Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance

Finding the right place to grow your career isn't (over) easy, so we're here to help by sharing a few reasons why the grass is greener at Vital Farms. We think you'll appreciate our focus on Conscious Capitalism, which drives business decisions that benefit all our stakeholders (leading to even better business results). You might be drawn to our innovative approach and refusal to settle for the "way things have always been done." Or you could find it exciting to grow your skills while working for an industry-leading brand. Whether you're into our values, our brand, or our egg-cellent puns, we hope you'll join our Crew and help us change the world 108 square feet at a time!

At Vital Farms, we are proud of our incredible stakeholders, and the diversity they represent from all areas and communities in which we operate and serve. We view this as a source of strength for us and your job is to help us make it even better.

Your Role:

The Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance reports directly to the Vice President of FSQA and is the Vital Farms leader and internal expert in all aspects of food safety and compliance. This individual is a trusted expert, creative problem solver, and strong relationship-builder capable of influencing and implementing a food-safety culture and proper procedures to suppliers, team members and customers. The Director will provide leadership and technical, science-based expertise in food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance programs. The Director effectively collaborates across all functional lines internally, with external suppliers/co-manufacturers and with various government entities, while behaving as a brand ambassador of Vital Farms' core values.

What You'll Do:

• Build and provide leadership to a crew of industry leading quality and food safety experts which scales with our growing business.
• Oversee the development and implementation of sustainable and scalable food safety and quality processes to meet Vital Farms' fast-growing needs.
• Evaluate operations, both internal and external, from a strategic level to ensure that products and processes meet all quality specifications and requirements.
• Identify high-level operational risks and drive mitigation strategies and continuous improvement.
• Ensure quality and food safety standards are met by analyzing and trending the results of internal QA, product, plant process documentation, regulatory compliance, and third-party audits.
• Collaborate across departments to study and improve compliance, processes, and areas, including but not limited to, SQF, internal auditing, document control, product specifications, food safety and HACCP Plans, prerequisite programs, regulatory requirements, customer/consumer complaints, sanitation, commercialization, supplier verification and management, recall and traceability, environmental monitoring.
• Ensure a thorough and robust supplier program that is inclusive of all partners and co-manufacturers and that the program meets all relevant standards.
• Ensure regular sampling and testing of products to ensure compliance with Food Safety requirements and Vital Farms standards.

What You Bring to the Table:

• 10+ years of experience in Food Safety and Quality Management preferred with strong regulatory and GFSI scheme understanding (specifically SQF)
• Holds a bachelor's in food science and technology or related field; Master's degree in a similar field is desirable.
• HACCP Certified, GFSI / SQF practitioner, PCQI, and other applicable certifications.
• SQF internal auditing experience, audit certification preferrable
• Knowledge of FDA, USDA, and State food safety regulations
• Willingness to travel: Approximately 25% - 50%. May be periods when travel peaks above.
• In depth knowledge of shell egg applicable regulations and guidelines and experience in shell egg processing preferred
• A high attention to detail, well organized, and able to juggle many projects at once.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced environment.
• Passionate about food safety and developing a food safety culture.
• Strong sense of servant leadership.
• Positive attitude and motivated by contributing to the overall success of the team.
• Science base expertise in food safety, quality assurance and regulatory compliance with an understanding of sampling, testing and verification processes within a manufacturing environment.
• In depth knowledge and understanding of working with developing requirements, and auditing co-manufacturers, suppliers, and partners to develop and execute finished goods that are rigorously reviewed for all food safety and quality aspects.
• Ability to understand and analyze issues involving food manufacturing, natural sciences, mathematics (including statistics), technical and legal documents.
• Ability to develop or facilitate the development of and implement training programs that increase efficiency and ensure employee competency.
• Ability to help develop and/or execute strategic plans to meet departmental and organizational business KPI's while complying with regulatory and customer requirements.
• Oversee raw materials and specification retrievals from all incoming ingredients and food contact materials and verify they are sourced from suitable suppliers and specifications are completed.
• Oversee customer complaint procedure, reporting and action plans ensuring all items are addressed in a timely appropriate fashion by all relevant departments including product recall practice and procedures.
• You're no hero - You know the power of teamwork and celebrate the work of others before your own.
• You give a sh*t - You believe in acting like an owner and making Vital Farms a place to be proud of.
• You raise the standards - You know growth can be hard, but you strive to improve yourself and others each day.
• You can walk in someone else's boots - You seek to understand other's viewpoints and think that you get to better answers by sitting on the same side of the table.
• You don't walk on eggshells - You're not afraid to leave the bullsh*t behind and have honest conversations.

What We Bring to the Table:

• A fast-paced, energetic, remote environment with passionate people who are leading a movement to bring ethically produced food to the table.
• Competitive pay and benefits (Medical, Dental, Vision, and Paid Parental Leave, just to name a few).
• Generous retirement contributions: 401(k) + 3% Contribution from Day 1.
• Annual bonus and equity grant (subject to business results and company approval)
• Free eggs and butter, along with friends and family discounts.
• Fun team SWAG that will make you the talk of the town.
• Professional development opportunities and an amazing team dedicated to your growth.

At Vital Farms, compensation decisions are dependent upon a variety of factors, which may include, but are not limited to, skill level, experience, education, training, market demands, and business needs. A reasonable estimate of the current starting annual base salary for this position is $150,000 - $180,000. Please keep in mind that hiring at the maximum end of the range would not be typical in order to allow for potential continued future salary growth.