Our client, a growing and well-established food manufacturing organization, is seeking an experienced FSQA Manager to lead food safety, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance initiatives within a protein/meat processing environment. This is a high-impact leadership opportunity for a proven food safety professional who thrives in fast-paced production operations and has a strong track record of managing audits, regulatory relationships, and FSQA teams.
The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in food safety systems, USDA-regulated operations, and quality management while driving a culture of compliance, continuous improvement, and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and develop the FSQA team while fostering a culture of food safety, accountability, employee engagement, and continuous improvement.
- Develop, implement, and maintain food safety and quality programs including:
- HACCP
- Food Safety Plans
- GMPs
- SSOPs
- Environmental Monitoring Programs
- Serve as the site's Food Safety Team Leader and primary liaison with on-site USDA-FSIS personnel.
- Ensure full compliance with all applicable food safety, quality, customer, and regulatory requirements.
- Lead all third-party, customer, and regulatory audits, including:
- BRCGS
- Organic Certifications
- Child Nutrition Programs
- USDA and other regulatory inspections
- Manage audit preparation, responses, and corrective and preventive action (CAPA) activities to ensure timely resolution and sustained compliance.
- Drive investigation and resolution of customer complaints, product quality issues, root-cause analyses, and CAPA implementation.
- Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Maintenance, Sanitation, Supply Chain, and Leadership teams to strengthen food safety performance and operational effectiveness.
- Monitor, analyze, and report FSQA performance metrics, identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.
- Ensure strong outcomes across food safety, quality, employee safety, retention, and compliance initiatives.
- Provide coaching, training, and professional development for FSQA personnel.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Animal Science, Quality Assurance, or a related field preferred.
- 5+ years of food processing and quality assurance experience required.
- Protein/meat industry experience is required.
- Prior supervisory or management experience leading FSQA teams.
- Demonstrated success leading cross-functional teams and influencing stakeholders across multiple departments.
- Strong working knowledge of:
- HACCP
- GMPs
- SSOPs
- USDA-FSIS regulations
- Food Safety Plans
- Environmental Monitoring Programs
- Experience leading and successfully navigating customer, third-party, and regulatory audits.
- Proven ability to manage complaint investigations, CAPAs, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and communication skills.
Performance Success Indicators
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Full compliance with food safety and quality requirements across HACCP, GMP, and USDA-FSIS standards.
- Strong audit performance with successful outcomes during customer, third-party, and regulatory audits.
- Timely and effective resolution of customer complaints, nonconformances, and CAPA activities.
- Positive FSQA team retention, engagement, and development.
- Achievement of established food safety, quality, and employee safety KPIs.
- Strong cross-functional collaboration that supports operational excellence and regulatory compliance.
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