VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance

Summary

Join Chomps, a rapidly growing snack brand, as the VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance. Lead the strategic direction, development, and management of food safety and quality assurance programs, ensuring all products meet regulatory requirements and industry standards. Manage a team of nine, ensuring compliance with GMP, HACCP, and USDA regulations. Oversee quality control processes, investigate food safety incidents, and prepare reports for senior leadership. Collaborate with various departments to integrate food safety standards across the business. Demonstrate both functional FSQA leadership and broader business leadership within Chomps. Travel up to 40% of the time.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Microbiology, or a related field with a minimum of 15 years of experience
• Prior industry experience with USDA is required, experience with FDA is a plus
• Previous experience with regulatory audits, USDA, and SQF is required
• Experience working in a CoMan/third-party model is required to ultimately support our Chomps Brand, but also to work as strategic partners with mutual growth and success. Develop solid partnerships with external partner FSQA teams
• SQF and GFSI benchmarked standard training
• Knowledge of CFR Food & Drugs, USDA (Organic), Non-GMO, Gluten Free, Kosher
• Outstanding communication (both verbal and written) and relationship management skills
• Strong leadership and team management skills with the ability to drive change and foster collaboration, while developing and empowering high performance teams
• Proven experience in a senior leadership role within a large-scale organization, preferably in the food industry
• Proven experience managing product recalls, including coordination with USDA officials, overseeing corrective actions, and ensuring compliance with all regulatory standards during recall procedures
• Travel requirements: up to 40% of the time

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic plans over a 3+ year road-map for the food safety and quality assurance program, aligning with the company's growth to a billion-dollar brand
• Lead, mentor, and manage the food safety and quality assurance team (currently nine), ensuring continuous development and alignment with company goals
• Ensure strict compliance with GMP, HACCP, and third-party certification regulations and guidelines with our external partners including raw material suppliers, frozen storage/tempering facilities, co-manufacturers, repackers, 3PL fulfillment
• Ensure strict compliance with USDA regulations, including overseeing recall procedures and facilitating USDA interactions during food safety incidents
• Monitor changes in food safety regulations and implement necessary updates to company policies and procedures
• Oversee the development and maintenance of quality control processes, including product testing, inspection, and validation
• Implement and manage quality improvement initiatives to enhance product consistency and consumer satisfaction
• Ensure investigations into food safety incidents and quality issues are completed in a timely manner, including root cause analysis and corrective action plans
• Prepare and present reports on food safety and quality performance to senior leadership and cross-functional teams
• Lead the team in the growth and development of processes, procedures, team, and systems to support the growing FSQA needs of the organization
• Foster a culture of food safety and quality throughout the organization
• Collaborate with other departments to ensure food safety and quality standards are integrated into all aspects of the business. This role will partner with several functions on a regular basis, e.g. Manufacturing, R&D, Engineering, Procurement, Commercialization, Productivity, Logistics, Finance, and Consumer Experience
• Demonstrate an ability to be a functional FSQA senior leader, but also a broader business leader within Chomps by also serving as a leader within the broader Operations team to also enable overall Operations and Company/Brand success

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• 401K 6% match
• Monthly reimbursements for wellness and home office
• Unlimited PTO and 11+ paid holiday days
• Hybrid & flexible remote schedule
• Paid maternity and paternity leave
• Bi-annual total team in-person activities
• Company-wide Continual Education budget
• Unlimited snacks: Enough meat sticks that if you wanted to eat your body weight in them you could (no judgment here)