Senior Manager, Quality, Protein

Subway•Miami, FL

About The Position

The Senior Manager, Quality, Protein owns quality for Subway’s protein category across the United States, including deli meats, poultry, beef, pork, seafood, and cheese. The role sets and maintains specifications for every protein item, manages supplier performance with IPC, and ensures new and changed protein products launch to specification. Because ready-to-eat protein is sliced in every restaurant, the role maintains high standards for supplier controls and works to identify issues before they reach guests. The position reports to the Director, Quality & Commercialization. The role covers category quality ownership, supplier management, commercialization and Design to Value, ready-to-eat protein controls, and complaint and data analysis. It includes collaboration with Culinary, Food Safety, IPC, suppliers, and distribution, as well as domestic travel of up to 35% to supplier and manufacturing plants, distribution centers, and restaurants.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Meat or Animal Science, Food Science, Microbiology, or a related field.
7+ years of experience in food manufacturing, QSR, foodservice, or food retail, including supplier quality and plant audits in a USDA-inspected environment.
Experience auditing supplier and co-manufacturing plants and driving corrective action.
Sensory and product evaluation skills for protein products.
Data-driven problem-solving skills, including complaint trends, scorecards, and root cause analysis.
Strong supplier management and influence skills.
Clear, direct communication skills and ability to manage several projects at once.

Nice To Haves

Deep knowledge of meat, poultry, and cheese processing, quality systems, and specifications.
Working knowledge of USDA-FSIS and FDA requirements for ready-to-eat protein, including Listeria control.
HACCP certification.
PCQI and GFSI auditor training.

Responsibilities

Own specifications and product evaluation standards for all protein items.
Conduct product evaluations, sample approvals, and specification changes.
Hold suppliers to specification at scale.
Lead supplier approval, onboarding, and plant audits with IPC.
Drive effective supplier corrective actions.
Run supplier scorecards and manage supplier transitions from first production to steady state.
Partner with Culinary through stage gate on new and changed protein items.
Lead product matching and supplier qualification for Design to Value projects.
Verify supplier controls for ready-to-eat protein, including Listeria controls, environmental monitoring, and process validation such as HPP.
Partner with Food Safety on holds, withdrawals, and incident response.
Track protein complaint trends and quality data.
Identify root causes and close gaps with suppliers and distribution.
Travel up to 35% domestically to supplier and manufacturing plants, distribution centers, and restaurants.