Dir of Quality and Food Safety North America

Regional Quality & Food Safety Director

The Regional Quality & Food Safety Director will provide strategic leadership and oversight for the design, program & practices, implementation, and continuous improvement of Quality Systems across the Region. This role is responsible for setting and enforcing standards, ensuring global practices are aligned with regulatory and institutional customer requirements, and fostering a culture of Quality at all levels of the organization. The Director will drive continuous improvement of the Quality Program & Practice throughout the company, promote best practices, and ensure alignment with Grupo Bimbo and Bimbo QSR Quality standards. In addition, the Director will be expected to influence executive leadership, ensure strong collaboration with instituional customers, represent the region in global quality forums, and mentor the quality leaders within the organization. Builds and maintains high-level relationships with key customers and vendors, to proactively enhancing Bimbo QSR Bakeries' visibility, reputation, and influence within the industry. Represents BQ US in customer performance reviews, executive meetings, and technical councils, addressing complex challenges and opportunities. Lead risk management, crisis response, and global project leadership related to quality and food safety.

Key Job Responsibilities:

• Develop and execute regional quality strategies that support global objectives and drive operational excellence.
• Aligning and incorporating Global standards and strategy with regional specific initiatives and objectives.
• Lead cross-functional teams to implement quality initiatives and address complex challenges.
• Serve as a key advisor to executive leadership on both Quality Systems Leadership and Regional leadership team.
• Develop and implement strategies to foster a strong Quality & Food Safety culture across all levels of the region.
• Key advisor on Quality & Food Safety related topics, risks, and opportunities.

• Interface with customers, vendors, and trade organizations to enhance visibility and reputation.
• Participate in customer performance reviews and technical councils.
• Identify and implement best practices to enhance quality performance and customer satisfaction.
• Oversee compliance with all relevant regulatory requirements and industry standards.

• Act as Subject Matter Expert for internal projects (new sites, equipment, products, etc.).
• Responsible for ensuring that all sites within the Region are GFSI Certified and compliant with all Grupo Bimbo, Bimbo QSR, Local Legislation and Customer requirements.
• Own and manage the Regional KPI Scorecard and metrics for Quality & Food Safety.
• Collaborate with Operations, Sales, R&D, and Procurement for customer/supplier onboarding.

• Represent the region in global quality systems meetings and contribute to policy and standards development.
• Deliver accurate and timely updates on Quality, Food Safety, Sanitation, and Compliance.
• Perform other duties as assigned by Senior Management.
• Communicate accurate, thorough and timely information relating to Quality, Food Safety Sanitation and Regulatory Compliance as appropriate.

• Lead the Regional Quality Systems Team to ensure strategic alignment.
• Develop regional budgets for Quality Systems and Sanitation, including CAPEX and staffing needs.
• Partner with People and Site Leadership for recruitment, onboarding, and development of associates.
• Evaluate and improve plant-level Quality System's capabilities, execution level, staffing, and training.
• Mentor, coach, and develop regional quality managers and teams to build a high-performing organization.
• Conduct annual Performance Reviews and build site-level talent, retention and succession plans.

Key Competencies and Skills:

• Interact effectively with associates at all organizational levels.
• Communicate and coordinate effectively with internal and external customers verbally and in writing.
• Read and process written information with a high degree of accuracy.
• Ability to analyze and resolve complex problems using data and SPC.
• Strategic thinking, change management, influencing skills.
• Work effectively in a general business environment.
• Possess good English communication skills (both written and oral).
• Proficient with Microsoft Office and other menu driven software applications (TraceGains, SAP–Oracle, Freshability, WinSPC, etc.).
• Ability to train others.
• Demonstrate good organizational and time management skills.
• Take initiative and lead the quality organization, be self-motivated, looking for opportunities to improve Quality & Food Safety systems and Vendor Management.
• Ability to lead by influencing with a facilitative style of management demonstrating behaviors consistent with Grupo-Bimbo values.

Education and Work History:

• Master or Bachelor's degree in food science, chemistry, microbiology, or related field of science from an accredited college or university.
• +10 years of relevant work experience in the food production and/or baking industry, with a thorough understanding of Food Safety & Quality Management Standards (SQF, BRC, FSSC 22K) and associated requisite programs and regulations.
• Experience to effectively lead teams and people management