Head of Quality Assurance en Blommer Chocolate Company

Blommer has been providing delicious, high-quality chocolate and cocoa products to customers since 1939. Built as a family business, we are continuing to grow and are looking for motivated and reliable associates to help in our mission of Bringing Chocolate to Life!

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Design and execute a comprehensive strategy for quality assurance, food safety, and sanitation that aligns with the company’s overarching strategic goals.
• Lead, mentor, and develop the Quality Assurance Team, fostering a strong culture of food safety and continuous improvement across all levels.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to embed quality, food safety, and sanitation standards into daily operations and decision-making processes.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable food safety laws and regulations in the U.S. and Canada, as well as customer requirements, GFSI-benchmarked certification standards, and other third-party certification standards.
• Serve as the quality lead for commercialization projects, ensuring new products meet design specifications, food safety protocols, and policy standards.
• Monitor and assess emerging trends and risks related to food safety and quality, proactively addressing potential impacts.
• Provide expert guidance on technical issues related to quality, food safety, and sanitation, including risk assessments and mitigation planning.
• Develop, implement, and oversee corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) in response to customer complaints, audit findings, and identified food safety risks.
• Identify strategic opportunities for continuous improvement, leveraging tools and methodologies to enhance quality and operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with the Operations Team to support corporate initiatives aimed at reducing food waste and strengthening food safety culture.
• Lead and participate in internal and external quality and food safety audits and inspections, ensuring that facilities are always audit- and inspection-ready.
• Communicate key trends, risks, and initiatives in quality and food safety to senior leadership, enabling informed decision-making.
• Maintain accurate and compliant documentation related to quality, food safety, and sanitation, in accordance with regulatory and company requirements.
• Serve as key contact for customer inquiries and complaints related to quality and food safety, ensuring timely and effective resolution.
• Drive root cause analysis and long-term corrective actions to address and prevent recurrence of customer concerns related to quality or food safety.

 Note: The employer reserves the right to change or assign other duties to this position

Physical Requirements:

• General office environment with majority of time using computer
• Regular exposure to plant floor, including noise, dust and variation in temperature (hot/cold)
• Requires frequent travel (40%-60%) depending on location

Safety, Quality and Hygiene Requirements:

• Maintain compliance with all company policies, procedures and code of conduct
• Comply with workplace uniform requirements and safety gear, when on the plant floor v. office

Performance Expectations:

• Manage product operation with a high set of standards to produce consistent, quality-driven results
• Ensures work hours and schedules, timely attendance, and notice requirements for absences or lateness are met
• Promote a positive attitude and a sense of curiosity in learning new roles and responsibilities
• Instill a culture of leadership and engagement of team to achieve performance expectations

Skills and Work Experience Requirements:

• At least ten (10) years’ of leadership experience in quality assurance and food safety  
  • Comprehensive knowledge of food safety systems and requirements for HARPC / HACCP / allergen / GMPs; experienced in food safety auditing
  • Knowledgeable of FDA and other governing body regulatory guidelines related to food
• Training experience in a Global Food Safety Initiative
• Experience in:
  • Designing & implementing quality systems
  • Project management
  • Analytical and leadership skills
  • Development of short and long-range goals/planning/designing and implementing a vision that leverages unique company traits
  • Development and analysis of budgets
• Demonstrated ability to develop relationships at all levels in the organization
• Prioritize and assess risk to the business and adapt to rapidly changing situations
• Ability to establish and build trusting relationships at all levels of the organization
• Expected to identify, communicate/escalate and problem-solve as issues arise
• Strong negotiation and conflict resolution skills
• Effective in both verbal and written communications, with strong proficiency in delivering presentations and executive reports
• Proficient in Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree required in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, or related field; Master's or Doctorate degree is preferred.

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range at the time of posting is below. The base salary does not include other forms of compensation or benefits. The actual base salary within the specified range is based on several factors, including but not limited to applicant's skills, prior relevant experience, education, certifications, job responsibilities, market considerations and, if applicable, the location of the position. 

This role is eligible for either a discretionary annual bonus (based on company, business unit and individual performance) and/or commission-based incentives. 

Salary Range: $215K-289K 

Benefits: Blommer understands that our employees are our biggest assets. With this in mind we offer a generous benefits package.  

• Health, Dental & Vision- eligibility begins day 1 of hire!
• 401(K)
• Pet insurance
• Tuition reimbursement
• 10 pounds of free chocolate for your birthday

Blommer Chocolate Company provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Note to External Recruiters / Search Firms: Blommer Chocolate Company does not accept unsolicited resumes and will not pay for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited resume. Any unsolicited resumes received will not be considered as a valid submission.