Quality Manager - Fairfield, CA
About The Position
The Quality and Food Safety Manager is accountable for setting the standard for quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and consumer protection at Ferrara's Fairfield, CA, factory – the home of Jelly Belly. This hands-on, floor-based position drives execution, builds capability, and sets the pace for the Fairfield operation. This leader owns the site quality and food safety agenda from raw materials through finished product release, ensuring that systems and processes are not only documented, but consistently lived on the production floor. The role requires strong technical judgment, operational urgency, and the ability to influence manufacturing, maintenance, sanitation, planning, warehousing, and leadership teams to make the right decisions in real time. This role is responsible for creating a culture where quality is non-negotiable, issues are escalated quickly, root causes are understood, and corrective actions are sustained. This leader must be comfortable challenging the status quo, stopping production when necessary, and coaching teams to prevent repeat failures.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Engineering, Microbiology, or related field required
- 7+ years of progressive manufacturing quality leadership experience within food or consumer packaged goods manufacturing
- minimum 3 years in plant quality management
- Strong expertise in GMPs, HACCP, sanitation, environmental monitoring, SPC, and process controls
- Experience driving cultural and operational transformation initiatives
- Strong operational acumen
- Collaboration skills and ability to influence cross-functional teams
- Strong communication skills with the ability to present, coach, and deliver information to employees at all levels
- Detail-oriented with ability to manage competing priorities
Nice To Haves
- advanced degree preferred
- Experience with SAP, quality management systems, specification systems, laboratory systems, and manufacturing data systems preferred
Responsibilities
- Lead the Fairfield quality and food safety agenda from raw materials through finished product release
- Maintain daily presence on the production floor to verify standards, coach behaviors, and drive accountability
- Set clear expectations for GMPs, food safety, sanitation, allergen control, foreign material prevention, and product quality
- Serve as the site authority for product holds, risk assessments, escalations, and dispositions
- Ensure compliance with company policies, FDA requirements, FSMA, HACCP/HARPC, GFSI standards, customer requirements, and regulatory expectations
- Lead site readiness for internal audits, regulatory inspections, customer audits, and corporate assessments
- Ensure traceability, mock recall, document control, change management, calibration, pest control, and product release systems are effective
- Lead investigations for consumer complaints, foreign material events, micro failures, labeling concerns, process deviations, and other site risks.
- Drive disciplined RCCA and CAPA to eliminate repeat failures and strengthen controls.
- Partner with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Continuous Improvement to solve issues at the source.
- Use site metrics to improve holds, complaints, right-first-time, sanitation performance, audit results, release cycle time, and repeat deviations.
- Lead and develop the site FSQA team with clear decision rights, shift coverage, and accountability
- Build technical capability through coaching, training, floor-based verification, and practical problem solving
- Strengthen FSQA partnership with operators, supervisors, mechanics, sanitation teams, and site leaders
- Create a high-ownership team culture focused on prevention, execution, and consumer protection
- Act as a key member of the Fairfield site leadership team
- Bring strong food safety and quality perspective to operational decisions, capital projects, new product launches, commercialization, line trials, and improvement initiatives
- Challenge decisions when product safety, compliance, quality, or consumer trust may be at risk
Benefits
- comprehensive benefits that enhance health, financial wellness, and include paid time off (PTO)
- Eligible employees may also receive an annual bonus based on company performance.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
