Vice President of Quality

Nexus Search; Orlando (FL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Nexus Search seeks a VP of Quality to lead Quality and Food Safety across our growing beverage manufacturing operations. This executive role blends strategic vision with hands-on plant-floor leadership to protect product integrity and regulatory compliance.

You will build scalable quality systems, oversee HACCP, sanitation, audits, and supplier controls, and partner with Operations and senior leadership to drive continuous improvement across multiple facilities.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership in Quality and Food Safety for beverage manufacturing.
• Strong regulatory knowledge including FDA inspections and GFSI.
• Experience scaling Quality across multiple facilities.

Responsibilities

• Own FDA 21 CFR Part 117, FSMA, and GFSI standards compliance.
• Lead regulatory inspections, third-party audits, and customer audits.
• Develop HACCP plans, verification, and hazard analyses across facilities.
• Oversee pasteurization validation and process authority relationships.
• Lead environmental monitoring, allergen control, and shelf-life testing.

Skills

Leadership

Regulatory compliance

Food safety

HACCP & FSMA

Audits & inspections

Quality systems

GFSI knowledge

Multisite leadership

Sanitation programs

Dairy/whey experience

Education

Bachelor's or Master's in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering

Job description

Department: Quality & Food Safety

Role Summary

A rapidly growing beverage manufacturing company is seeking a VP of Quality to lead Quality and Food Safety across its expanding operations. This is a hands-on leadership position for a quality executive who can operate both strategically and on the plant floor. The VP of Quality will own food safety, regulatory compliance, quality systems, sanitation, audit readiness, and the development of a scalable quality infrastructure as the business continues to expand. The role will partner closely with the VP of Operations and senior leadership and will serve as the company's senior Quality and Food Safety leader.

Key Responsibilities

Food Safety & Regulatory Compliance

• Own compliance with FDA 21 CFR Part 117, FSMA, and applicable GFSI standards.
• Serve as the primary contact for regulatory inspections, third-party audits, and customer audits.
• Lead HACCP plan development, verification, and hazard analysis across facilities.
• Oversee process authority relationships and pasteurization/thermal processing validation.
• Lead environmental monitoring, allergen control, and shelf-life/microbial testing programs.

Quality Systems & Leadership

• Build and standardize quality systems across multiple sites, including document control, product release, CAPA, deviation management, and traceability.
• Establish quality KPIs around complaints, holds, non-conformances, and corrective actions.
• Lead finished product and ingredient testing programs.
• Establish a strong Gemba-based QA presence across production operations.
• Recruit, develop, and lead a high-performing Quality organization as the business scales.
• Design and lead comprehensive sanitation programs across dry and wet processing environments.
• Own SSOPs, ATP/visual verification, chemical control, and environmental swab programs.
• Develop sanitation leadership structures as the organization grows.
• Partner with Operations and Maintenance on hygienic design, equipment cleanability, and CIP systems.

Business Partnership

• Serve as a strategic partner to Operations and senior leadership.
• Present quality strategy, audit results, and risk assessments to ownership.
• Represent Quality in new facility planning, equipment selection, and process design.
• Support customer-facing technical discussions involving Quality and Food Safety requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, or related field.
• 12+ years of progressive Quality/Food Safety leadership experience within food or beverage manufacturing.
• Strong experience with canning and/or thermal processing strongly preferred.
• Proven experience leading FDA inspections, customer audits, and GFSI certification.
• Strong technical knowledge of microbiology, sanitation, and thermal processing/pasteurization validation.
• Experience building or scaling Quality functions across multiple facilities.
• Dairy/whey processing experience strongly preferred.
• Dietary supplement manufacturing experience is a plus.
• Co-manufacturing and customer-facing experience is a plus.
• Demonstrated ability to build teams and develop floor-level Quality leadership.
• Comfortable operating at both a strategic, executive level and a tactical, plant-floor level.
• Bilingual English/Spanish preferred but not required.