Quality and Food Safety Director

Our Quality & Food Safety team makes sure everything Danone does is rooted in quality. From product innovation and ingredient choice to our marketing and delivery methods, it is their job to ensure consumers get the very best. We are currently looking to hire a Quality and Food Safety Director based in our Mount Crawford, Virginia beverage manufacturing facility! In this role, you will oversee the plant quality department, ensuring the overall, long-term success of the organization. You will deliver the value promises to the customer and consumer by ensuring conformity in product, processes and behaviors. Act as guardian of compliance to legal and regulatory standards (master governance) by driving the delivery of the “best product every day, every time" and acting as a product superiority ambassador at the plant level.

In this role, you will be responsible for:

• Ensuring adherence to plant standards (including but not limited to GMP, AIB, FDA, IWS, Quality, Safety, Finance, ISO, CODES, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE). As a fundamental piece of the organization, your responsibility is to participate in and own the implementation and deployment of IWS or related integrated work systems and corresponding pillars (Leadership foundation, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE; Autonomous Maintenance; planned Maintenance; Focused Improvement; Education and Training; Environmental, Health and Safety; Quality; Organization; Supply Network; Early Equipment Management) with the objective of owning your space, owning your performance (Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Mobilization, Nature) and owning your continuous improvement.
• Ensuring Food Safety & Conformity of all products delivered to market, consistently with the plant’s overall safety, quality, cost, delivery, mobilization, and nature scorecard specifications.
• Ensuring full compliance with finished product Quality & Food Safety Sampling /Control / Monitoring plan.
• Ensuring compliance with Local regulations, global Danone procedures and systematically execute against Danone North America specifications.
• Manage Plant Laboratory ensuring maintenance of service to production, analytical expertise, equipment maintenance, and analyst training.
• Drive the culture of quality at the plant level - support KPI tracking and improvement.
• Act as primary point of contact for quality at plant level: ensure quality voice presence for all matters within the plant.
• Continuously engage key stakeholders inside and outside the organization on quality initiatives (This includes plant leadership, universities, federal, state, and local regulatory agencies, corporate function representatives, etc.).
• Communicate and assure the execution of QFS policies including the escalation and communication of issues and results in a timely manner.
• Manage and animate all certifications systems, including but not limited to GFSI/FSSC 22000 Certification, Kosher, Organic, etc.
• Organize trainings & coach plant teams for daily quality management, particularly First Line Managers.
• Develop the Quality team and promote mobility and cross-functionally.
• Other duties as assigned.

Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options.

• Bachelor's degree in food science, microbiology, or related field with a minimum of 10 years of experience in food manufacturing within a Quality/Manufacturing environment is required.
• Prior experience in the dairy or food/beverage industry is desired.
• Possess highly developed communication, leadership, interpersonal, and project management skills. Demonstrated ability to influence key decision makers at all levels with organizational sensitivity.
• You have experience acting as a change agent who is able to build positive relationships on a foundation of trust and mutual respect.
• You have technical expertise in finding root cause of quality issues and implementing best solution possible. Having formal root cause analysis training is preferred and must be demonstrated.
• You have the ability to sift through data to find key factors that contribute to a successful product and the ability to communicate this information to non-technical leaders and employees.
• You are able to anticipate and prepare a 3–5-year strategic vision for Quality excellence.
• Knowledge of local, state, and federal quality regulations is desired.
• You are able to support a 24/7 manufacturing environment as business needs dictate. Work schedules could include early morning, late night or weekend work as needed.

At Danone North America, you’ll work with some of the best-known food and beverage brands in the world like Activia, Silk, Two Good, Oikos, evian, and Happy Family. You’ll be part of one of the largest Certified B Corps™ in the world, working together to make sure our brands create real benefits for people, communities, and the planet. We have 6,000 employees across the U.S. and Canada. Come join our movement for a healthier world: One Planet. One Health BY YOU.

Danone North America doesn’t just welcome what makes you unique, we value it. We’re proud to be an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All hires to our team are based on qualifications, merit and business needs. We recruit, employ, train and promote regardless of race, color, religion, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, genetic characteristic or any other protected status. Faithful to our values of openness and humanism, all of our employees share in the commitment to engage one another with dignity and respect.

http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf

https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/OFCCP_EEO_Supplement_Final_JRF_QA_508c.pdf

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