Technical Services Director - Food Safety & Innovation

Gilder Search Group; Merced (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Gilder Search Group seeks a senior Technical Services Director to lead food safety, quality, and R&D for a large food manufacturer. You will partner with the COO to drive a multi-year improvement roadmap, strengthen technical systems, and build a proactive quality culture on-site in Merced County.

The role requires deep expertise in thermal and aseptic processing, leadership of QA and microbiology, and the ability to influence across functions while delivering measurable improvements in product

Qualifications

• Significant technical leadership in large-scale food manufacturing.
• Deep experience with thermal and aseptic processing.
• Experience leading QA, Food Safety, microbiology, and/or R&D.
• Proven ability to identify and lead microbiological and food safety responses.
• Bachelor’s in related field; master’s preferred; on-site in Merced County.

Responsibilities

• Lead food safety, quality, microbiology, and R&D; develop the team.
• Drive investigation and resolution of microbiological and quality issues.
• Strengthen technical systems, documentation, and audit readiness.
• Optimize thermal and aseptic processing to improve quality and reliability.
• Support new product development, process improvement, and commercialization.
• Improve customer complaint and corrective action processes with Operations.
• Serve as a technical resource for customers and translate needs into priorities.

Skills

Technical leadership

Food safety

Quality assurance

R&D leadership

Microbiology

Process improvement

Cross-functional collaboration

Team development

Education

Bachelor's in Food Science

Master's preferred

Tools

Thermal processing equipment

Aseptic processing equipment

Evaporators

Job description

Gilder Search Group seeks a senior Technical Services Director to lead food safety, quality, and R&D for a large food manufacturer. You will partner with the COO to drive a multi-year improvement roadmap, strengthen technical systems, and build a proactive quality culture on-site in Merced County.

The role requires deep expertise in thermal and aseptic processing, leadership of QA and microbiology, and the ability to influence across functions while delivering measurable improvements in product