About the Company & Role:

- Join a leading Australian food production and export business recognised for its commitment to quality, innovation, sustainability, and operational excellence.
- This senior leadership opportunity will see you take ownership of the organisation's food safety, quality, compliance, and product integrity strategy across a complex manufacturing and supply chain environment.
- Reporting to executive leadership, you will provide strategic oversight of food safety and quality governance while driving a culture of continuous improvement and accountability across the business.
- You will act as the key technical authority for food safety and quality, ensuring products consistently meet regulatory, certification, customer, export, and internal requirements.
- Based near Mildura, relocation assistance provided
- Permanent position, full-time hours

Responsibilities:

- Develop and lead the organisation's food safety and quality strategy, governance framework, risk management processes, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Ensure food safety and quality systems remain compliant with all legal, regulatory, customer, export, and certification requirements.
- Lead the identification, assessment, escalation, and management of food safety and quality risks across the business.
- Oversee quality performance reporting, management reviews, and the delivery of strategic improvement plans.
- Drive customer quality performance through effective complaint management, trend analysis, issue resolution, and continuous improvement.
- Establish and maintain supplier, grower, and service provider quality frameworks, including approval, monitoring, and performance management processes.
- Lead product recall and withdrawal governance,



crisis preparedness activities, and responses to significant food safety or quality incidents.
- Oversee audit and certification programs, ensuring effective management of findings, corrective actions, and ongoing compliance.
- Establish and monitor key quality performance measures including audit outcomes, non-conformances, customer complaints, waste, rework, product downgrades, and cost of poor quality.
- Utilise risk and performance data to identify opportunities for operational improvement and enhanced product integrity.
- Champion cross-functional initiatives that strengthen process capability, traceability, customer outcomes, and business performance.
- Ensure food safety and quality requirements are embedded into strategic projects, capital investments, new products, and market expansion activities.

About You

- Tertiary qualifications in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Quality Management, or a related discipline.
- Extensive leadership experience within food manufacturing, FMCG, food processing, agricultural processing, or a similarly regulated environment.
- Solid knowledge of SQF, BRCGS, or equivalent GFSI-recognised food safety and quality management systems.
- Experience within nuts, horticulture, grain, agricultural, or export-focused food processing environments will be highly regarded.




- Demonstrated expertise in food legislation, export compliance, traceability, product recalls, allergen management, food defence, and food fraud controls.
- Proven experience leading audits, certification programs, corrective action initiatives, and significant food safety or quality incidents.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience partnering with senior leadership teams.
- Highly developed communication and analytical skills, with the ability to present complex information to executive and governance forums.
- A proven track record of developing high-performing teams and fostering a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Apply!
If you think this could be the role for you then please apply now! Please send us a cover letter AND a detailed resume in WORD format (PDFs can be corrupted / not processed).
Or, if you have any questions, please contact Sarah on 03 9040 1***

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients.

📌 Head of Quality & Safety (Robinvale)
🏢 Evolve Scientific
📍 Robinvale