Director of Quality, Food Safety, & Compliance

Compensation and Benefits:
Salary range is $120,000-$135,000. Benefits include bonus eligibility, medical/dental/vision insurance, a 401(k) with a 4% company match, equity shares, and paid sick and vacation time.

Position Summary:
The Director of Quality, Food Safety & Compliance leads and continuously strengthens all quality assurance, quality control, food safety, regulatory compliance, sanitation, and workplace safety efforts across Bobo's manufacturing operations. This is an on-site leadership position that serves as the enterprise owner for product integrity, consumer safety, employee safety, and regulatory risk management. The role provides both strategic direction and hands-on leadership to ensure all products are manufactured in a way that protects consumers and employees while meeting or exceeding internal standards, customer requirements, and applicable regulatory and certification expectations. This includes programs and requirements such as SQF, FDA, HACCP, FSMA, OSHA, and related standards. The ideal candidate is an experienced food manufacturing leader who can partner closely with operations while maintaining strong governance-ensuring that quality, food safety, and workplace safety are built into daily operations and treated as core priorities.

Essential Functions:
* Develop and implement the company's strategy for quality, food safety, sanitation, and workplace safety in alignment with overall business goals.
* Lead, coach, and develop the Safety and Quality Managers, creating accountability and driving a continuous improvement mindset.
* Collaborate with Production, Supply Chain, R&D, and Logistics as a key operational partner, while maintaining independent authority over decisions affecting quality, food safety, and workplace safety.
* Serve as the primary advisor to the VP of Operations and executive leadership on quality, food safety, and safety matters.
* Own compliance with all relevant regulatory and certification requirements, including SQF, FDA, HACCP, FSMA, OSHA (as applicable), and customer-specific standards.
* Oversee the design, rollout, and effectiveness of quality systems across cleaning, baking, packaging, storage, and distribution/shipping operations, ensuring they support both food safety and employee safety.
* Ensure risks related to food safety, quality, and workplace safety are identified early, evaluated thoroughly, and reduced through preventive controls and robust programs.
* Maintain clear decision authority for product holds, release decisions, product disposition, and recall actions.
* Provide oversight and direction for sanitation programs, including managing third-party sanitation service providers.
* Ensure sanitation supports food safety outcomes, equipment performance and reliability, employee safety, and audit readiness.
* Lead workplace safety programs in close coordination with operations to reduce risk, maintain compliance, and build a proactive safety culture.
* Drive a systems-based approach to managing quality, food safety, and workplace safety to reduce dependence on manual processes and institutional knowledge.
* Ensure standard work, procedures, and key processes are documented, trained, and executed consistently, with a strong focus on safe performance.
* Lead root cause investigations and CAPA processes for internal issues, customer complaints, safety incidents, and audit findings.
* Plan and lead internal, customer, and third-party audits, ensuring the organization remains continuously audit-ready.
* Use data, metrics, and KPIs to monitor performance, identify patterns, and drive measurable improvement in quality, food safety, and workplace safety.
* Own corrective action responses and ensure findings are addressed effectively and closed within required timelines.
* Deliver routine updates to executive leadership, highlighting risks, performance trends, and improvement priorities.
* Maintain accurate, compliant documentation and records across all quality, food safety, and safety systems.
* Serve as the main point of contact for customer interactions related to quality, food safety, and compliance.
* Build strong credibility with customers, auditors, and regulatory agencies through transparency, responsiveness, and strong program execution.
* Perform other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibility:
This position leads the Quality and Safety Departments with direct oversight of area managers.

Qualifications / Education / Experience Desired:
* Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Food Safety, Quality Management, or a related field required; Master's degree preferred.
* At least 10 years of quality assurance and food safety experience in food manufacturing, including a minimum of 5 years in a leadership role.
* Strong knowledge of food safety regulations and standards, including SQF, HACCP, FDA requirements, and GFSI standards.
* Experience in a baking environment or similar food manufacturing setting is strongly preferred.
* Demonstrated senior management experience and proven ability to lead cross-functional teams.
* Strong leadership capabilities with experience managing and motivating larger teams.
* Experience leading workplace safety programs.
* Excellent problem-solving ability with a results-focused approach.
* Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively at all levels of the organization.
* Experience with Lean, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement methods is a plus.

Supervision Given / Reporting Relationship:
* This role reports to the VP of Operations.
* The person in this role is expected to work independently at times and confidently manage situations with minimal oversight when needed.

Physical Demands:
The requirements below reflect the physical demands necessary to perform the essential functions of this role, with reasonable accommodations available for qualified individuals with disabilities.
While performing job duties, the employee will regularly be required to sit and stand, use hands for handling and grasping objects, reach with arms/hands, and communicate by speaking and hearing. The employee may occasionally be required to walk, climb or balance, and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The role requires frequent lifting/moving of up to 10 pounds and occasional lifting/moving up to 25 pounds. Vision requirements include working on a computer screen and adjusting focus as needed. Some travel may be required; the employee must be able to drive a motor vehicle and communicate effectively by phone and email.

Work Location:
Denver, Colorado

Travel Required:
Occasional travel expected, generally less than 10%, including possible off-site training sessions.