Food Safety and Quality Manager

Description

The Food Safety and Quality Manager is responsible for owning, leading, and continuously improving the Food Safety, Quality Assurance, and Sanitation programs at SafetyFresh 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.  

ESSENTIAL JOB RESPONSIBILITIES/FUNCTIONS:

• 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 polices.
• 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. Analyzes process control charts, develops quality cost analysis and inspects system design annually.
• Analyze product and environmental testing data and process control metrics to drive corrective and preventative actions. Completes product and environmental sample collection.
• Evaluate and implement food safety and quality software solutions to support system effectiveness and scalability.
• Implements necessary internal quality assurance systems and infrastructure to support company growth.
• Maintains current knowledge of trends and changes affecting food safety and develops and recommends 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. Advises 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.

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 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.

COMPETENCIES:

• 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.

REASONING AND COGNITIVE ABILITY:

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. 

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

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.

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle or feel; talk or hear; and taste or smell. The employee frequently is required to stand, walk, sit, and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to dump or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 10 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, and color vision.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.