Director of Quality Assurance

SelectOne•Buffalo, NY

12d•Onsite

About The Position

Our client is a successful food production organization in Buffalo, New York. The Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) provides enterprise-level leadership of food safety, regulatory compliance, and quality programs across all Food Products manufacturing facilities. This role ensures multi-site consistency of FSQA systems, oversees compliance with USDA, FDA, and BRC Standards, and drives continuous improvement in product safety, associate practices, and quality performance.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree in Food Science or related field.
Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership experience in Food Safety or Quality Assurance within USDA-regulated facilities.
Drivers license and reliable transportation between facilities.
Strong understanding in Sanitation practices.
HACCP certification required; PCQI certification and BRC Lead Auditor training strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience managing HACCP programs across multiple facilities.
Deep knowledge of USDA, FDA, HACCP, GMPs, and BRC Global Food Safety Standards.
Successful history of leading regulatory inspections, USDA interactions, and multi-site compliance programs.
Exceptional leadership, communication, and team-building skills with experience leading multi-site FSQA teams.

Nice To Haves

PCQI certification
BRC Lead Auditor training
Experience with digital FSQA platforms (SafetyChain, Smartfood Safe, UKG)

Responsibilities

Mentor the site-level Quality Managers, ensuring alignment of goals, compliance expectations, and overall performance across facilities.
Work closely with the Regulatory Department to coordinate plant audits, regulatory interactions, and documentation management.
Work with regulatory staff with any labeling or regulatory issues.
As a key member of the Technical Services leadership team, the Director acts as the company internal authority on USDA compliance, multi-site HACCP program governance, and strategic FSQA initiatives.
Advise Customer Service and Sales Staff on consumer affairs, complaints or technical questions, with the potential for direct customer interaction.
Responsible for overseeing all talent, onboarding, development and succession planning for department.
Provide strategic leadership and enterprise oversight of all Food Safety and Quality Assurance programs across multiple manufacturing sites.
Develop, standardize, and deploy company-wide FSQA strategies, policies, and procedures to ensure consistent execution and results.
Lead, mentor, and support Quality Managers to drive aligned goals, food safety culture, and associate development.
Partner closely with the Regulatory Department to ensure coordinated regulatory preparedness, audit readiness, and timely responses to regulatory matters.
Serve as a senior member of the Technical Services leadership team, contributing to corporate decisions regarding food safety risk, regulatory trends, and quality strategy.
Present FSQA performance, risk assessments, and KPI reporting to executive leadership.
Oversee FSQA operations at all facilities, ensuring alignment across USDA- and FDA-regulated environments.
Support Quality Managers in managing USDA and regulatory interactions, corrective actions, compliance verification, and audit follow-up.
Ensure effective HACCP systems, SSOPs, GMPs, allergen control, environmental monitoring, and sanitation programs are consistently executed across all sites.
Conduct routine site visits to review FSQA performance, associate practices, and compliance risks.
Partner with the Regulatory Department during internal, customer, third-party, and government audits.
Serve as the enterprise-level subject matter expert for USDA regulatory compliance, bringing 10+ years of experience managing complex regulatory environments.
Own multi-site HACCP program governance, including plan design, validation, verification, reassessment, and associate training.
Oversee corporate readiness for USDA, FDA, BRC, customer, and third-party audits, ensuring timely and effective corrective actions.
Lead systemic root cause analysis and corrective action development for food safety incidents or regulatory non-conformances.
Ensure FSQA documentation, policies, and procedures remain current with evolving regulatory and certification requirements.
Collaborate with the Regulatory Department to maintain accurate regulatory documentation, responses, and follow-up actions.
Develop and manage enterprise FSQA KPIs, dashboards, and scorecards for leadership review.
Use trend data to identify systemic opportunities for food safety and quality improvement.
Partner with R&D and Operations on new products, process changes, and equipment evaluations to ensure food safety is incorporated into design and implementation.
Support optimization and standardization of digital FSQA systems, including SafetyChain, Smartfood Safe, and UKG.
Develop corporate training programs on HACCP, GMPs, CCP monitoring, internal auditing, and food safety culture for associates across all facilities.
Coach and mentor Quality Managers and high-potential associates to build future leadership capability.
Ensure site-level training compliance meets corporate and regulatory expectations.