About the Company & Role:

• Join a leading Australian food production and export business recognised for its commitment to quality, innovation, sustainability, and operational excellence.
• This senior leadership opportunity will see you take ownership of the organisation's food safety, quality, compliance, and product integrity strategy across a complex manufacturing and supply chain environment.
• Reporting to executive leadership, you will provide strategic oversight of food safety and quality governance while driving a culture of continuous improvement and accountability across the business.
• You will act as the key technical authority for food safety and quality, ensuring products consistently meet regulatory, certification, customer, export, and internal requirements.
• Based near Mildura, relocation assistance provided
• Permanent position, full-time hours

Responsibilities:

• Develop and lead the organisation's food safety and quality strategy, governance framework, risk management processes, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Ensure food safety and quality systems remain compliant with all legal, regulatory, customer, export, and certification requirements.
• Lead the identification, assessment, escalation, and management of food safety and quality risks across the business.
• Oversee quality performance reporting, management reviews, and the delivery of strategic improvement plans.
• Drive customer quality performance through effective complaint management, trend analysis, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
• Establish and maintain supplier, grower, and service provider quality frameworks, including approval, monitoring, and performance management processes.
• Lead product recall and withdrawal governance, crisis preparedness activities, and responses to significant food safety or quality incidents.
• Oversee audit and certification programs, ensuring effective management of findings, corrective actions, and ongoing compliance.
• Establish and monitor key quality performance measures including audit outcomes, non-conformances, customer complaints, waste, rework, product downgrades, and cost of poor quality.
• Utilise risk and performance data to identify opportunities for operational improvement and enhanced product integrity.
• Champion cross-functional initiatives that strengthen process capability, traceability, customer outcomes, and business performance.
• Ensure food safety and quality requirements are embedded into strategic projects, capital investments, new products, and market expansion activities.

About You

• Tertiary qualifications in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Quality Management, or a related discipline.
• Extensive leadership experience within food manufacturing, FMCG, food processing, agricultural processing, or a similarly regulated environment.
• Strong knowledge of SQF, BRCGS, or equivalent GFSI-recognised food safety and quality management systems.
• Experience within nuts, horticulture, grain, agricultural, or export-focused food processing environments will be highly regarded.
• Demonstrated expertise in food legislation, export compliance, traceability, product recalls, allergen management, food defence, and food fraud controls.
• Proven experience leading audits, certification programs, corrective action initiatives, and significant food safety or quality incidents.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience partnering with senior leadership teams.
• Highly developed communication and analytical skills, with the ability to present complex information to executive and governance forums.
• A proven track record of developing high-performing teams and fostering a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Apply!

If you think this could be the role for you then please apply now! Please send us a cover letter AND a detailed resume in WORD format (PDFs can be corrupted / not processed).  

• Or, if you have any questions, please contact Sarah on 03 •••• •630