Senior Manager, Food Safety & Quality

At Russell Stover, not only do we love chocolate, but we love our jobs! Every day we go to work exhibiting our values of excellence, innovation, entrepreneurship, responsibility, and collaboration. Working at Russell Stover you’ll be part of the leading manufacturer of boxed, seasonal, and sugar-free chocolates. For over 100 years, Russell Stover Chocolates, Whitman’s, and Pangburn’s have been crafted with the finest ingredients to bring happiness to generations. Today, we produce over 55 million pounds of chocolate annually, and our legacy brands can be found in 13 company-owned stores and over 9,000 wholesale accounts. Join our team and let’s continue making chocolate lovers happy!

A day in the life

As our Senior Manager, Food Safety & Quality, you will lead and develop Russell Stover’s Food Safety & Quality team by implementing policies, procedures, and best practices across our manufacturing facilities. You will serve as the company’s subject matter expert in food safety and quality systems, including microbiology, sanitation, FSMA, HACCP, GFSI, allergen management, SPC, and related programs.

In this role, you will be a self-motivated and accountable leader who fosters collaboration across meetings, projects, and the work environment. You will partner with stakeholders at all levels of the organization, building strong relationships and driving a culture of food safety and quality excellence throughout the business.

You will provide leadership and direction to the Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) Managers at each manufacturing site, along with their site-based FSQ teams. Russell Stover’s manufacturing facilities are located in Iola, Kansas; Abilene, Kansas; and Corsicana, Texas, and you will work closely with teams across all locations to ensure alignment and consistency in food safety and quality standards.

This position reports directly to the Senior Director of Food Safety & Quality.

What you will be doing

- Monitor significant food safety and quality risks, performance gaps and corrective actions, ensuring effective execution, follow-through and appropriate escalation.

- Provide executive reporting on Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory compliance including scorecards and KPIs.

- Partner with cross-functional departments (e.g., Regulatory, Supplier Quality and Procurement, R&D, Operations, Engineering) to drive improvements and ensure effective execution of preventive controls, food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance programs.

- Partner with cross-functional departments (e.g., Innovation, Marketing, R&D, Operations) where quality standards for products need to be set and procedures for non-conformances are established.

- Lead and oversee audit readiness and corrective action responses across assigned facilities for regulatory, third-party certification, and internal audits, ensuring effective resolution of findings and timely implementation of corrective actions.

- Oversee the microbiological testing program, including interpreting results and providing actionable recommendations. Partnering with plant sanitation on SSOPs, cleaning verification activities and establishing line release protocols.

- Lead team to establish quality systems including food safety plans, HACCP, audit readiness, CAPA governance, track and trace, validation and verification programs, and quality food reviews.

- Lead, coach and develop FSQA personnel while strengthening food safety and quality culture, capability and accountability across the assigned plant teams.

- Will lead and instruct the plant FSQA teams to interface and maintain the use of digital data collection systems and other formats, such as but not limited to, Trace Gains, SAP, and other similar systems.

- Demonstrates the ability to strategically analyze and be able to take on projects external to the assigned operation and to lead projects with multi-plant impact through Lean principles.

- Drafting and implementing the quality policies, procedures, and standards for the organization then helping roll them out at the plant level.

- Ensure that manufactured products are produced in compliance with company specifications, policies, and government regulations.

- Effectively implement and/or utilize approved analytical methods to ensure the quality of raw materials, semi-finished products, finished products and packaging materials.

- Participates in food tasting and product evaluation to ensure quality controls are met and nuances in the flavor profile are detected to protect the taste profile.

- Develops advanced concepts, strategy, and solutions to problems of unusual complexity which require a high degree of creativity and innovativeness.

- Help in cultivating a culture of food safety and quality within the organization.

Additional Details

- Must be able to distinguish small differences in flavor and smells within the products.

- The position will be based in Kansas City

- This position requires up to 75% travel to the manufacturing facilities, including overnight travel depending on the location and business need.

If visiting our manufacturing plants, you will be expected to:

- Adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) to ensure product quality and maintain compliance with food safety standards.

- Complete and follow FSQA training and programs to comply with regulatory requirements, ensure consumer safety, and support the plant’s food safety and quality objectives.

- Promptly report and take appropriate action on any observed or potential food safety hazards, process deviations, or non-conformities by notifying the designated plant supervisor, in accordance with your role and responsibilities.

- Actively contributes to the continuous improvement of the company’s Food Safety Culture through engagement and actions aligned with your role.

This job posting is not all inclusive and other duties may be assigned.

Do you have what it takes?

(Basic Qualifications)

- Bachelor’s degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Microbiology, or other related science

- Minimum 7 years of food safety, quality, sanitation, and/or microbiological experience

- Substantial experience in Food Safety/Quality and/or Regulatory relations with a minimum of 7 years in progressive management or leadership roles

- Minimum 5 years of experience directly supervising a team of at least 2 people and their staff

- Practical knowledge of food quality standards, including federal (FDA) regulations

- Formal training and demonstrated experience in HACCP, FSMA, sanitation, food safety, regulatory compliance, and GFSI certification

- Strong understanding of GMP, SPC, IPM, analytical testing and food microbiology

- Knowledge of quality management systems

- Proficiency with MS Office

- Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds

- Frequent ability to twist, squat, bend, stooping, stretch and reach above shoulder level

- Excellent communication skills and the ability to speak, read, and write English fluently, with or without an accommodation.

Do you stand above the rest?

(Preferred Qualifications)

- Master’s degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Microbiology, or other related science

- QMS training (GFSI, ISO, SQF, etc.)

- Supervisory experience of remote teams

- Strong interpersonal, managerial and leadership skills required with the ability to teach and develop others in the organization (up, down, and across)

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills

- Ability to work with and teach individuals at all levels within the organization both in groups and independently

- Ability to multi-task in a fast-paced environment

- Proven problem-solving and critical thinking skills

- Excellent organization and prioritization skills

At Russell Stover Chocolates, we don’t just accept difference — we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products, and our community. Russell Stover Chocolates is proud to be an equal-opportunity workplace.

We provide equal employment opportunities to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, protected medical condition, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other status or characteristic protected by law.

Employment by Russell Stover Chocolates is contingent upon I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification, passing the urinalysis drug screen, education verification, and satisfactory reference and background checks.

Make Happy. Work Happy.