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For more than 115 years, Ferrara has created sugar confections that enable moments of sweetness, celebration, and connection for candy lovers of all generations. Today, the company is the #1 sugar confectioner in the United States. Ferrara boasts a passionate team of nearly 9,000 employees creating and delivering hundreds of products sold under 20 popular brands like Brach’s®, NERDS®, SweeTARTS®, Laffy Taffy®, and Trolli® to more than 66 million U.S. households annually and popular Dori snacking products under brands such as Dori, Gomets, Pettiz, and Yogurte 100 in Brazil. Additionally, Jelly Belly, known world-wide for its confections, was acquired in November of 2023.

Manager, Corporate Food Safety

Job Location: Chicago

Want to make an impact?

The purpose of this position is to design, implement and manage the corporate food safety management policies for all Ferrara facilities in different regions including North America, South America, Asia as well as co-manufacturing locations in different countries. The Corporate Food Safety Manager ensures compliance with all applicable local, state, and federal food laws and champions the Ferrara’s food safety and quality process improvement across all manufacturing, co-manufacturing, and warehousing locations.
Willingness to travel up to 35% of the time. Hybrid role, based in Chicago.

Ways you will make a difference

Creates and supports Ferrara corporate Quality, Food Safety, and compliance programs, including the review of policies, procedures, and guidance.
Ensures implementation of programs, monitors and trend food safety Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for compliance and process effectiveness.
Accountable for all product, raw-materials, packaging food safety risk assessments, change management and trial requests based on established corporate food safety procedure.
Manages the food safety technical and compliance system by creating, maintaining, updating, evaluating, or auditing all programs and policies to ensure compliance with cGMPs, GFSI, FSMA and HACCP standards.
Keep abreast of emerging issues in food safety and communicate adequately to functional and cross-functional partners.
Develops mitigation strategies for risks associated with foreign material, microbiological, allergen and other chemical contaminants.
Serve as point of contact for leading investigations on any major food safety issues, escalating to the Director of Food Safety as necessary.
Works with cross-functional partners to ensure risks are adequately addressed throughout the supply chain.
Leads the annual food safety factory GEMBA walk focused on fostering cross-functional collaboration and identifying areas of improvements in foreign material, microbiological and allergen management.
Oversee the development, implementation, review, and maintenance of the GFSI standard, including food safety fundamentals in accordance with FSMA regulations.
Manages and develops direct staff including coaching, completing performance reviews, and helping with creating Individual Development Profile (IDP).
Provide adequate support to the factories to foster preventative approach, continuous improvement and facilitate implementation of mitigation strategies.
Lead the monthly connect with all facility quality managers to evaluate and discuss food safety KPI trends, emerging trends in the industry and other food safety updates.
Assess all new vendors and suppliers related to food safety services for approvals.

Skills that will make you successful

In-depth knowledge and experience with GFSI standards such as FSSC22000.
Relevant certifications include but not limited to HACCP, PCQI, GFSI
Proven technical expertise in food safety, risk assessment, auditing within food manufacturing.
Experience with process validation and data analysis.
Demonstrated analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills.
Strong organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.
Knowledge of relevant food safety and regulatory requirements in the US, Canada and other countries is highly desired.

Experiences that will support your success

B.S. or M.S. in food science, microbiology, or related technical discipline.
Minimum of 5 years of related food safety experience with demonstrated technical and managerial ability.
Experience in managing multiple locations and leading through influence including both corporate and plant environments.

Ferrara’s success in industry-leading innovation has been driven by deep consumer insights, strong retailer co-creation and partnerships, and a dedication to diversity of thought, experience, and people. A privately held company, Ferrara has its global headquarters in Chicago and an operational network of more than 27 locations in North America, Brazil, and China that includes manufacturing, distribution, sales, and R&D facilities. Ferrara is a privately held Ferrero related company. Learn more at www.ferrara.com or www.linkedin.com/company/ferrara-.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. In order to provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, employment decisions and opportunities at Ferrara will be based on merit, qualifications, and abilities, without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital or civil union status, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, military or veteran status, disability, handicap, genetic information, pregnancy (childbirth or related medical condition), or on any other basis prohibited by law. This policy governs all aspects of employment, including selection, job assignment, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.