Reporting to Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance, this position provides scientific leadership in microbiology as relates to food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance. This position will support all Meijer Manufacturing facilities. This role is responsible for developing, standardizing, and validating microbiological programs to ensure product safety and quality, regulatory compliance, and brand protection. This position partners cross functionally with Operations, Product Development, Regulatory Compliance, Supply Chain, Food Safety, and external laboratories to implement best in class sampling and testing procedures.
What You'll Be Doing:- Partner with site Quality Managers and Operations Leaders to ensure each site food safety program is current, effective, and managed at the site level.
- Develop and maintain corporate microbiological standards, policies, and procedures.
- Establish enterprise-wide environmental monitoring programs (EMP) aligned with regulatory expectations and industry best practices.
- Lead root cause investigations and troubleshooting for presumptive positive pathogen findings and recommend corrective actions.
- Oversee trend analysis of microbiological data and drive risk based decision making.
- Lead microbial risk assessments for ingredients, processes, and finished products.
- Standardize test methods, specifications, and validation protocols across all facilities.
- Serve as subject matter expert (SME) for microbiological compliance under applicable regulations (FDA, USDA, as applicable).
- Support FSMA preventive controls validation and verification activities.
- Assist with regulatory responses related to spoilage or microbial activity.
- Provide technical oversight to internal and third party laboratories.
- Evaluate and approve laboratory methods, validation studies, and rapid testing techniques.
- Lead microbiological investigations where applicable during food safety incidents or recalls.
- Provide scientific guidance during product disposition decisions when necessary.
- Identify emerging microbiological risks and industry trends.
- Implement new technologies and methods to enhance detection and prevention.
- Train manufacturing team members on microbiological related best practices and risk mitigation (sampling and testing).
- Partner with site Quality Managers in troubleshooting microbial issues.
What You Bring with You (Qualifications): - Ph.D or M.S. degree in Microbiology, Food Safety, or related fields
- Experience - functional/industry/commercial knowledge:
- 8+ years of relevant microbiology experience in the Food/Beverage manufacturing facilities
- Experience in multi-site organizations preferred.
- Strong working knowledge of FSMA, HACCP, environmental monitoring programs, and pathogen control.
- Expertise in foodborne pathogens (e.g. Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, E.coli).
- Proficiency in microbiological testing methods (culture- based, OCR, rapids methods).
- Strong data interpretation and statistical trend analysis capabilities.
- Risk assessment and validation expertise
- Strong communication skills
- Ability to collaborate and communicate with cross-functional stakeholders
- Preferred experience in ready to eat foods (RTE) and high risk categories.
- PCQI and HACCP Certification preferred.
