Senior Manager - External Food Safety & Quality

Godiva • Reading, PA

254d

About The Position

Reporting to the Director of Quality and Food Safety - pladis Americas, the Senior Manager, External Food Safety & Quality plays a critical role in ensuring the safety, quality, and compliance of products made by our external manufacturing and supply partners. This role blends strategic oversight with hands-on execution, and is ideal for someone who thrives at the intersection of technical expertise, regulatory knowledge, and cross-functional collaboration. The Senior Manager, External Quality & Food Safety will lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of external food safety and quality oversight systems across the Americas region. This role requires deep technical expertise in food safety principles, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance programs. The ideal candidate brings a strategic mindset, the ability to manage complexity, and a proven track record of collaborating with external manufacturing and supply chain partners to ensure compliance with pladis' world-class standards. This individual will be responsible for building and sustaining robust oversight programs tailored to a wide range of food categories and operational maturity levels. Success in this role requires a combination of technical acumen, auditing expertise, and leadership capability to drive performance, mitigate risk, and support business growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science or a related discipline.
• Deep functional expertise in food safety and quality systems.
• Formal training/certification in auditing (e.g., GFSI-recognized schemes, HACCP, etc.).
• Proficiency in analyzing and translating data into actionable business insights.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to represent pladis externally with suppliers, licensees, and customers.
• Proven ability to integrate food safety and quality into operational and strategic business plans.
• Strong leadership and people development skills, including performance management and succession planning.

Nice To Haves

• Master's degree in Food Science or related field.

Responsibilities

• Lead external Food Safety & Quality oversight: Develop, implement, and maintain robust food safety and quality management systems across all external partners, ensuring alignment with pladis' business strategies and global standards.
• Ensure specification and regulatory compliance: Ensure our supply base complies with all applicable regulations and programs—including FSMA, FSVP, import/export requirements, and Yildiz Holding standards.
• Partner with Procurement and other internal teams to evaluate and improve supplier performance.
• Act as a customer-facing Food Safety & Quality expert: Represent pladis in customer-facing quality conversations.
• Provide food safety education and support to internal Sales teams, and define key KPIs to track quality performance across sales channels.
• Manage risk-based auditing: Design and execute an annual audit program for our external supply base, prioritizing based on supplier risk, performance history, and business needs.
• Provide cross-functional leadership: Serve as a subject matter expert in food safety and quality, offering guidance and insight to teams across R&D, Operations, and Commercial.
• Design and deliver targeted training programs to cross-functional teams on external food safety and quality requirements, systems, and best practices.
• Manage and mentor direct reports. Provide coaching, performance management, and career development aligned to functional competencies and succession planning goals.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Food Manufacturing
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree