive within a team environment.

The person assigned to this role must be able to think independently. Must be able to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Must be able to interpret and analyze a variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

While performing duties of this job, the employee is regularly exposed to moving mechanical parts. The employee is frequently exposed to extreme cold, extreme heat, risk of electrical shock, and vibration. The employee is occasionally exposed to high, precarious places; fumes or airborne particles; toxic or caustic chemicals; and outside weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly…