Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance

Halperns' Steak & Seafood•Atlanta, GA

About The Position

Welcome to Halperns Steak & Seafood! We are excited that you are thinking about opportunities with us, and we have an amazing story to share. Here's a quick glance of who we are and the impact you could have on the food service industry. There's a seat at our table for you... Welcome to Halperns’! The dedicated employees who work at Halperns' are passionately committed to this business and the customers they serve. Being part of Halperns' means being part of something important, something unique, and something special. This commitment is made clear by the superior meat and seafood specialty products we distribute. There's a seat at our table for you… Position Summary: The Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance for Specialty Companies leads a team of professionals responsible for food safety, quality assurance, and risk mitigation at each manufacturing site. Develops and implements the strategies, policies, systems, procedures and resources to ensure product quality assurance, food safety and regulatory compliance across all manufacturing locations. Oversees all aspects of the recall program and leads regulatory inspection response. Effectively communicates, and builds relationships with suppliers, operations, transportation, sales, marketing, and customers to assure product quality and food safety vision and strategies are achieved to support company objectives. Engages directly with regulatory agencies and industry associations to influence government/industry expectations, best practices, and regulations. Responsible for food safety risk mitigation across all manufacturing locations, working closely with Senior Leadership, Legal Counsel, and the Corporate Food Safety & Quality teams. Serves as a Specialty Company spokesperson on food safety, quality, regulatory compliance and risk mitigation related to these subjects.

Requirements

Must have knowledge of food safety and quality auditing standards and techniques.
Must have knowledge of CFIA (Canada) or FDA & USDA (U.S.) food regulations.
Ability to implement continuous improvement
Strong business acumen and ability to provide counsel and business perspective to food safety and quality groups, vendor relations teams, supply chain managers, operations teams and brand managers across all levels of the organization.
Industry influence
Must possess ability to interpret product specifications, technical specifications, and determine appropriate technical data
Math aptitude, with skills in root cause analysis.
Attention to detail, organization and time management skills.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with technical writing abilities and the ability to explain complex technical, scientific, regulatory issues.
Interpersonal skills include the ability to work independently and in a team environment, ability to foster relationships and build credibility quickly
Coaching and mentoring skills.
Leadership abilities and a positive attitude with a commitment to personal and professional success.
You are required to provide your most recent employment experience for your application to be considered complete.

Responsibilities

Responsible for the development of strategies, policies, systems, activities and resources involved in product quality assurance, food safety, sanitation and regulatory compliance across existing and emerging Specialty Companies.
Leads the vision/strategy for quality and food safety technology needs across the Specialty Companies, ensuring it aligns with and supports Corporate initiatives.
Interprets, understands, and communicates impact of existing and new governmental regulations (CFIA, USDA and/or FDA) to company operations and products.
Oversees development of strategies to achieve organizational compliance, while meeting business objectives.
Leads food safety risk mitigation across manufacturing locations; identifying and reducing risk by implementation of food safety and food defense strategy in collaboration with risk management, internal audit, and operations leadership.
Owns the strategy, development, and execution of manufacturing site food safety assessments, certifications, and/or audits with appropriate stakeholders to maintain regulatory and customer expectation compliance. e.g., GFSI
Acts as primary liaison with internal and external Legal Counsel to ensure food safety and quality initiatives, expectations, and concerns are appropriately represented, understood and communicated.
Leads quality and food safety risk assessment of acquisitions.
Oversees long-term onboarding of acquisitions to company standard quality and food safety policies, procedures, work instructions and systems.
Provides food safety subject matter expertise within the organization during quality failure incidents, emergencies with potential impact to food safety or quality, and during and after inspections by governmental agencies.
Acts as primary liaison with government and third party agency representatives as necessary during these events.
Stay abreast of new technology and programs impacting the food safety and quality of products.
Develops vision/strategy to ensure food safety incidents and recalls are appropriately handled to achieve government regulation and Corporate expectations.
Leads company’s relationship with appropriate association groups in order to provide feedback on regulations, influence government and industry expectations, and drive necessary change into company policies.
Establishes and reports food safety and quality key performance indicators (KPIs); establishes plans to drive improvement into KPIs, as needed.
Responsible for developing supplier strategies and internal programs to protect private brand product quality and ensure food safety quality compliance.
Leads the development of departmental goals that support current and growing business needs and continued development of key processes.
Monitors goal progress and drives necessary attention to ensure goals are met within defined timelines.
Develops capital and operational budget for the department.
Routinely monitors, manages and controls budget, analyzes variances and takes appropriate action and develops plans for productivity improvements.
Interviews, hires, trains, and retains staff.
Conducts performance monitoring of staff, initiating follow through with disciplinary action and termination in consultation with Human Resources when appropriate for the department.
Mentors, motivates, and develops staff and serves as a role model and resource.
Performs other duties as assigned.