Food Quality Manager

About the Company

We are a dedicated organization focused on ensuring the delivery of safe, reliable, compliant, and high-caliber food products and services. Our distributed teams collaborate across multiple functions including Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Product Development, Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability, and Executive Leadership to construct resilient quality systems that protect consumers and drive operational excellence.

Job Overview

We are looking for an experienced Food Quality Manager to oversee food quality assurance, safety programs, system management, supplier quality, compliance, audits, product standards, continuous enhancement, and quality metrics. The successful candidate will formulate and sustain stringent quality frameworks to guarantee food products consistently satisfy safety, regulatory, customer, sensory, nutritional, and organizational standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and execute comprehensive food quality and safety strategies aligned with company goals, customer needs, regulatory mandates, and international benchmarks.
• Develop and uphold food quality management systems covering materials sourcing, production, processing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution, and final products.
• Work in partnership with teams from Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Operations, Procurement, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Product Development, Regulatory Affairs, Sustainability, Commercial, and Executive Leadership.
• Create quality standards, detailed specifications, procedures, work instructions, inspection and testing plans, sampling programs, and acceptance criteria for products.
• Lead HACCP, prerequisite, allergen control, sanitation, traceability, and preventive control programs ensuring food safety compliance.
• Track and manage key performance indicators such as product deviations, customer complaints, audit results, supplier quality, microbiological outcomes, product consistency, CAPA completion, incident reporting, testing turnaround, and quality costs.
• Oversee various audits—internal, supplier, customer, certification, and regulatory—to document findings, conduct investigations, and ensure corrective actions are closed sustainably.
• Drive root-cause analyses and corrective/preventive measures for quality incidents, product deviations, complaints, and continuous improvement.
• Manage supplier quality initiatives encompassing approval, audits, specifications, testing, risk evaluation, corrective actions, and supplier development programs.
• Assess raw materials, ingredients, packaging, finished goods, and production processes against quality and safety standards.
• Coordinate laboratory testing including microbiological, chemical, nutritional analyses, sensory evaluations, environmental monitoring, and shelf-life studies.
• Establish and administer procedures for food traceability, recall, withdrawal, crisis management, and product disposition, including coordinating responses to significant quality events.
• Maintain product specifications, quality documentation, certificates of analysis/conformity, technical files, supplier documents, and quality records.
• Ensure compliance with UAE food safety, labeling, hygiene, import, product registration, consumer protection, and regulatory requirements, as well as international standards.
• Maintain adherence to recognized food safety frameworks such as HACCP, ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF, and Codex Alimentarius.
• Conduct food quality risk assessments addressing microbiological, chemical, physical, allergen, foreign material, packaging, storage, transport, supplier, and process risks.
• Collaborate with Operations and Manufacturing to enhance process capability, reduce variation, minimize waste, improve consistency, and strengthen quality controls.
• Support new product development by setting specifications, quality standards, testing protocols, shelf-life parameters, supplier requisites, and production validation criteria.
• Promote sustainability and responsible sourcing via quality-oriented supplier evaluations, food waste reduction, traceability, and supply chain transparency.
• Lead digital transformation initiatives using AI-enhanced quality inspection, predictive analytics, automated non-conformance detection, supplier-risk modelling, traceability platforms, and advanced quality monitoring.
• Utilize enterprise systems and digital tools including SAP, Oracle, Microsoft 365, Power BI, Tableau, LIMS, QMS platforms, ERP, audit-management software, lab information systems, and food safety technologies.
• Administer budgets, laboratories, external testing partners, certification bodies, consultants, and continuous improvement projects.
• Develop and provide training programs on food quality and safety for employees, suppliers, contractors, and operational staff.
• Produce executive quality reports, dashboards, audit summaries, supplier reviews, complaint analyses, CAPA reports, risk evaluations, regulatory updates, and strategic advisories for leadership.
• Lead, coach, and grow teams of quality assurance specialists, food safety professionals, auditors, lab personnel, and cross-functional quality teams while fostering a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and consumer protection.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Food Technology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Nutrition, Biotechnology, Quality Management, or related disciplines.
• Master’s degree in Food Science, Food Safety, Quality Management, Food Technology, Microbiology, or related fields is a major advantage.
• Preferred professional certifications include HACCP, ISO 22000, FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF, PCQI, Lead Auditor, or equivalent qualifications.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in food quality, safety, quality assurance, manufacturing, lab management, supplier quality, or related roles.
• At least 2 years managing food quality programs, HACCP systems, supplier quality initiatives, audits, quality teams, or multi-disciplinary food safety projects preferred.
• Strong knowledge of food safety, quality management systems, HACCP, microbiology, food chemistry, sensory evaluation, lab testing, traceability, allergen management, sanitation, supplier quality, audits, CAPA processes, and regulatory compliance.
• Proficiency with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft 365, Power BI, Tableau, LIMS, QMS platforms, ERP systems, digital audit tools, traceability systems, and food quality technologies.
• Experience or familiarity with AI-driven quality inspection, predictive food safety analytics, automated defect detection, intelligent supplier-risk assessment, digital traceability, and advanced quality technologies is highly desirable.
• Excellent leadership, analytical thinking, technical knowledge, communication, auditing, stakeholder engagement, project management, organizational skills, and problem-solving abilities.
• Great attention to detail and capable of making confident quality and safety decisions amid operational and commercial pressures.
• Ability to juggle multiple quality initiatives balancing consumer safety, compliance, product quality, operational efficiency, supplier performance, production demands, cost, and customer requirements.
• Comfort working remotely within distributed teams spanning quality, food safety, operations, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, regulatory, laboratory, and leadership, with occasional travel for audits, assessments, regulatory meetings, laboratory visits, certification audits, and improvement programs.

Benefits

• Fully remote position with flexible collaboration across global teams in food quality, safety, manufacturing, procurement, supply chain, regulatory, laboratory, operations, and executive management.
• Competitive salary with performance incentives.
• Comprehensive health and wellness plans.
• Opportunities for professional development and advancing leadership in food quality.
• Exposure to cutting-edge AI-powered food safety analytics, digital traceability, automated quality inspection, predictive risk management, and innovative quality technologies.
• A cooperative environment centered on food safety, consumer protection, quality excellence, compliance, innovation, and ongoing improvement.
• Chance to strengthen food quality systems that safeguard consumers, improve product consistency, elevate supplier performance, and build lasting organizational trust.