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About the Role

The Vice President of Quality is a senior executive role with enterprise-wide accountability for quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and laboratory operations. This role partners directly with the CEO to protect and enhance the company’s reputation, enable growth, support innovation, and ensure regulatory and customer confidence in a highly regulated dairy manufacturing environment. The leader sets and executes the organization’s long-term quality and food safety strategy while maintaining a visible, hands-on presence within operations, balancing governance, risk management, and strategic planning with real-time decision-making.

Responsibilities

Develop and lead a comprehensive, enterprise-wide quality and food safety strategy aligned with company goals, customer expectations, and regulatory requirements.
Establish governance structures, metrics, and performance indicators that drive accountability and continuous improvement.
Integrate quality considerations into capital planning, product innovation, and operational decision-making.
Ensure full compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations through robust programs, audits, and inspections.
Serve as the executive point of contact with regulatory agencies (FDA, NY Agriculture & Markets, USDA, OSHA), customers, and third-party auditors.
Lead responses to inspections and audits with credibility, confidence, and transparency.
Provide executive oversight of HACCP, SQF, sanitation, allergen control, pest management, and pathogen monitoring programs.
Lead root cause analysis and corrective action for quality incidents, ensuring sustainable, system-level solutions.
Partner with Operations and Engineering to embed quality into process design and continuous improvement initiatives.
Oversee the Certified Laboratory, ensuring compliance with federal, state, and USPH testing standards.
Direct comprehensive product testing and shelf-life programs.
Maintain oversight of product formulations, manufacturing protocols, and technical documentation.
Lead, develop, and inspire QA, food safety, and laboratory teams.
Maintain a strong, visible leadership presence on the production floor to reinforce standards and support real-time issue resolution.
Drive training and competency development across the organization.
Develop and manage the quality budget, ensuring resources are aligned with risk mitigation and strategic priorities.
Define and monitor KPIs related to cost of poor quality, compliance performance, and operational effectiveness.
Identify opportunities to improve efficiency while maintaining uncompromising safety and quality standards.
Provide clear, data-driven quality performance updates to the CEO, ELT, and Cayuga Farms.
Represent the organization with customers, regulators, and industry partners as a credible executive leader.

Requirements

10+ years of progressive leadership in quality and food safety within food manufacturing; dairy experience strongly preferred.
Aseptic and ESL experience required.
Demonstrated success operating at an enterprise leadership level, influencing peers, and leading through complexity.
Strong regulatory, food safety, labeling, and quality systems knowledge; laboratory and analytical experience a plus.
Executive-level written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence diverse stakeholders.
Minimum 10 years of experience in quality assurance within food manufacturing of dairy products.
Previous experience in Aseptic and ELS processes is highly valued.
Strong expertise in regulatory compliance, food safety, labeling, and quality standards for dairy production.
Familiarity with Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) and mass spectrometry is a plus.
Proven leadership and supervisory experience.
Exceptional verbal and written communication abilities.
Proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Must be able to work in environments with varying temperatures.
Potential exposure to ingredients used in food manufacturing, including allergens.
May encounter chemicals commonly used in food processing and distribution facilities.
Ability to navigate all areas of the facility, including office spaces, warehouse areas, and the exterior perimeter.
Must wear required personal protective equipment (PPE) as necessary to safely perform job duties.
Ability to stand, sit, and carry out tasks throughout a full shift, with appropriate meal breaks.
Physically capable of standing, bending, stooping, kneeling, reaching, twisting, lifting, pushing, pulling, climbing, balancing, and crouching as needed.
Able to lift and move items weighing up to 50 pounds independently and heavier objects with reasonable accommodations.
Visual acuity sufficient to perform job duties accurately.
Capable of assessing weights, judging distances, and working at various heights.
All requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities.
Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by their supervisor.
The company reserves the right to add to or revise an employee's job duties at any time at its sole discretion.
This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” employment relationship.

Skills

Quality assurance
Food safety
Regulatory compliance
Laboratory operations
Dairy manufacturing
HACCP
SQF
Sanitation
Allergen control
Pest management
Pathogen monitoring
Root cause analysis
Continuous improvement
Process design
Product testing
Shelf-life programs
Product formulations
Manufacturing protocols
Technical documentation
Budget management
Performance management
Stakeholder communication
Leadership
Supervisory experience
Microsoft Word
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Excel
Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC)
Mass spectrometry

Location

Onsite

Work Type

Full-time

Experience Level

Executive
Senior
10+ years

Education Level

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, or related field
Advanced degree preferred

Salary/Compensations

$185,000 - $262,000 +20% incentive

Benefits

20% incentive for financial and personal goals

About the Company

Cayuga Milk Ingredients is a dairy manufacturing company committed to excellence and innovation.
All Cayuga employees recognize that the success and prosperity of the company is everyone’s responsibility.
All employees are expected to treat each other in a positive, respectful, and professional manner, to be at work for their assigned shift and to work safely as a team.
Employees must be self-starters who can relate to all levels of the organization.

Equal Opportunity

Cayuga Milk Ingredients is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including recruitment, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.
The contractor will not discriminate against employees or applicants for discussing or disclosing their own pay or the pay of others.
However, employees with access to compensation information as part of their job duties are prohibited from disclosing this information to unauthorized individuals, except in specific circumstances outlined by applicable laws and regulations (41 CFR 60-1.35(c)).