Director, Food Safety and Quality Systems (FSQA)

Crown Bakeries•Brentwood, TN

16h•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Food Safety & Quality Systems is responsible for the strategic leadership, governance, and continuous improvement of Crown Bakeries' enterprise Food Safety & Quality Management System (QMS). This position ensures the Company has robust quality systems, standardized processes, supplier quality programs, customer quality management, and data-driven performance analytics that support consistent execution across the enterprise. Serving as a key member of the Corporate Food Safety & Quality leadership team, this role partners closely with Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement, Research & Development, Customer Service, Sales, Regulatory, and Manufacturing Leadership to strengthen food safety, improve quality performance, reduce business risk, and enhance the customer experience. This position is responsible for the systems that govern quality across the organization rather than the day-to-day execution within manufacturing facilities. Working collaboratively with the Director of Manufacturing Food Safety & Quality as a peer, this role provides the enterprise governance, standards, analytics, supplier oversight, customer quality leadership, and continuous improvement necessary to drive consistency across all locations.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Engineering, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, or related technical discipline required. Experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
Minimum of 10 years of progressive Food Safety & Quality leadership experience within the food manufacturing industry.
Demonstrated experience developing, implementing, and managing enterprise Quality Management Systems.
Experience leading supplier quality programs, customer quality initiatives, and cross-functional improvement efforts.
Multi-site manufacturing experience required.
Strong understanding of GFSI certification schemes, FDA regulations, HACCP, Preventive Controls, and quality management principles.
Demonstrated ability to use quality analytics and business intelligence to improve performance and influence decision making.
Food Safety & Quality Management Systems
Supplier Quality Management
CAPA and Root Cause Analysis
Risk Assessment and Risk-Based Thinking
Internal Auditing
HACCP and Preventive Controls
GFSI Standards and FDA Regulations
Statistical Process Control and Quality Analytics
Quality Dashboard Development and KPI Management
Project Management and Continuous Improvement
Strategic and Systems Thinking
Enterprise Leadership
Executive Presence and Communication
Business Partnership and Collaboration
Influence Without Authority
Organizational Agility and Change Leadership
Sound Decision Making
Coaching and Talent Development
Customer Focus
Continuous Improvement Mindset

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or advanced technical/business education preferred.

Responsibilities

Own the design, implementation, governance, and continuous improvement of the Corporate Food Safety & Quality Management System.
Establish and maintain standardized corporate policies, procedures, standards, and work instructions.
Ensure enterprise systems support compliance with FDA, USDA, GFSI, customer, and applicable regulatory requirements.
Lead management review processes and enterprise quality system performance reviews.
Drive system standardization across all manufacturing facilities while allowing appropriate operational flexibility.
Lead enterprise Document Control, Change Management, Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA), Risk Assessment, Internal Audit, and Continuous Improvement programs.
Ensure quality systems remain effective, efficient, scalable, and aligned with industry best practices.
Monitor effectiveness of quality systems through performance metrics and routine verification.
Identify opportunities to simplify, automate, and improve quality processes and workflows.
Lead the Corporate Supplier Quality Management Program.
Develop supplier approval, qualification, monitoring, risk classification, and performance programs.
Establish supplier quality scorecards and conduct performance reviews using objective metrics.
Partner with Procurement and Supply Chain to proactively identify and manage supplier risk.
Lead supplier corrective action activities and verify effectiveness.
Support supplier audits, technical assessments, ingredient and packaging risk evaluations, and supplier development activities as required.
Lead the enterprise customer complaint management process and governance.
Analyze complaint and in-market performance trends to identify systemic opportunities for improvement.
Partner with Customer Service, Sales, Operations, and the Director of Manufacturing Food Safety & Quality to ensure timely investigation and resolution of customer concerns.
Develop customer quality scorecards and key performance indicators.
Monitor product performance throughout distribution and at the customer level to identify emerging risks and opportunities.
Serve as a Food Safety & Quality partner for strategic customers, including technical meetings, audits, investigations, and improvement initiatives.
Translate customer feedback and in-market performance into actionable enterprise and manufacturing improvements.
Develop and maintain enterprise Food Safety & Quality dashboards and performance reporting.
Analyze quality data to identify trends, emerging risks, recurring issues, and improvement opportunities.
Provide executive leadership with meaningful performance metrics, insights, and recommendations.
Lead development of predictive quality analytics utilizing complaint data, supplier performance, manufacturing trends, audit results, holds, and customer feedback.
Drive data-based decision making throughout the organization and improve visibility to the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ).
Lead enterprise quality improvement initiatives that address systemic and cross-functional opportunities.
Drive reduction of Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ), including complaints, holds, rework, waste, disposal, and recurring quality losses.
Facilitate root cause analysis and systemic corrective actions for significant or recurring issues.
Promote Lean, Six Sigma, statistical methods, and risk-based thinking throughout Food Safety & Quality.
Benchmark industry best practices and implement improvements that strengthen organizational capability.
Serve as a strategic Food Safety & Quality business partner to Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement, Research & Development, Customer Service, Sales & Commercial, Regulatory Affairs, Manufacturing Leadership, Finance, and Information Technology.
Ensure food safety and quality considerations are integrated into business decisions, supplier selection, new product development, commercialization, customer requirements, and strategic initiatives.
Collaborate closely with the Director of Manufacturing Food Safety & Quality to ensure enterprise standards translate into effective plant execution and plant learnings are incorporated into enterprise systems.
Build and develop a high-performing enterprise quality systems organization and supporting capabilities.
Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous learning, and operational excellence.
Coach and mentor technical professionals and develop future Food Safety & Quality leaders.
Influence organizational decisions through data, technical expertise, sound judgment, and effective communication.
Represent Food Safety & Quality on cross-functional leadership teams and strategic initiatives.