Vice President of Quality

Tulkoff Foods•Sharonville, OH

4d•$220,000 - $235,000•Onsite

About The Position

Tulkoff Foods is seeking an experienced Vice President of Quality to lead the company's quality assurance, quality control, and food safety strategy across three manufacturing sites. This is a critical leadership role reporting to the Chief Operating Officer and serving as a key member of the senior leadership team. The VP of Quality will be responsible for building a unified, best-in-class quality culture and management system across all facilities, ensuring consistent product quality, regulatory compliance, and food safety performance that protects the Tulkoff brand and its customers. This role requires a hands-on leader who can balance strategic system-building with regular presence on the plant floor, driving continuous improvement while managing a team of site-level quality professionals.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Engineering, or related field required; advanced degree a plus.
10+ years of progressive quality assurance/food safety leadership experience in food manufacturing, with at least 5 years in a multi-site leadership role.
Experience in condiments, sauces, dressings, or a similar wet/hot-fill, cold-fill, or ambient-fill food manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
Demonstrated experience with co-pack and/or private label manufacturing and managing customer quality requirements across multiple brands.
Deep working knowledge of SQF, GFSI, HACCP/HARPC, FSMA, and FDA regulations; PCQI certification required (or ability to obtain quickly).
Experience with Kosher, Halal, organic, or other specialty certifications a plus.
Strong understanding of microbiology, sanitation, allergen control, and environmental monitoring programs.
Proven ability to lead and develop geographically distributed teams, with strong influence and collaboration skills across operations, R&D, sales, and supply chain.
Excellent communication skills, including experience presenting to customers, auditors, and executive leadership.
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a track record of data-driven decision-making and measurable quality improvement.
Willingness to travel regularly (estimated 50–75%) across the three manufacturing sites.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree a plus.
Experience in condiments, sauces, dressings, or a similar wet/hot-fill, cold-fill, or ambient-fill food manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
Experience with Kosher, Halal, organic, or other specialty certifications a plus.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute an enterprise-wide quality and food safety strategy across all three manufacturing sites, ensuring alignment with corporate goals, customer expectations, and regulatory requirements.
Serve as the senior quality leader and voice of the customer for quality matters, representing Tulkoff in customer audits, co-pack/private label quality agreements, and new product qualification.
Standardize quality systems, policies, SOPs, and specifications across sites while allowing for site-specific operational needs.
Build and mentor a high-performing quality organization, including site Quality Managers, QA/QC staff, and food safety/microbiology resources.
Own the company's food safety management system, ensuring ongoing compliance with FDA, USDA (as applicable), FSMA, HACCP/HARPC, and SQF/GFSI Level 3 standards across all facilities.
Maintain and continuously improve certifications including SQF, Kosher (OU), and any customer-specific certifications (e.g., BRC, Halal, organic, non-GMO).
Lead recall/withdrawal readiness, mock recalls, and crisis management protocols; act as lead on any actual product hold, withdrawal, or recall event.
Serve as primary liaison with regulatory agencies and third-party auditors.
Provide direct oversight and functional leadership to Quality/QA teams at all three manufacturing facilities, ensuring consistent execution of quality programs, sanitation standards, and food safety protocols.
Partner with Plant Managers and Operations leadership at each site to resolve quality issues, drive root cause/corrective action (RCCA), and reduce non-conformances, customer complaints, and holds.
Establish and monitor site-level and company-wide quality KPIs (e.g., first-pass yield, customer complaint rates, audit scores, CAPA closure rates) and report performance to executive leadership.
Lead site quality audits and cross-site best-practice sharing to raise the performance floor across the network.
Manage customer quality requirements, specifications, and scorecards, particularly for co-pack, private label, and industrial ingredient customers.
Oversee supplier quality management, including ingredient/raw material approval, supplier audits, and COA/specification management.
Support new product development and commercialization by ensuring quality and food safety are built into product and process design from the start.
Champion a company-wide culture of food safety and quality ownership at every level, from plant floor associates to executive leadership.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives (e.g., Lean/Six Sigma tools applied to quality) to reduce waste, rework, and variability.
Lead training and development programs to build quality and food safety competency across the manufacturing network.