Program Manager, FSQA Standards and Governance

Job Summary: 

The Corporate Food Safety & Quality Standards and Governance Program Manager is responsible for developing, maintaining, and continuously improving the enterprise food safety and quality (FSQA) standards, governance model, and document control system. This role authors and assesses technical standards, creates and maintains a standards hierarchy, drives change management and training deployment, supports facilities through hands-on gap assessments, and develops FSQA communications in alignment with the corporate communication plan.

 Essential Functions:

1. Standards, Governance, and Technical Requirements

• Develop, write, and maintain corporate science-based FSQA technical standards as per the standards development strategy (e.g., prerequisite programs, HACCP/HARPC alignment expectations, GMPs, sanitation, environmental monitoring, allergen control, supplier controls, hold/release, nonconformance/CAPA, etc.).

• Assess requirements and emerging industry best practices (regulatory, GFSI schemes, scientific/industry guidance) and translate them into clear, auditable corporate standards.

• Manage the document governance hierarchy (policy → standard → procedure → work instruction → forms/records) to set clear expectations across facilities and business units.

• Facilitate cross-functional review/approval workflows to ensure standards are technically sound, practical for plant or business execution, and aligned across Food Safety, Quality Assurance, Operations, Sanitation, Engineering, R&D, Regulatory, Process Systems, and Training.

1. Document Control and Content Management

• Establish and maintain document control rules and structure for FSQA-controlled documents, including naming conventions, versioning, ownership, review cycles, and archival/retention practices.

• Monitor compliance to governance expectations (e.g., expired documents, uncontrolled copies, inconsistent formatting, incomplete approvals).

• Maintain a master index/catalog of FSQA standards and related controlled documents and ensure users can find the “single source of truth.”

1.  Change Management and Training Execution

• Execute change management plans for new or revised standards (impact assessment, stakeholder mapping, deployment approach, go-live criteria, and post-implementation verification).

• Partner with site and enterprise training resources to develop/refresh training content and job aids (e.g., slide decks, one-point lessons, FAQs, quick reference guides).

• Track implementation progress and training completion; escalate risks to timelines, compliance, or operational readiness.

4) Facility Gap Assessment and Hands-On Support

• Support FSQA standard gap assessments at facilities (remote and on-site) to evaluate current-state vs. standard expectations.

• Provide practical coaching and technical assistance to site teams to close gaps (including templates, examples, “how-to” guidance, and verification methods).

• Document findings, risk-rank gaps, and help facilities build corrective action roadmaps with clear owners and due dates.

5) Communications and Engagement

• Develop FSQA communications aligned to the food safety communication plan (e.g., standards launch announcements, monthly communications, governance reminders, “what changed and why,” highlights of common gaps and best practices).

• Ensure communications are clear, actionable, and tailored to the audience (executives, plant leadership, FSQA, hourly operations, etc.).

6) Continuous Improvement and Metrics

• Recommend improvements to the standards governance process based on feedback, audit results, recurring deviations, and implementation challenges.

• Create and maintain simple governance metrics (e.g., standards on-time review rate, document control health, deployment timeliness, training completion, gap closure timing).

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, or related field (or equivalent experience). 

• Five to eight years of experience in food safety/quality systems in a manufacturing environment and/or corporate FSQA role.

• Working knowledge of GFSI expectations and core FSQA programs (GMPs, sanitation, allergen control, HACCP/HARPC, CAPA, auditing, validation/verification concepts).

• Strong technical writing capability: able to convert complex requirements into clear, implementable standards.

• Experience with document control/version management and structured governance processes.

• Ability to influence without authority and drive alignment across functions and facilities.

• Experience supporting multiple facilities and leading standards deployment at scale.

• Experience building training/job aids for adult learners in manufacturing settings.

• Familiarity with SharePoint or other document management systems

Key Skills and Competencies:

• Standards development and technical writing

• Governance and document control discipline

• Change management and deployment planning

• Facilitation and stakeholder management

• Practical, operations-minded problem solving

• Clear written and verbal communication

• Ability to travel and work effectively on-site in plants

Preferred Certifications, Licenses, and Registration:

• PCQI and/or HACCP certification/training.

Work Environment:

• Sarasota-based role with routine collaboration across corporate and plant teams.

• Travel as needed up to 30% to support facility assessments, implementations, and training deployment (frequency based on business need).