Our client is a multi-billion-dollar food and beverage manufacturer. They have a new opportunity for a Food Safety & Quality Director at their plant in northern Virginia.
Job Summary:
As an integral member of the food manufacturing plant leadership team at a 24/7, extended shelf life/aseptic fluid operation, this role is responsible for assuring compliance with all food safety and quality requirements and driving alignment, accountability, and ownership with peers and at all levels in the manufacturing facility. This goal is reached in part through building and fostering product/process and systems improvements and instilling a strong culture of quality through peer education, collaboration, and empowerment.
Core Responsibilities:
- Design and implement both short and long-term strategic plans/vision to increase efficacy, capacity, and capability of the operational quality processes in a continuous improvement mindset.
- Foster and sustain a culture of quality among facility and functional peers through education, collaboration, and empowerment, leading to positive outcomes in quality improvement/enhancement metric attainment and consumer satisfaction experiences.
- Build collaborative relationships with Operations and Plant peers in integrating and harmonizing FS&Q functional requirements and metrics into the annual Operations business plans.
- Assure that the Company’s Quality and Food Safety programs are effectively, efficiently, and thoughtfully designed to deliver expected results with the capability to withstand normal operational variation.
- Continually and proactively measure plant Quality and Food Safety systems to assure compliance with Company, Government/Regulatory, and customer requirements with a focus on building prevention into process.
- Manage the professional growth and development of FS&Q plant staff, aligning individual needs with functional area and business requirements.
- Drive collaboration with peers in sister facilities on developmental opportunities.
- Assure effective fiduciary responsibility/accountability through the appropriate use of financial and human capital resources in the facility.
- Travel as required.
- Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Technical Skills and Knowledge:
- Demonstrative ability to utilize root cause analysis tools, and the ability to teach and lead teams through said processes.
- Understanding of and conveying knowledge of food manufacturing microbiological principles, sanitation practice and design principles, as well as their interrelationship with outcome-based product spoilage and food safety protection principles.
- Capability and capacity to drive strong SQC applications and actions in daily process assessments to reduce unnecessary variability and financial waste at each facility responsible for and in collaboration with peers.
- Understanding and application of US and Global Quality and Food Safety management systems. Execution of systems requirements across each facility accountable for, as well as divisional and company standardization.
- Experience and understanding of industry-pertinent U.S. FDA and USDA regulations and requirements.
Education and Experience:
- 12+ years of progressive food manufacturing management experience
- 9+ years of experience in supervising or leading teams
- B.S. in Microbiology, Food Science, Dairy Science, Chemistry or equivalent.
- Beneficial experiences include:
- Working successfully with or within other functional areas such as Engineering and Operations.
- Driving or collaborating on new program design/change and subsequent successful implementation.
- Engaging in or leading complex problem-solving exercises with peer teams that require short- and long-term planning as well as experimentation and validation steps toward successful resolution.
- Successfully negotiating with peers in other functional areas to ensure that quality priorities are met while still meeting business needs.
- Assessing key performance indicator trends and condensing to top-line takeaways and recommendations toward actionable and meaningful improvements.
- Successfully developing direct reports through effective and thoughtful planning utilizing combinations of team-building exercises, coaching, and mentoring.
Beneficial Behaviors & Attributes:
- Interpersonal Savvy – Relates well to all kinds of people, builds constructive relationships, and understands other perspectives in order to negotiate and diffuse high-tension situations comfortably.
- Managing Vision & Purpose – Communicates a compelling and inspired vision focused beyond today, and is able to inspire and motivate entire teams and functions.
- Command – Enjoys leading teams and takes unpopular stands where necessary, encourages direct and tough debate, is looked to for direction in a crisis, faces adversity head-on, and is energized by tough challenges.
- Crisis and Problem-Solving Savvy – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions, can see hidden problems, looks beyond the obvious, and doesn’t stop at the first answers.
- Dealing with Ambiguity – Can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty and can decide and act without having the total picture.
Our client offers a competitive benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, wellness programs, employee discounts, 401k match, tuition reimbursement, ongoing development, advancement opportunities, and more.
For more information, please contact Moira McGrath at OPUS International, Inc. at (954) 428-3888 or moira@foodscience.com