Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager

SSP•Phoenix, AZ

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager oversees food safety and quality assurance for restaurant operations at Phoenix Airport (PHX), including the airport’s commissary kitchen. The role serves as the primary contact for food-safety inquiries and works with senior operations management, local teams, the corporate team, regulatory agencies, suppliers, and other stakeholders to support compliance and promote a strong food-safety culture. The manager reviews audits, inspections, reports, complaints, corrective actions, and trends; identifies risks and underlying causes; and supports timely resolution of deficiencies. The role develops and delivers recurring allergen and food-safety training, prepares HACCP plans for production kitchens and new menus or processes, conducts annual PCQI reviews and food-defense assessments, performs environmental monitoring, assists with annual mock recalls, and reviews production-kitchen systems for documentation deficiencies. The position requires a bachelor's degree in food science, microbiology, or a related field, at least five years of relevant food-safety and quality-assurance experience, and PCQI and HACCP certifications.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in food science, microbiology, or a related field.
At least 5 years of experience in food safety and quality assurance within the food-service industry, focused on restaurant operations.
Proven track record implementing and managing food-safety programs in complex environments.
Experience with regulatory audits and inspections, including FSMA and FDA Food Code compliance.
Demonstrated ability to lead and develop food-safety teams.
Certified Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI).
HACCP certification and experience writing HACCP plans.
Strong knowledge of food-safety regulations and standards, including HACCP and PCQI principles.
Proficiency in data analysis and reporting.
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to interact effectively with varied stakeholders.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the airport or hospitality industry.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary point of contact for food-safety inquiries and provide guidance on inspection, audit, complaint, corrective-action, and trend data.
Collaborate with senior operations management to foster a food-safety culture and serve as the day-to-day liaison between local operations personnel and the corporate team.
Support company and regulatory compliance inquiries and recommend policies, standards, and procedures.
Review food-safety analyses, specialized audits and reports, operational assessments, sanitation inspections, and quality controls for assigned airport restaurant locations; identify and address potential risks.
Partner with senior operations management to respond to and resolve audit and complaint deficiencies, including Steritech findings, regulatory health inspection citations, and guest complaints.
Conduct systemic, root-cause, and trend analyses and implement corrective actions.
Analyze annual Food Defense Assessment data and content based on the SSP America checklist inspection to identify improvement areas and support compliance.
Develop and deliver frequent, including monthly, allergen and relevant food-safety training tailored to current challenges, local needs, and company objectives.
Maintain regular communication with internal and external stakeholders and build relationships with regulatory agencies, suppliers, and other key stakeholders.
Develop HACCP plans for production kitchens, accounting for equipment, ingredients, operations, and planned processes for new menus or processes at site-specific FSMA locations.
Conduct annual PCQI reviews addressing trends, concerns, documentation-program compliance, deviations, and corrective actions.
Perform environmental monitoring and review microbial data to identify hazards and implement preventive measures.
Assist with annual mock recalls that trace ingredients from suppliers to restaurants and, where applicable, through an FSMA commissary location.
Conduct annual reviews of production-kitchen systems to identify and resolve documentation deficiencies.
Take ownership of position responsibilities and strive to deliver innovative results and high-quality performance for internal teams and customers.