Director, Labeling and Nutrition Compliance

CookUnity

About The Position

CookUnity is seeking a hands-on Director of Labeling and Nutrition Compliance to lead labeling and nutrition compliance across its meals, ingredient data, product claims, and customer-facing information. The role owns the source-to-label process, including governance, performance metrics, third-party laboratory validation, and approval of product and nutrition claims. It establishes technical acceptance criteria, verifies data suitability, coordinates cross-functional deliverables, and manages label and content releases, withholding approval when supporting evidence is insufficient. The Director will provide technical leadership across a cross-functional organization, setting clear accountability and practical controls to maintain compliance as ingredients, recipes, suppliers, systems, and markets evolve. Within the first 90 days, the role is expected to establish technical acceptance criteria and a risk-ranked review baseline; verify a representative set of Supply Chain supplier and market substitutions; demonstrate an independently reviewed, controlled release pilot with label-to-website reconciliation; and align ongoing verification and escalation measures with functional owners. Supply Chain retains ownership of the data remediation plan and delivery.

Requirements

Deep, practical experience in food-labeling regulations, nutrition, and standards compliance, including hands-on technical review of packaged food labels, ingredient and allergen declarations, nutrition calculations, and claim substantiation.
Strong working knowledge of applicable U.S. FDA food-labeling requirements and ability to determine when USDA FSIS or other market requirements apply, with qualified specialist support as needed.
Experience connecting supplier specifications, ingredient databases, formulations, recipe systems, nutrition analysis, artwork, and production execution through controlled workflows.
Sound technical judgment regarding ingredient variability, cooking yields, portioning, laboratory results, and the limitations of calculated nutrition.
Ability to translate regulatory and technical requirements into clear acceptance criteria and practical operating controls.
Demonstrated success leading cross-functional programs, resolving ownership gaps, and implementing change without relying solely on direct reporting authority.
Clear written communication, careful documentation, and confidence holding a release when supporting evidence is incomplete.
A degree in food science, nutrition, regulatory science, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.

Nice To Haves

Experience in multi-site prepared meal operations.
Experience with recipe-management systems and supplier-data platforms.
Familiarity with Canadian food-labeling requirements.
Registered Dietitian credentials. Clinical standards and medically tailored meal criteria require appropriately qualified expertise.

Responsibilities

Lead CookUnity’s labeling and nutrition compliance program and establish practical standards consistent with applicable NLEA requirements for ingredient declarations, allergens, Nutrition Facts, serving sizes, net quantity, claims, required statements, and market-specific labeling, in partnership with Nutrition & Standards.
Own the create, review, approve, and distribute (CRAD) labeling process, governance, and consolidated KPI dashboard, including functional accountability, independent review requirements, approval records, version controls, release criteria, escalation paths, and corrective-action follow-through.
Define regulatory and technical requirements for ingredient master data owned by Supply Chain Operations, and lead specification approval and stakeholder sign-off, including supplier-item and market specificity, source evidence, approved substitutions, and acceptance criteria.
Review and approve ingredient data eligibility for labeling and claims, tracking and escalating unresolved dependencies.
Own third-party laboratory validation, including lab qualification, risk-based representative sampling across suppliers and markets, appropriate testing methods, and comparison against approved recipes, portions, declared nutrition, and claim criteria.
Investigate laboratory discrepancies and drive verified corrections through the accountable data, recipe, or execution owner.
Approve product, nutrition, standards, ingredient, and dietary claims before publication across channels, requiring substantiation, approved wording, applicability and conditions, review dates, and change control.
Obtain documented Food Science Lab approval of the nutritional basis for claims, required Legal concurrence, and appropriately qualified clinical approval of medically tailored meal criteria.
Set risk-based technical review priorities for estimated and generic legacy records. Partner with Supply Chain, which owns data remediation and maintenance, to verify corrections, assess supplier and market equivalence, and confirm impacts on recipes, nutrition values, allergens, and claims.
Manage compliance impacts of supplier, ingredient, recipe, process, portion, packaging, and system changes. Require affected products and claims to be reassessed before release, including substitutions and market-specific variants.
Establish technical acceptance criteria for labeling and data systems. Partner with Engineering to verify source-to-label and website field mappings, controlled synchronization, and automated completeness, calculation, rounding, and version checks.
Require production first-article checks and ongoing label-to-meal verification. Partner with Operations and Supply Chain on approved masters, effective dates, acknowledgment of changes, and removal of obsolete labels and templates.
Verify consistency between approved label master data and customer-facing channels, including the CookUnity website, for ingredients, allergens, nutrition values, serving details, and claims.
Define website reconciliation criteria and verify publication and correction evidence. Partner with Growth Marketing/SEO, which owns website accuracy, publishing, discrepancy correction, and the website parity KPI, and escalate safety or compliance discrepancies through the incident process.
Exercise delegated authority to hold or reject nonconforming label and content releases. Ensure independent review of technical work prepared by the role and escalate product holds, disposition decisions, and unresolved safety or compliance issues to the VP of FSQA under established procedures.
Maintain inspection-ready records and train cross-functional teams on labeling requirements, approval workflows, and operating controls.
Maintain the overall CRAD KPI dashboard covering technical data acceptance, Culinary recipe and portion conformity, laboratory-versus-declared accuracy, claims compliance, release performance, defects, and corrective actions. Incorporate Growth Marketing/SEO’s website parity and coverage results, coordinate functional delivery, and escalate gaps while each function owns its evidence, results, and corrective actions.
Drive a consistent process in which released products have traceable inputs, supported claims, documented independent review, approved market-specific labels, consistent website content, and verified production execution.