Role impact
Our meat and seafood plants supply higher end chain and independent restaurants with premium quality products; as such, there is a great deal of scrutiny and attention from the customer.  Additionally, these facilities process all species including beef, pork, poultry and seafood, mandating leadership that is technically advanced concerning  regulations, food safety, and quality programs. This Director will also have technical expertise in food safety and quality support for the commercialization of new products.  The leader of this area must have deep technical knowledge of  inherent food safety risks will and be able to develop and lead mitigation strategies to protect the USF brand, with the ability to develop and guide the team that is responsible for the day to day implementation of same.  The Leader in this area must have a complete understanding of the regulatory requirements including USDA-FSIS and Seafood HACCP, and the FDA – Food Safety Modernization Act.
 
Specifics

The Director reports to the VP, Food Safety and Quality Assurance, Supply Chain. With the VP, the Director executes department goals and initiatives to maintain food safety, quality, and regulatory programs that meet or exceed industry standards and drive customer satisfaction and sales.

Provides the technical leadership that ensures our food safety and quality systems are based on sound science, leading industry best practices, meets all requirements for our chosen GFSI certification scheme, and are compliant with all regulatory and US Foods requirements.
 
In conjunction with other FSQA leads and business partners, assures supply base and product adherence to USF safety and quality standards as measured by agreed upon scorecard. Collaborates with appropriate departments to approve and monitor new suppliers and products. 

 

Responsible for building strong cross functional partnerships with business owners from other teams. Leverages these relationships to obtain buy-in and to influence change within and across multiple business areas to promote food safety and quality programs.

 

Sets standards for Food Safety and Quality and then collaborates with manufacturing   and product commercialization  business partners to effectively deliver on those standards while meeting the needs of the business.  This includes product specifications, and compliance to all aspects of the applicable USDA and FDA regulations and GFSI certification of manufacturing plants.

 

Uses metrics, trends, and data analysis to create new activities to support the mitigation of food safety and quality risks.
 
Develops and implements Food Safety and Quality Assurance manufacturing policies and procedures, ensuring consistency in how we operate and  minimize risks in our plants, as well as ensuring our approach and standards for our protein suppliers are consistent and commensurate with our internal policies and programs. This requires a strong cooperative effort with other FSQA leaders and business partners throughout US Foods, including frequent direct communications with Director+ levels.

 

Plays a critical role in defining and implementing Food Safety and Quality initiatives across SY. Provides expert consultation and advice on matters of Food Safety and Quality to cross-functional business partners.

Commercialization
 
Serves as subject matter expert for Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory Compliance for  protein commercialization, including setting specifications, troubleshooting and resolving quality issues, Exclusive Brand supplier management and  providing crisis management oversight as needed.

Since close collaboration with business partners is necessary for product commercialization activities, this position is located in our corporate headquarters at Rosemont, IL.

Direct Supervision:  Direct oversight and management  of 3 Regional FSQA Managers who oversee FSQA managers in our 15 manufacturing plants (some with sanitation team responsibility), as well as 2  Protein Managers in commercialization of protein products (Seafood, Poultry and Red Meat).

 

Proven experience and  skills in leading team members, developing careers, empowering team members to operate with a high level of influence and independence,  providing functional direction while setting clear goals and expectations, and providing performance feedback to advance individual and team performance.

 

Develops and implements personnel training programs for team members based on expertise and facilitates that training across manufacturing and headquarters teams, as appropriate. Areas include; BRC, FSSC22000, food safety programs and policy, quality standards and specifications, sanitation, HACCP, FSMA, etc.

 

Since portions of our team are in manufacturing plants throughout the country, this Director should have proven ability to lead teams remotely.