Manager, FSQA

Aspire Bakeries is a North American baking company with a leadership position in specialty frozen baked goods. Formed from leading bakery companies, its innovative food portfolio includes breads, artisan breads, buns, cookies, donuts, muffins and pastries from beloved brands like La Brea Bakery®, Otis Spunkmeyer®, and Oakrun Farm Bakery®. With 13 bakeries in North America, we are committed to driving innovation, predicting upcoming consumer trends and flavors, and exceeding our customers’ expectations. Aspire Bakeries champions the values of Integrity, Ownership, Customer Focus, Creativity and Care to help us deliver on People Safety, Food Safety, Quality and Collaboration.

Position Purpose:
The Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) Manager has the primary accountability for protecting the food manufactured by the bakery location by establishing and implementing food safety and quality strategy and adhering to all regulatory, customer, and Aspire Bakeries requirements.

Key Accountabilities:
The FSQA Manager is the leader within the bakery, along with the Bakery Director, accountable for developing, implementing and monitoring food safety and quality assurance programs (AIMS) and ensuring the operations team manufactures product compliant with food safety and quality expectations. The FSQA Manager reports directly to the FSQA Central Services Director, Food Safety & Quality Assurance. The FSQA Manager provides leadership directly to their team (exempt and/or non-exempt) and indirectly to other bakery department managers. They provide a service for company growth by supporting the food safety and quality initiative and partner as a member of a cross-functional team for continuous improvement.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the HARPc Food Safety Plan team to evaluate and implement controls on all biological, chemical, physical, and economically motivated hazards, including developing defect action limits, hygienic zoning, and by-product controls.
• Identify food safety adulteration hazards in products and processes, implement controls, verify their effectiveness, and design corrective actions for deviations.
• Serve as the PCQI, overseeing the food safety plan, validating preventive controls, reviewing records, and reanalyzing as needed. Current PCQI certification or completion upon acceptance is required.
• Accountable for updating and the re-evaluations of existing food safety plan(s) to incorporate current cGMP, Process Preventive Controls, Allergen Preventive Controls, Sanitation Preventive Controls and Supply Chain Preventive Controls, and current regulatory requirements.
• Accountable for complying with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standards in which the bakery location participates in (i.e. BRC, SQF). Assists the bakery director in leading the bakery team reviews of the AIMS programs and compliance to the standard.
• Update and re-evaluate food safety plans to incorporate current cGMP, Process, Allergen, Sanitation, and Supply Chain Preventive Controls, as well as regulatory requirements.
• Ensure compliance with GFSI standards (e.g., BRC, SQF) and assist in leading AIMS program reviews and compliance. Able to quickly and thoroughly investigate a product/process failure, determine the root cause and take prompt corrective actions while minimizing product exposure and production down time (e.g. foreign material investigations).
• Identify opportunities to enhance technology and innovation that will improve department effectiveness. Manage relationships with intra- and inter- departmental colleagues and suppliers to ensure achievement of departmental and company-wide targets.
• Identify opportunities to enhance technology and innovation to improve department effectiveness and manage relationships with colleagues and suppliers.
• Lead investigations of customer/consumer complaints using root cause analysis, determine corrective actions, respond to complaints promptly, and analyze complaint trends for improvement.
• Lead and promote the bakery’s food safety culture through communication, education, events, and recognition programs.
• Accountable for effectively communicating to the bakery director, and management team training needs for operations, sanitation, warehouse, and maintenance staff in basic food hygiene, cGMP’s, preventive controls, allergen control, foreign material control, and other food safety and quality requirements.
• Manage the FSQA team, set objectives to meet KPI’s, and communicate training needs for various staff in food safety and quality requirements.
• Accountable for monitoring and adherence to the Food Safety and Quality Assurance budget.
• Authorized to hold and release product based on food safety or quality nonconformity, and is required to place all food on QA hold in SAP as well as physical hold.
• Conduct daily food sensory evaluations with the bakery team to identify defects and provide improvement direction.

• Ensure weekly physical bakery inspections are conducted and reports are maintained in AIMS and act as the technical expert during regulatory, customer, and third-party bakery audits.

• Responsible for assuring materials are received from approved suppliers and assists with conducting raw material supplier performance monitoring.

• Implement effective Traceability, Stock Recovery, and Recall Programs, including timely mock traceability exercises and escalation of concerns.
• Accountable for leading/building a bakery FSQA team, developing a capable and promotable staff with a focus on assuring succession planning is in place.

Requirements:

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Microbiology, Chemistry, Food Technology, or Food Science, preferred or sufficient experience in the food industry to cover the technical skills needed.
• Minimum of 5-7 years in food safety and quality assurance leadership capacity, preferably in food manufacturing
• Minimum of 5 years comprehensive food processing, food safety and quality experience with an extensive background in manufacturing food industry, HACCP, USDA, or FDA preferred
• Proven experience managing and leading FSQA teams
• Previous experience with GFSI, BRC, SQF and/or USDA audits desirable.
• Certified in HACCP, PCQI, SQF Practitioner, or other relevant certifications (ISO 22000, FSSC 22000 is a plus).
• Certified in a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standard such as BRC or SQF preferred
• Knowledge of food hygiene, hygienic zoning, cGMP’s, and environmental monitoring.
• Proficient in computers including spreadsheets, statistical programs, quality management systems and SAP applications
• Ability to work in food production areas with wet, cold, and/or humid conditions, near moving mechanical parts, and in moderate to loud noise levels.

We thank each applicant for taking the time and effort to submit your resume, however, only candidates to be interviewed will be contacted. Our organization is committed to promoting the independence, dignity, integration, and equality of opportunity of persons with disabilities by ensuring the accessibility of our facilities and services. Accommodations are available for all parts of the recruitment and selection process. Applicants need to make their required accommodations known in advance.