Quality & Food Safety Director

Danone•West Jordan, UT

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Lead Food Safety. Drive Quality Excellence. Shape the Future of Manufacturing. At Danone, Manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for our plant teams. We're looking for an experienced and passionate Quality & Food Safety Director to join our West Jordan, Utah manufacturing leadership team and play a critical role in delivering the highest standards of product quality, food safety, and consumer trust. This is a highly visible leadership role where you'll partner with plant and corporate leadership to build a best-in-class quality culture, ensure regulatory compliance, and drive continuous improvement across a large-scale manufacturing operation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in food science or microbiology or related field, required.
Minimum of 10 years of quality experience within a food or beverage manufacturing environment, required.
Highly developed communication, leadership, interpersonal, project management skills, coupled with organizational sensitivity and the ability to influence key decision makers at all levels
Act as a change agent who is able to build positive relationships on a foundation of trust and mutual respect.
Technical expertise in finding root cause of quality issues and implementing best solution possible.
Ability to sift through data to find key factors that contribute to a successful product and the ability to communicate this information to non-technical plant leaders and employees.
Able to anticipate and prepare 3-5 year strategic vision for Quality excellence
Ability to support a 24/7 manufacturing environment as business needs dictate.
Work schedules could include early morning, late night or weekend work as needed.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience in the dairy industry is desired.
Formal root cause analysis training preferred and must be demonstrated.
Knowledge of local, state, and federal quality regulations is desired.

Responsibilities

Lead the site's Quality & Food Safety strategy and performance.
Champion a culture where food safety and quality are embedded in every process and decision.
Ensure compliance with all company, regulatory, and certification requirements, including FDA, GFSI/FSSC 22000, and other applicable standards.
Oversee laboratory operations, sanitation programs, metrology, preventive quality systems, and product release processes.
Drive KPI performance, including consumer complaints, specification compliance, product losses, and first-pass quality results.
Lead internal and external audits and manage corrective action plans.
Partner with cross-functional teams on innovation, productivity, equipment, and process improvement initiatives.
Develop, coach, and mentor a team of quality professionals while building future leadership capability.
Serve as the primary Quality & Food Safety voice within the plant leadership team and broader organization.
Ensure adherence to plant standards and procedures (including but not limited to GMP, AIB, FDA, IWS, Quality, Safety, Finance, ISO, HOPE, Danone Behaviors, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE).
Participate and own the implementation and deployment of IWS system and its pillars (Leadership foundation, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE; Autonomous Maintenance; planned Maintenance; Focused Improvement; Education and Training; Environmental, Health and Safety; Quality; Organization; Supply Network; Early Equipment Management) with the objective of owning your space, owning your performance (Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Mobilization, Nature) and owning your continuous improvement.