Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager
Location: Jamaica, NY — JFK Airport
Work Location: On-Site
Compensation: $94,000–$140,427 base + 10% target annual incentive
Schedule: Full-Time
About the Opportunity
A leading provider of culinary and food service solutions to the aviation and travel industry is seeking a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager to lead food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement within a high-volume food production operation.
This is a hands-on, operational leadership role. The ideal candidate has spent significant time working directly within food production environments—not solely in an auditing, inspection, or administrative capacity. You will work closely with production and operations teams to identify issues, implement corrective actions, maintain food safety systems, and ensure products consistently meet regulatory, customer, and company standards.
What You'll Do
- Lead and maintain the facility's food safety and quality management systems.
- Develop, implement, and continuously execute food safety preventive control programs, including HACCP, prerequisite programs, traceability and recall, allergen controls, and related documentation.
- Ensure compliance with FDA, FSMA, USDA, cGMP, customer, and internal food safety and quality requirements.
- Conduct routine food safety assessments, production-floor checks, and microbiological testing as required.
- Review HACCP logs, environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, and other food safety records.
- Identify food safety and quality issues and ensure timely corrective and preventive actions are implemented.
- Support production and operations leadership with audit and inspection readiness before, during, and after external inspections and customer audits.
- Investigate food safety concerns and provide detailed findings and recommendations to management and customers when appropriate.
- Conduct product and process evaluations to verify quality, portion control, food handling, equipment practices, and other operational standards.
- Oversee pest control and other food safety-related vendors and service providers.
- Maintain accurate food safety documentation, reports, procedures, and records.
- Partner closely with Operations, Production, Sales, HR, and regional quality leadership.
- Provide technical guidance on HACCP, food safety, microbiology, sensory evaluation, and quality standards.
- Recruit, train, coach, develop, and evaluate Food Safety team members.
- Support company-wide quality, HACCP, lean manufacturing, and employee safety initiatives.
What We're Looking For
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Microbiology, Chemistry, Biology, or a related field.
- 5+ years of food safety experience, including at least 2 years of management experience.
- PCQI certification and HACCP experience.
- Direct experience working in food production, food manufacturing, or a similar high-volume food operation.
- Strong knowledge of food microbiology, food chemistry, food safety, and food regulations.
- Working knowledge of FDA FSMA, cGMPs, HACCP, and USDA requirements.
- Experience implementing and maintaining food safety programs and preventive controls.
- Experience supporting audits, inspections, investigations, and corrective actions from the operations/production side.
- Strong analytical, organizational, and documentation skills.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to lead, coach, develop, and hold employees accountable.
The Right Leadership Style
This role requires someone who can operate confidently in a demanding production environment and effectively work through challenges with employees, production teams, and other departments.
We're looking for a leader who can:
- Handle pushback professionally and confidently.
- Implement changes and hold teams accountable to food safety standards.
- Give clear, constructive feedback when standards are not being met.
- Build strong relationships while maintaining appropriate food safety expectations.
- Remain composed and solutions-oriented in a fast-paced environment.
- Balance hands-on production support with the documentation and administrative responsibilities of the role.
Preferred Experience
- Experience in high-volume prepared food, ready-to-eat food, airline catering, commercial food production, or a similar environment.
- Experience with environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, microbiological testing, and corrective action programs.
- Experience managing food safety or quality teams.
- Experience working with customer-specific food safety requirements.
- Experience in manufacturing or operations environments where food safety is integrated directly into daily production.
Experience with an aviation food service or similar industry is helpful but not required.
Why Join
This is an opportunity to take a key leadership role within a large-scale food production operation serving the aviation and travel industry.
The position offers a comprehensive benefits package, including:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance
- 401(k) with company matching
- Paid time off and holidays
- Life and AD&D insurance
- Benefits beginning day one
- Tuition reimbursement
- Free parking
- Professional development opportunities
- And additional company benefits
Compensation: $94,000–$140,427 base salary, based on experience, qualifications, education, and other applicable factors, plus eligibility for a 10% target annual incentive based on financial and operational performance.