The Company

Our client is a proudly Australian-owned dairy business with a long-standing reputation for producing high-quality products for both local and international markets. With innovation, quality, and sustainability at the heart of everything they do to organisation continues to grow and evolve as a trusted name in the industry. This newly created Head of Food Safety and Environment role is a pivotal leadership position, responsible for overseeing all aspects of food safety, quality assurance, and environmental compliance. Reporting to the General Manager of Operations they’re now looking for a senior leader to help us elevate our food safety and environmental practices to the next level.

The Role

This role will drive strategic initiatives to ensure regulatory compliance, maintain certifications, and support a strong internal culture of safety and sustainability.
You’ll lead and mentor a dedicated team while working cross-functionally with operations, supply chain, and R&D to integrate and embed food safety and environmental best practices across the business.

Key responsibilities include:

• Developing and managing food safety management systems (QMS)
• Leading external audits and internal compliance initiatives to meet local and global food safety standards
• Investigating food safety incidents and driving corrective actions
• Leading the organisation’s environmental management policies and sustainability strategy
• Driving continuous improvement across Quality KPIs and environmental impact
• Leading carbon footprint analysis and reporting on Scopes 1, 2 & 3
• Building strong internal awareness through training, mentoring, and cross-functional collaboration

Your Background

To be successful in this role, you will bring a strong mix of technical expertise, regulatory knowledge, and leadership capability, with the ability to engage and influence across the business, including the below qualifications & experience:

• A tertiary qualification in Food Science, Microbiology, or a related field.
• 8+ years’ experience in food safety / quality assurance leadership roles within dairy or closely related food manufacturing.
• Deep understanding of local food safety regulations and quality systems, those with experience with international regulations will be looked at favourably.
• Those with experience managing environmental compliance and sustainability programs, including emissions, waste, and water usage will be highly regarded but are not essential.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence across all levels of the organisation
• A track record of leading and developing high-performing teams
• Critical thinking skills with the ability to make commercially sound, evidence-based decisions

What’s On Offer

In return you will begiven the opportunity to join an exciting & highly successful organisation that you can play a key role in their evolution and growth as a business. This is a role that will require you to use your technical, commercial and leadership skills and see you engaging and influencing at an executive level in the business. There’s also a competitive salary package including base salary, superannuation and bonus on offer.

If you would like to discuss this opportunity further you can contact Ricky Phare at Blackbook Executive on 03 9823 7403.