VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance

Who We Are 

We’re Chomps, the fastest-growing snack brand in the U.S. and we’re reimagining snacking. Our meat snacks are made using high-quality proteins, no sugar, and real ingredients – because we believe snacking should be simple, delicious, and convenient. Chomps can be found in over 30,000 stores nationwide with a strong e-commerce presence. Our mission is to inspire, educate, and fuel our community with accessible, real food that doesn’t compromise on taste. 

Traits of a Chompian 

If you’ve been called scrappy, resourceful, and persistent, then you might just be a Chompian. You’re a team player who’s self-motivated and action-oriented. You’re committed to delivering efficiency and accuracy, and you happen to be great at proactive cross-functional communication. You’re a critical thinker and a natural problem solver who enjoys details, research, and data. You take initiative and complete ownership of everything you do, and you’ll go the extra mile for your team, consumers, and audience. You’re hungry to learn with a passion to grow and improve every day. You also take a keen interest in health, fitness, and nutrition. Sound like you? Then we want to meat you.

What You Will Do

As the VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance, you will be responsible for leading the strategic direction, development, implementation, and management of food safety and quality assurance programs. This role will ensure that Chomps' products meet all regulatory requirements and industry standards while maintaining the highest level of quality and safety. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in food safety, quality control, and regulatory compliance within the food industry, with a proven track record of leadership in a large-scale organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and implement strategic plans over a 3+ year road-map for the food safety and quality assurance program, aligning with the company's growth to a billion-dollar brand.
• Lead, mentor, and manage the food safety and quality assurance team (currently nine), ensuring continuous development and alignment with company goals.
• Ensure strict compliance with GMP, HACCP, and third-party certification regulations and guidelines with our external partners including raw material suppliers, frozen storage/tempering facilities, co-manufacturers, repackers, 3PL fulfillment.
• Ensure strict compliance with USDA regulations, including overseeing recall procedures and facilitating USDA interactions during food safety incidents.
• Monitor changes in food safety regulations and implement necessary updates to company policies and procedures.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of quality control processes, including product testing, inspection, and validation.
• Implement and manage quality improvement initiatives to enhance product consistency and consumer satisfaction.
• Ensure investigations into food safety incidents and quality issues are completed in a timely manner, including root cause analysis and corrective action plans.
• Prepare and present reports on food safety and quality performance to senior leadership and cross-functional teams.
• Lead the team in the growth and development of processes, procedures, team, and systems to support the growing FSQA needs of the organization.
• Foster a culture of food safety and quality throughout the organization.
• Collaborate with other departments to ensure food safety and quality standards are integrated into all aspects of the business. This role will partner with several functions on a regular basis, e.g. Manufacturing, R&D, Engineering, Procurement, Commercialization, Productivity, Logistics, Finance, and Consumer Experience.
• Demonstrate an ability to be a functional FSQA senior leader, but also a broader business leader within Chomps by also serving as a leader within the broader Operations team to also enable overall Operations and Company/Brand success.
• Travel requirements: up to 40% of the time.

Who You Are

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Microbiology, or a related field with a minimum of 15 years of experience.
• Prior industry experience with USDA is required, experience with FDA is a plus.
• Previous experience with regulatory audits, USDA, and SQF is required.
• Experience working in a CoMan/third-party model is required to ultimately support our Chomps Brand, but also to work as strategic partners with mutual growth and success. Develop solid partnerships with external partner FSQA teams.
• SQF and GFSI benchmarked standard training.
• Knowledge of CFR Food & Drugs, USDA (Organic), Non-GMO, Gluten Free, Kosher.
• Outstanding communication (both verbal and written) and relationship management skills.
• Strong leadership and team management skills with the ability to drive change and foster collaboration, while developing and empowering high performance teams.
• Proven experience in a senior leadership role within a large-scale organization, preferably in the food industry.
• Proven experience managing product recalls, including coordination with USDA officials, overseeing corrective actions, and ensuring compliance with all regulatory standards during recall procedures.

Position: VP, Food Safety & Quality Assurance

Reports to: VP, Operations

Location: Remote + Travel

Type: Full-Time, exempt

Our Commitment

Chomps is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. To achieve our mission of making nutritious food more accessible we greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which comes from diversity of all types, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do and the smart thing for our business. 

We're aware of the research showing that historically underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for a job if they don't believe that they meet all of the criteria. Do you hesitate to submit an application because you believe you need to check every box? Please apply anyway with a thoughtful cover letter! We would love to hear from you to discuss how you can help us build a great team at Chomps. 

You must reside in the United States to be considered for this position. Chomps does not provide employment-based visa sponsorship at this time. Candidates must be authorized to work in the U.S. without the need for visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Important Notice:

It has come to our attention that fraudsters have been posing as Chomps employees or recruiters and contacting job-seeking candidates regarding potential job opportunities. These fraudulent messages sometimes include a request for payment and confidential personal information. Please note that the Chomps recruiting process does not include asking candidates for payments or other confidential financial information.If you are applying for a job, you can confirm the legitimacy of a job posting by viewing current open roles: https://chomps.com/pages/chomps-careers. If you have questions please email us at people@chomps.com