Manager, Cold Chain & Food Safety Systems

Farmer's Fridge Careers • Chicago, IL

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Farmer’s Fridge makes fruits and vegetables accessible and approachable for everyone. We offer a variety of fresh, healthy, ready-to-eat meals and snacks through our fresh food vending machines, wholesale partners, and our office pantry solution — providing chef-curated meals to customers within seconds. Today, we operate a network of Fridges and partner with clients nationwide in high-foot-traffic areas, such as airports, hospitals, universities, and large office buildings — where there is limited accessibility to fresh, healthy, grab-n-go options. We care deeply about what we’re creating and aspire to make sure our customers feel that through every touchpoint. This shows up in many ways across the business. We are committed to prioritizing food safety, we are passionate about product quality, we value our employees, we champion the best idea no matter where it comes from, and we’re committed to making an overall positive impact as we scale.

About this Role: The Manager, Cold Chain & Food Safety Systems will own the systems, data, and standards that protect product quality and food safety as Farmer’s Fridge products move from production to our customers. This role oversees cold chain performance across our Cicero facility, linehaul transportation, distribution network, delivery fleet, Fridges, and our growing direct-to-consumer home delivery channel. This is a highly analytical and systems-focused food safety role. You’ll own our cold chain monitoring platforms, establish and maintain temperature-control standards, investigate excursions to root cause, and design validation studies that help us understand the true capabilities of our equipment, packaging, transportation lanes, and facilities. You’ll use that data to identify risk early and partner with Operations, Transportation, Facilities, Procurement, Culinary, and other teams to build lasting solutions. Beyond cold chain, you’ll also own key food safety programs including supplier and ingredient qualification, recipe and label accuracy, customer complaint investigation, document control, and CAPA. You’ll have meaningful decision-making authority when product safety or salability is at risk, including the ability to place product on hold or stop product movement when established food safety standards are not met.

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience in food manufacturing, food safety, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment, ideally with exposure to distribution and cold chain operations.
• Strong understanding of food safety principles including HACCP, preventive controls, food microbiology, allergens, GMP/GWP, sanitation, pest control, and regulatory compliance.
• HACCP and FSPCA Preventive Controls trained/certified (PCQI) and have current SQF training and Practitioner certification.
• Comfortable working with data and monitoring systems and can translate complex information into clear standards, decisions, and actions.
• Naturally investigative and enjoy getting to the root cause of a problem rather than treating the symptom.
• Strong judgment and are comfortable making consequential decisions when product safety or quality is at risk.
• Think in systems and look for opportunities to strengthen controls, automate monitoring, improve processes, and prevent recurring issues.
• Comfortable influencing cross-functional teams without direct authority and can hold partners accountable to food safety standards.
• Can balance rigorous food safety requirements with the realities of a fast-moving, growing operation.
• Comfortable working in both office and operational environments, including refrigerated spaces around 38°F.

Responsibilities

• Own Cold Chain Systems & Performance: Build and manage a connected cold chain monitoring and alerting program across production, transportation, distribution, delivery, and our Fridge network. Establish temperature thresholds, alert criteria, escalation protocols, and product-release standards grounded in data and demonstrated equipment capability. Lead investigations into temperature excursions, reconstructing product exposure, identifying root causes, determining appropriate disposition, and driving corrective action. Analyze cold chain performance across carriers, transportation lanes, distribution sites, delivery vehicles, and Fridges to identify recurring risks and opportunities for improvement. Partner with Operations, Transportation, and Facilities to identify equipment or process issues before they result in product loss or food safety risk. Build regular reporting that gives QFS and Operations leaders visibility into cold chain compliance, excursions, recurring issues, and open corrective actions.
• Build & Scale Our Home Delivery Cold Chain Program: Serve as the food safety and cold chain owner for our growing direct-to-consumer home delivery program. Develop and validate passive shipping systems, including insulated packaging, ice pack configurations, seasonal specifications, and product arrangement. Design thermal validation studies across seasons, geographic zones, and transit durations to establish safe shipping windows and operating standards. Develop shipping rules and objective criteria for when shipments should be held or suspended due to weather, carrier disruption, transit time, or other risks. Partner with third-party fulfillment providers to establish food safety standards, conduct audits, ensure traceability, and drive corrective actions. Monitor carrier and shipment performance and use real-world data to continuously improve packaging and shipping standards.
• Lead Validation & Continuous Improvement: Design and execute cold chain studies across packaging, transportation lanes, coolers, vehicles, Fridges, and other temperature-controlled equipment. Build analytical tools that turn temperature and telemetry data into clear operational decisions. Translate study results into auditable control plans with defined limits, monitoring methods, corrective actions, and verification requirements. Lead cold chain qualification of new equipment, packaging, transportation lanes, and fulfillment locations before launch.
• Own Key Food Safety & Quality Programs: Manage supplier and ingredient qualification, including food safety documentation, audits, regulatory history, hazard analysis, and ongoing supplier performance. Partner with Procurement to evaluate new suppliers and ingredients while maintaining clear food safety standards. Own recipe and nutritional data within Genesis and ensure finished-product labels accurately reflect ingredients, allergens, nutrition, claims, and other required information. Lead customer complaint investigations, identifying root causes and translating recurring trends into corrective and preventive action. Partner with Culinary on ingredient approval, allergen assessment, nutritional analysis, shelf-life justification, and labeling for new product launches.
• Strengthen Quality Systems & Food Safety Culture: Develop and deliver food safety and cold chain training for plant and field teams. Own QFS document control and ensure policies, SOPs, records, and product-hold documentation remain current and audit-ready. Manage CAPA for food safety non-conformances, deviations, complaints, and audit findings, driving corrective actions through closure and verifying effectiveness. Support internal, customer, third-party, and regulatory audits, with ownership of cold chain, supplier approval, and document-control programs. Maintain readiness to serve as the designated backup SQF Practitioner when needed.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (multiple plans available)
• 401(k) with immediate employer match vesting
• Paid time off (including vacation, sick leave, and holidays)
• Paid sabbatical after 5 years of service
• Employee discounts
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Daily Farmer's Fridge meal and office snacks
• Cross-functional collaboration, open access to leadership, and regular business updates

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed