Vice President of Quality in Auburn, New York at Cayuga Milk Ingredients, LLC

Position Title: Vice President of Quality

Reports To: CEO

FLSA Status: Exempt

Job Grade: 15

Pay Range: $185,000- $262,000 +20% incentive for financial and personal goals

Position Overview:

The Vice President of Quality is a senior executive role with enterprise-wide accountability for quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and laboratory operations across Cayuga Milk Ingredients. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, 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.

This leader sets and executes the organization’s long-term quality and food safety strategy while maintaining a visible, hands-on presence within operations. The Vice President of Quality balances governance, risk management, and strategic planning with real-time decision-making on the plant floor—ensuring quality is embedded in how the business operates, not managed in isolation.

Executive Leadership Competencies & Expectations

The Vice President of Quality is expected to operate at the same leadership standard as other ELT members and demonstrate the following core competencies:

Enterprise & Strategic Leadership

• Thinks and acts beyond functional boundaries, aligning quality strategy with enterprise growth, customer strategy, innovation pipelines, and financial objectives.
• Anticipates future regulatory, customer, and operational risks and proactively positions the organization ahead of them.
• Translates long-term business strategy into scalable, sustainable quality systems that support expansion, new products, and new markets.

CEO Partnership & Executive Judgment

• Serves as a trusted advisor to the CEO on quality risk, regulatory exposure, and reputational impact.
• Exercises sound executive judgment under pressure, balancing compliance, operational realities, and business priorities.
• Raises issues early, frames options clearly, and recommends decisive, well-reasoned courses of action.

Governance, Risk & Accountability

• Establishes strong quality governance and decision-right clarity across the organization.
• Owns enterprise quality risk management, ensuring risks are identified, mitigated, and communicated appropriately to leadership and stakeholders.
• Holds self and others accountable for outcomes, not just activities.

Cross-Functional Influence & Collaboration

• Leads through influence, partnering effectively with Operations, Engineering, R&D, Supply Chain, Finance, Sales, and HR.
• Resolves conflict constructively, keeping enterprise outcomes ahead of functional preferences.
• Builds alignment and trust across the ELT and broader organization.

Culture & Talent Leadership

• Shapes organizational culture by modeling high standards, transparency, and ownership.
• Develops future leaders within Quality and across the organization through coaching, mentorship, and clear expectations.
• Reinforces that food safety and quality are non-negotiable values shared by all employees.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Quality Strategy & Governance

• 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.

Regulatory Compliance & External Leadership

• 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.

Quality Systems, Food Safety & Continuous Improvement

• 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.

Laboratory & Technical Oversight

• 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.

People Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness

• 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.

Financial Stewardship & Performance Management

• 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.

Reporting & Stakeholder Communication

• 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.

Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years of progressive leadership in quality and food safety within food manufacturing; dairy experience strongly preferred. Aseptic and ESL experience required.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Executive Capability: Demonstrated success operating at an enterprise leadership level, influencing peers, and leading through complexity.
• Technical Expertise: Strong regulatory, food safety, labeling, and quality systems knowledge; laboratory and analytical experience a plus.
• Communication: Executive-level written and verbal communication skills with the ability to influence diverse stakeholders.

Executive Impact Statement

The Vice President of Quality is not only accountable for compliance—but for enabling growth, protecting the brand, and reinforcing trust with customers, regulators, and owner-members. This role is central to Cayuga’s long-term success and requires a leader who can operate confidently at the executive table while staying grounded in the realities of dairy manufacturing.

Education/Experience:

• Experience: Minimum 10 years of experience in quality assurance within food manufacturing of dairy products. Previous experience in Aseptic and ELS processes is highly valued.
• Education: Bachelor’s degree in food technology, Dairy Science, or a related field preferred.
• Skills: Strong expertise in regulatory compliance, food safety, labeling, and quality standards for dairy production.
• Technical Knowledge: Familiarity with Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) and mass spectrometry is a plus.
• Management Skills: Proven leadership and supervisory experience.
• Communication: Exceptional verbal and written communication abilities.
• Technology: Proficiency in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.

This position offers the opportunity to lead a quality-driven culture, upholding high standards in dairy manufacturing and contributing to the company’s commitment to excellence and innovation.

Environmental Considerations:

· 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.

Physical Requirements:

· 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.

Compensation:

At Cayuga Milk Ingredients, we value a fair and comprehensive approach to compensation. Our wage range for this role is determined by various factors, including skill sets, experience, training, licensure, certifications, and organizational needs. It is not typical for an employee to start at or near the top of the range for the position. Compensation decisions are made based on individual job circumstances considering skill level, previous experience, and education requirements

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

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.

Non-Discrimination Policy:

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)).

General Statement:

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.

Disclaimer:

o All requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities.

o This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the employee occupying this position. Employees will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by their supervisor.

o The company reserves the right to add to or revise an employee's job duties at any time at its sole discretion.

o This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise, other than an “at will” employment relationship.