Global Director Food Safety and Microbiology

Kerry Group; Beloit (WI); Remote; USD 195,000 - 321,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, vision

401(k) with company match

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Kerry Group is seeking a Global Director of Food Safety and Microbiology to lead worldwide food safety and quality programs. The role reports to the Global Food Safety and Quality Officer and requires travel of 50% or more, with a preference for proximity to North American manufacturing sites.

The position is remote-based in North America, offering strategic influence across regions. The ideal candidate has 15+ years in food safety, a Bachelor's in Microbiology (Masters preferred), and a strong

Qualifications

• Experience: 15+ years in the food industry with a focus on food safety and quality.
• Travel: 50% or more to meet customer and internal needs.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end food safety and quality programs across regions.
• Coordinate with regional directors on microbiological initiatives.
• Support sites in incident management and root cause analysis.
• Oversee external laboratories for quality and microbiology testing.
• Advise on product scale-up, specifications, and process capability.
• Monitor environmental controls, cleaning and sanitation performance.
• Act as a key member of the Global Crisis Team.
• Ensure documentation across microbiology labs is current and compliant.
• Support VPs and regional teams in continuous improvement.

Skills

Leadership

Food safety

Quality management

GMP

Global coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree in Microbiology

Masters degree preferred

Job description

Global Director Food Safety and Microbiology

About Kerry

Kerry is the world's leading taste and nutrition company for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries. Every day we partner with customers to create healthier, tastier and more sustainable products that are consumed by billions of people across the world. Our vision is to be our customers' most valued partner, creating a world of sustainable nutrition. A career with Kerry offers you an opportunity to shape the future of food while providing you opportunities to explore and grow in a truly global environment.

About the role

The Global Director Food Safety and Microbiology position is a critical senior leadership role with broad scope and responsibility. This role has ownership for Food Safety and Quality across all regions supporting Kerry’s blue-chip customers. Working with the I/O (Integrated Operations) leadership team, this individual will ensure end to end food safety and quality is embedded in our way of working and we deliver products and services that delight our customers and add value to our organization. The role will report directly to the Global Food Safety and Quality Officer and the individual will travel at least 50% + or as needed to address customer and internal needs. This position is remote based within North America; however, there is a preference for the candidate selected to be located close to one of the key North America manufacturing sites.

Key responsibilities

Responsible for delivery of the food safety programs and to standardize all structures, work, training, procedures & records.

Responsible communicates to regional food safety directors and sanitation leads on microbiological initiatives as directed by the Global Food Safety VP.

Provide support to regional teams and Kerry sites in managing food safety related incidents (food safety compliant and microbial issue) and troubleshooting.

Responsible in managing quality performance and proficiency of the Kerry used third party laboratories by provide technical assessment to third party laboratories.

Provide support to RD&A and regional food Safety directors on new product scale up associate to microbiological practical in specification set up, process capability, sampling plan, test methodology and in relates.

Assist the global Food Safety VP in continually evaluate and trending the environmental controls, cleaning & sanitation performance, micro related food safety programs and recommend appropriate improvements.

Key Member of the Global Crisis Team.

Responsible in ensure documentation across the regions Microbiological Laboratories are accurate and updated to current practices.

Provide support to Regional VPs and teams in troubleshooting, root cause analysis, corrective actions and verification.

Responsible to support the regional sanitation leads to continually improve to Kerry Global EMP programs and performance

Responsible in continue improvement on the accuracy and precision of testing methods used by our external vendors..

Conduct periodic audits of our Laboratory vendors globally to a frequency to be confirmed

Support sites to identify and resolve food safety issue and quality issue in microbial related as directed globally by Food Safety VP

Qualifications and skills

Experience: Minimum 15 years of experience in the food industry, specializing in food safety & quality. A proven track record of delivering results in a fast pace multinational organization, across a wide range of geographies and cultures.

Education: Minimum BSc., with a preference for Microbiology/ Masters Degree Strongly Preferred

50% + Travel Required

The pay range for this position is $195,000 - $320,950 in Annual Salary. Kerry typically does not hire an individual at the top or near the top of the range, as we are a pay-for-performance company, and this range is set to continue to reward performance annually while in role. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. The specific compensation offered to a candidate within the above range may be influenced by a variety of factors including skills, qualifications, experience, and internal equity. In addition, this position is also eligible to earn a performance-based incentive compensation. Kerry offers a competitive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, paid time off, a 401(k) plan with employee and company contribution opportunities, Employee Share Plan, Life, disability, and accident insurance, and tuition reimbursement.

Kerry is an equal opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age disability, protected veteran status or other characteristics protected by law. Kerry will only employ those who are legally authorized to work in the United States for this opening. Any offer of employment is conditional upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen. Additional information can be found at: Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal (dol.gov).