Senior Supplier Quality & Safety Lead

This role will be responsible for managing the safety and quality for all Chick-fil-A food and paper products, with primary focus on chicken, supported by deep poultry expertise. The individual will lead the development of the Chick-fil-A poultry category and related ingredients, from the farm through processing, requiring hands-on experience across the supply chain.

The primary objective of this role will be to look at supply quality and safety holistically and partner with suppliers to provide solutions to meet Chick-fil-A’s growth needs and product quality and safety standards. The individual in this role is expected to apply deep technical expertise in chicken processing insight and be able to challenge the status quo in order to reach solutions quickly and successfully.

By leveraging experiential knowledge, and an innovative mindset for solutions, this role will influence both external partners and internal key stakeholders to continuously improve the products sourced by Chick-fil-A from various industry partners with a focus on innovation, quality, consistency and performance.

Key accountabilities:

• Apply an expert knowledge on Food Science to positively influence the quality of incoming product(s) while ensuring safe supply, with a primary application in chicken processing and production environments.
• Partner directly with supplier production teams and equipment engineers to advise on line set up, processing conditions and equipment optimisation to deliver Chick-fil-A chicken product specifications.
• Solve complex problems relating to supplier quality, if and when it arises, and take a broad perspective to identify solutions.
• Plan and direct projects and/or outcomes and provide technical leadership and consultation to Suppliers and cross-functional partners.
• Conduct onsite visits of production facilities and identify correction actions with Suppliers, acting as the subject matter expert.
• On-board new Suppliers and/or facilities into Chick-fil-A’s supply chain.
• Lead cross-functional teams focused on solving problems relating to supplier quality, if and when it arises, and drive positive change.
• Investigate issues and make determinations and recommendations sometimes with limited information, bringing teams along to provide clear and consistent messaging to Suppliers.
• Disseminate information quickly and take action in a timely manner.
• Build strong, collaborative working relationships with Suppliers, Operators, and internal stakeholders while producing results.
• Support and interact with Suppliers, Staff, and Operators on solutioning for the safety and quality of our food & paper products with majority of the focus being in poultry category.
• Serve as the subject matter expert in chicken processing and poultry production, proactively staying current on industry developments, emerging technologies, and best practices, and translating these into practical application across suppliers and internal teams.

Qualifications, knowledge, skills and abilities:

• Degree in Food Science, Meat Science, Poultry Science, Engineering or related field
• Knowledge of innovation processes, product and process development.
• Safety focused individual: Possess an uncompromising commitment to food safety for customers and overall safety for the organization and its employees.
• PCQI (Preventative Control Qualified Individual) required.
• Hands on experience in chicken processing environments is required, with the ability to influence production outcomes.
• Knowledge of poultry husbandry, including farm operations and bird welfare, is preferred
• Knowledge of DSI machines is highly beneficial.
• Possess customer focus mindset - is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers.
• Self-starter with an ability to manage multiple assignments within deadlines and navigate ambiguous situations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills. Possess strong verbal and written communications skills, with good influencing skills.
• Strong organization skills, with excellent attention to details.
• Must be able to perform in a demanding, fast-paced environment.
• Good mathematical and analytical skills.

Minimum years experience: 4+

Travel requirements: 40%