The Manager, Food Safety Quality Assurance - Protein (Poultry highly preferred), is responsible for providing quality oversight of assigned category suppliers through product quality monitoring & audits, product commercialization, managing & resolving quality incidents, and creating & managing product specifications. Other responsibilities include assess processing capabilities of supply partners and develop & approve secondary products to match brand standards.

This position sits onsite at our Atlanta Support Center 4 days per week. After 1 year of employment, learning the role and culture, there will be more flexibility.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Support cost savings initiatives by Supply Chain via product matching & commercialization. Provide technical expertise to internal and supply partners during production scale up and rollout.Develop and maintain detailed product specifications to meet regulatory and company standards within Inspire Brands systems. Provide guidance cross functionally as needed during development, testing, and implementation.  Facilitate objective product cuttings with cross-functional teams to ensure compliance to specifications. Generate reports, monitor performance, and address negative trends and attributes outside of specification with Supplier. Manage Quality Incident Reports (QIR’s) in product category by ensuring they are closed in a timely manner, monitoring for trends and emerging issues, collaborating cross functionally on issue investigations, and working with suppliers and distributors on corrective and preventive actions as needed. Manage Product Audit Program via collaboration with 3rd party labs by conducting & reporting trend analyses of analytical and physical data.  Communicate product audit results to suppliers and validate & monitor corrective action plans.Perform periodic onsite audits of supplier facilities to ensure compliance to specification, company and quality assurance expectations, ensure corrective and preventive actions are sufficient.Execute comprehensive supplier facility reviews of both new and existing suppliers and monitor approved suppliers for performance against Inspire Brands standards.Maintain an Approved Products List & Product Catalog by supplier utilizing QA database.Maintain current and accurate records of all relevant communications, product audit reports, production data, commercialization reports, and corrective action plans for all approved and potential suppliers.Perform risk analysis on new food items and ingredients to determine inherent product risk. Implement and Monitor controls for identified hazards based on science and risk-based principles for identified products.Assist Crisis Management Team during Product Recall & Withdrawal execution & response. Manages product holds related to product category not meeting specification for quality.Monitor regulatory and industry activity for global crisis and emerging issues that impacts or potentially impacts Inspire Brands and escalate concerns to quality leadership as necessary. Perform other related duties, tasks, and projects as assigned.This role has 0 direct reports.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE QUALIFICATIONS

BS in Public Health, Meat Science, Food Science, Microbiology, Biology or related fieldMinimum 4+ years of commercialization, food safety and quality assuranceSubject Matter Expertise in assigned categoryFood manufacturing experience requiredBeef category management experience preferred

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS or ABILITIES

Multiyear experience in managing effectively the above listed areas of responsibilityIn-depth understanding of assigned categoryA strong understanding of food manufacturing for multiple product categories with in-depth understanding of food safety and statistical process control.A strong ability to match & commercialize products to existing brand standardsStrong ability to evaluate products via taste testing to validate all organoleptic attributes.Strong understanding of Federal food safety regulationsIn-depth understanding of Global Food Safety Initiative Audit SchemesStrong analytical skills and attention to detailPeople and results orientedBottom line management skills and strategic thinkerExcellent presentation, and oratory skills

DECISION-MAKING AUTHORITY

The Domestic Supplier Quality Manager is limited on the spend authorities as established by corporate governance.Authority to implement against all agreed upon and approved supply change strategy as directedAuthority to implement process improvements in contracting once approved

TRAVEL

Ability to travel up to 50%

 

Inspire is a multi-brand restaurant company whose portfolio includes more than 33,000 Arby’s, Baskin-Robbins, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dunkin’, Jimmy John’s, and SONIC restaurants worldwide.

We’re made up of some of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands, but we’re much more than just a restaurant company. We’re a team of hundreds of thousands who individually and collectively are changing the way people eat, drink, and gather around the table. We know that food is much more than a staple—it’s an experience. At Inspire, that’s our purpose: to ignite and nourish flavorful experiences.