Unified Talent Group is exclusive in a search for a Director of Food Safety & Quality near Lexington KY. In this role, you’ll lead food safety and quality programs across distribution operations. You’ll ensure regulatory compliance, maintain product standards, oversee supplier quality, and drive continuous improvement across the organization.
This is an opportunity for an experienced leader who enjoys developing teams, strengthening processes, and building a strong culture of food safety and quality.
What You’ll Do
Food Safety & Compliance
- Develop and maintain Food Safety Plans, Food Defense Plans, policies, procedures, and supporting documentation.
- Ensure compliance with FSMA, HACCP, GMPs, SOPs, SSOPs, and applicable regulatory
- Monitor food safety controls throughout warehousing and distribution
- Serve as a liaison with regulatory agencies, auditors, and inspection
- Maintain required licenses, certifications, records, and
Product Safety & Quality
- Lead product holds, investigations, corrective actions, withdrawals, and
- Conduct food safety inspections at distribution and supplier
- Ensure products meet established quality standards and
- Investigate and resolve product quality issues, supplier concerns, and field complaints.
- Monitor quality data and trends to identify risks and improvement
Supplier Management & Collaboration
- Support supplier qualification, auditing, monitoring, and performance
- Partner with internal teams on supplier evaluations, product testing, and quality initiatives.
- Build productive relationships with suppliers, distributors, and internal
- Communicate audit findings and corrective action
Leadership & Continuous Improvement
- Lead, coach, and develop team
- Promote consistent food safety and quality practices across
- Lead training and awareness
- Drive cross-functional continuous improvement
What You Bring
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional
- 7+ years of relevant food safety or quality assurance
- Experience leading or implementing GFSI certification.
- Knowledge of GMPs, FSMA, and HACCP
- PCQI certification preferred, or willingness to
- SQF and/or applicable GFSI Auditor Certification
- Strong leadership, communication, and organizational
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office
- Ability to travel up to 25%. Why Join Our Client?
You’ll have the opportunity to lead a critical function with a direct impact on food safety, product quality, and operational excellence while helping strengthen programs and processes across the organization.
Michelle DeWeese brings over two decades of proven success in executive search, with a career defined by building high-performing teams across a wide range of industries. For for the past 15 years, Michelle has specialized in talent acquisition for the manufacturing and distribution sectors. Michelle holds both a Bachelor's degree and an MBA from Michigan State University. Outside of work, she enjoys golfing, playing pickleball, and spending time with her husband, Shawn, and their two Aussiedoodles, Zoe and Harper.
At Unified Talent Group, we partner with organizations of all sizes—from agile startups with limited HR infrastructure to global Fortune 100 companies. No matter where you are on your growth journey, you’ve come to the right place. We’re here to streamline and strengthen your talent acquisition strategy—efficiently, effectively, and with lasting impact.
