Position Director, Plant Quality and Food Safety

Director Of Plant Quality And Food Safety

At Danone, manufacturing the best products and supplying them to meet demand is a key driver for our plant teams. We are currently looking to hire a Director of Plant Quality and Food Safety, internally titled QFS Director, based in Mt. Crawford, Virginia!

The QFS (Quality & Food Safety) Director will strategically oversee the plant quality department, driving organizational excellence and ensuring product superiority in the competitive food manufacturing landscape. The QFS Director will deliver the value promises to the customer and consumer by ensuring conformity in product, processes and behaviors. Act as guardian of compliance to legal and regulatory standards (master governance) by driving the delivery of the "best product every day, every time" and acting as a product superiority ambassador at the plant level.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance for all products delivered to market, aligned with plant SQCDMN objectives and Danone Food Safety policies.
• Own product conformity through validation, approval, and release of raw materials, packaging, processes, and finished goods, including non-conforming product management.
• Ensure full compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, including PMO, LACF, and applicable certification and regulatory requirements.
• Lead and sustain robust Quality & Food Safety systems, including sampling, monitoring, metrology, sanitation, environmental programs, preventive maintenance (cPM), and laboratory operations.
• Manage all plant certifications and audit programs (e.g., GFSI/FSSC, Kosher, Organic), driving strong preparation, execution, and corrective action plans.
• Drive a strong quality culture through KPI ownership, performance tracking, PDCA problem-solving, and continuous improvement of key quality metrics (complaints, first pass cases, specification conformance, losses).
• Promote Built-In Quality, risk assessment, and process capability across all manufacturing steps and plant initiatives, including new products, processes, and equipment.
• Own quality elements of plant change management, ensuring proper validation, risk assessment, and execution of trials, renovations, and productivity initiatives in compliance with global standards.
• Serve as the primary Quality & Food Safety representative for the plant, ensuring strong engagement, visibility, escalation, and communication with internal leaders, corporate partners, suppliers, and regulatory authorities.
• Develop, coach, and lead the Quality & Food Safety team, including capability building, training of first-line leaders, and cross-functional collaboration.
• Lead the plant Quality Pillar within TPM / Lean systems, modeling Danone Leadership Behaviors and driving ownership across operations.
• Build and manage the plant Q&FS budget (FTE, OPEX, CAPEX) in close partnership with the Plant Director and Corporate Quality.

Physical Demands:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential function of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to handle or feel objects, tools, or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs and ladders, balance; stoop, kneel or crouch; talk and hear. Occasionally required to lift and / or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment:

• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee regularly works near moving mechanical parts and is regularly exposed to wet and/or humid conditions. The employee may be exposed to fumes or airborne particles, toxic or caustic chemicals and may be exposed to loud noises in the plant. The employee occasionally works in high, precarious places and is occasionally exposed to extreme cold, risk of electrical shock and vibration.

Engagement in our Integrated Work Systems: Ensure adherence to plant standards and procedures (including but not limited to GMP, AIB, FDA, IWS, Quality, Safety, Finance, ISO, HOPE, Danone Behaviors, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE). As a fundamental piece of the organization, your responsibility is to participate and own the implementation and deployment of IWS system and its pillars (Leadership foundation, Daily Direction Setting, Driving OE; Autonomous Maintenance; planned Maintenance; Focused Improvement; Education and Training; Environmental, Health and Safety; Quality; Organization; Supply Network; Early Equipment Management) with the objective of owning your space, owning your performance (Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, Mobilization, Nature) and owning your continuous improvement.

Compensation & Benefits: Danone North America additionally offers a performance-based bonus and has a strong benefits package including Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription Drug Coverage, 401k Plan, Wellness Program, Life Insurance, Tuition Reimbursement, Flexible Time Off, and Paid Parental Bonding Leave, among other benefit plan options.

About You

The ideal candidate will bring a combination of education, experience, and skills that enable them to excel in this position. The following qualifications outline what we're looking for, including both required and preferred criteria:

Education & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in food science or microbiology or related field, required.
• Minimum of 10 years of quality experience within a food or beverage manufacturing environment, required.
• Prior experience in the dairy industry is desired.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Highly developed communication, leadership, interpersonal, project management skills, coupled with organizational sensitivity and the ability to influence key decision makers at all levels.
• Act as a change agent who is able to build positive relationships on a foundation of trust and mutual respect.
• Technical expertise in finding root cause of quality issues and implementing best solution possible.
• Formal root cause analysis training preferred and must be demonstrated.
• Ability to sift through data to find key factors that contribute to a successful product and the ability to communicate this information to non-technical plant leaders and employees.
• Able to anticipate and prepare 3-5 year strategic vision for Quality excellence.
• Knowledge of local, state, and federal quality regulations is desired.
• Ability to support a 24/7 manufacturing environment as business needs dictate. Work schedules could include early morning, late night or weekend work as needed.

About Us, We Offer And What's Next

Danone U.S. is part of Danone North America, a purpose-driven company and an industry leader in the food and beverage category. You'll work with some of the best-known food and beverage brands in the world. Our strong portfolio of brands includes Activia®, DanActive®, Danimals®, Dannon®, evian®, Follow Your Heart®, Happy Family® Organics, International Delight®, Light + Fit®, Nutricia ®, Oikos®, Silk®, So Delicious® Dairy Free, STōK® Cold Brew Coffee ®, Too Good & Co™, and YoCrunch®. With approximately 5,000 employees and 13 production locations across the U.S., Danone North America's mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible. You'll be part of one of the largest Certified B Corps™ in the world, working to make sure our company creates real value for people and the planet. Come join our movement for a healthier world: One Planet. One Health BY YOU. Danone North America is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. It is our policy to give equal employment opportunities to all qualified persons without regard to legally protected characteristics, or any other consideration made unlawful by applicable federal, state/provincial and/or local law.