Manager, Food Safety and Quality Assurance

Role Overview

This manager carries the food safety and quality agenda out of strategy and into daily practice across a defined group of regions or operating clusters. Leading a team of Food Safety Associates, the role keeps inspection, verification and production activities aligned with the company's Food Safety Management System, and serves as the escalation point when incidents, audit findings or non-conformities demand a decision. Success shows up as consistent compliance across sites, corrective actions that actually close, and a workforce that treats food safety as everyone's responsibility rather than a paperwork exercise.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop the team — manage, coach and appraise Food Safety Associates across assigned clusters, set performance goals, hold regular check-ins and reviews, and build a pipeline of ready successors within the function.
• Put the FSMS into practice — translate the framework set by the Senior Manager into operational reality at every site, keeping HACCP plans, Good Manufacturing Practices and prerequisite programmes current and correctly followed.
• Watch over quality control — set and monitor the standards governing incoming raw materials, in-process production and finished goods across the assigned regions.
• Own audits and verification — run the internal audit calendar, drive findings to closure on schedule, ensure sampling and traceability programmes execute as planned, and prepare documentation and evidence for external, regulatory and certification audits (ISO, HACCP and related schemes).
• Handle incidents and risk — direct investigation and root cause analysis when food safety incidents or non-conformities arise, confirm that corrective and preventive actions genuinely work, and escalate serious or unresolved matters promptly.
• Approve and escalate corrective actions — sign off corrective and preventive action plans for significant non-conformities and route high-risk issues upward without delay.
• Report and improve — consolidate inspection, verification and performance data submitted by Associates into regional reports, surface trends and emerging risks, and recommend improvement initiatives grounded in what the data shows.
• Connect across functions and sites — work with Operations, Supply Chain, Procurement and Lab teams to resolve shared quality issues, and support the design and rollout of food safety training across regions.

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science and Technology, Microbiology, Public Health or a comparable scientific discipline; a master's degree or certification such as HACCP, ISO 22000 or FSSC is an advantage.
• At least five years in food safety, quality assurance or quality control within FMCG or food manufacturing, including two or more years supervising or leading a team.
• Hands-on experience implementing and maintaining ISO 22000:2018 Food Safety Management Systems alongside HACCP principles.
• A track record of managing food safety operations across multiple sites, clusters or regions.
• Proven experience leading internal audits and supporting external, regulatory and certification assessments.
• Strong people management skills — coaching, mentoring and developing staff, and holding them accountable.
• Sharp analytical and critical thinking ability, sound judgement and practical problem solving.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder engagement and technical report-writing skills.
• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, constantly shifting operational environment.