Food Safety Quality Assurance Manager

Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager

Location : Portland, OR
Job Type : Full-Time, On-Site
Compensation : $82,816.49 - $124,225.00 base salary
Additional Compensation : 10% target annual incentive

About the Opportunity

A leading provider of culinary and food service solutions to the aviation and travel industry is seeking an experienced Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager to lead food safety and quality programs at a large-scale food production facility in Portland.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who understands food production from the inside—not simply someone who has managed quality systems from a desk. You will spend significant time on the production floor working directly with operations and food production teams, identifying potential issues, conducting audits, reviewing food safety practices, and ensuring corrective actions are completed.

The ideal candidate brings strong food safety expertise, leadership experience, regulatory knowledge, and the ability to work effectively in a fast-paced production environment.

What You'll Do

• Lead the site's food safety and quality programs and ensure compliance with company, customer, and regulatory requirements.

• Spend regular time on the production floor conducting daily food safety and quality walks and identifying potential risks or areas for improvement.

• Conduct and oversee food safety audits, including temperature monitoring, HACCP log reviews, swab testing, sanitation checks, and other quality inspections.

• Partner closely with Production and Operations leadership to identify issues, implement corrective actions, and follow up to ensure problems are resolved.

• Lead or actively participate in customer, regulatory, and third-party audits, including providing required documentation and completing audit sign-offs.

• Conduct food quality and product verification activities, including evaluating prepared food, weighing products, comparing products against customer specifications, and ensuring proper preparation and handling.

• Ensure food is produced, stored, labeled, and handled in accordance with applicable FDA, USDA, FSMA, HACCP, and cGMP requirements.

• Train employees at all levels on food safety practices, procedures, and expectations.

• Maintain detailed food safety records, documentation, logs, reports, and corrective action tracking.

• Monitor food safety and quality data, identify trends and risks, and implement improvements.

• Oversee and develop the Food Safety/Quality team, currently consisting of a supervisor and three clerks.

• Coach, train, develop, and hold team members accountable while building bench strength for future growth.

• Work collaboratively with Operations, Production, HR, and other business leaders to maintain a strong food safety culture.

• Support continuous improvement initiatives and ensure food safety standards remain consistently high across all shifts.

What We're Looking For

Required

• 5+ years of experience in food safety and/or quality within a regulated food production or food manufacturing environment.

• Direct hands-on experience working with food production and food quality. This may include experience with recipes, prepared/hot food, temperatures, food storage, labeling, expiration dates, and other day-to-day food production processes.

• Prior leadership or management experience, including the ability to train, coach, develop, and hold employees accountable.

• Experience working directly on a production floor and partnering with Operations and Production teams.

• Experience with food safety audits and regulatory requirements, including FDA and/or USDA.

• PCQI and HACCP certifications.

• Strong knowledge of FDA/USDA regulations, FSMA Preventive Controls, HACCP principles, and current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs).

• Strong communication, problem-solving, organizational, and analytical skills.

• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced environment and interact confidently with employees and leaders at all levels.

• Strong attention to detail and the ability to maintain thorough documentation and records.

Preferred

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, or a related field.

• Experience in ready-to-eat food production or a similar high-volume food manufacturing environment.

• Experience leading or supporting customer, regulatory, or third-party audits.

• Experience with environmental monitoring, microbiological testing, sanitation verification, corrective actions, and food quality programs.

Leadership Expectations

This role requires a leader who can operate confidently in a demanding production environment. You will need to establish clear expectations, provide feedback, address issues directly, and work through pushback when implementing food safety requirements or operational changes.

The successful candidate will be comfortable balancing hands-on floor leadership with administrative responsibilities and will take an active role in developing the Food Safety team and building future bench strength.

Schedule & Work Environment

This is not a traditional Monday-Friday position.

The facility operates 24/7, and the Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager must be flexible enough to adjust their schedule based on production needs, different employee shifts, and audit requirements.

• Regular interaction with teams working different shifts is expected.

• Occasional weekend availability may be required.

• Regulatory or customer audits may occur with limited notice and can last 2–3 days.

• The expectation is not that this person works overnight shifts continuously, but that they are flexible enough to be present when operational or audit needs require it.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary with a target range of approximately $82,816.49 - $124,225.00, depending on experience

• 10% target annual incentive

• Health insurance

• Dental and vision insurance

• Life and AD&D insurance

• 401(k) with company match

• Paid time off

• Paid holidays

• Benefits beginning day one

• Tuition reimbursement

• Free parking

• Free meals

• Professional development opportunities

• Access to a credit union

• Opportunity to lead food safety and quality operations within a large-scale, high-volume food production environment