Role: Advisor – Food Safety & Quality (Retail Packaging)
Location: Seattle, WA (Onsite 4 days/week)
Experience: 3–5 years
Overview
We are seeking a Food Safety & Quality Advisor with hands-on experience in packaging materials and supplier quality to support a high-visibility retail packaging program. This role partners with packaging engineering, supplier quality, and cross-functional stakeholders to ensure the safety, compliance, and quality of retail-facing packaging products.
This position is ideal for professionals with experience in packaging engineering, supplier quality, food safety, or materials science, particularly within consumer products, food & beverage, or retail packaging environments.
Key Benefits
- Work on a high-impact retail packaging program with broad cross-functional visibility
- Exposure to diverse single-use packaging materials and safety/compliance programs
- Opportunity to influence supplier quality outcomes and packaging standards
What You’ll Do
- Partner closely with packaging engineering and quality stakeholders to support packaging safety and quality initiatives.
- Drive compliance tracking and ensure documentation aligns with product safety and quality requirements.
- Apply in-depth technical expertise to testing, supplier assessments, and product evaluations across single-use packaging materials, including:
poly-coated paperboard (hot cups), polypropylene (PP) cups/lids, PLA, PHA, molded pulp, corrugate, containerboard, utensils, and related items.
- Proactively analyze quality signals and inputs, including metrics, audit results, field feedback, and regulator inputs.
- Identify trends, lead investigations, and drive resolution of packaging-related concerns raised by regulators, retail operations, and internal partner teams.
- Interface with and influence suppliers and cross-functional teams (including international partners) to deliver results in demanding timelines.
- Serve as a product safety and quality system SME for retail food packaging in support of new initiatives and operating practices.
Required Qualifications
- 3–5 years experience in packaging/materials science with emphasis on plastics, pulp, and paper.
- 3–5 years experience developing/implementing quality programs, product standards, supplier/manufacturer quality systems, and/or product quality auditing (materials-focused).
- Progressive experience managing and reviewing documentation required to comply with product safety and quality expectations.
- Working knowledge of Quality Management Systems and standards such as HACCP, GMPs, ISO, GFSI, BRC (and general Food Safety & Quality requirements).
- Strong communication skills (written and verbal): ability to summarize clearly, speak concisely, and break down complex issues into actionable steps.
- Ability to ramp up quickly, adapt to change, and operate with agility in a fast-moving environment.
Tools / Systems
- Microsoft Office Suite
- Smartsheet
- ServiceNow
- Quality Management System tools/knowledge
Nice to Have
- Prior experience supporting retail packaging programs or supplier quality programs in fast-paced environments.
Not a Fit If
- Frequent job changes without completing contracts/assignments
- Poor resume formatting, noticeable typos, or missing required core skills
Ready to make an impact? Apply now and join us on our journey!
