Director, Manufacturing (Operations) Quality & Food Safety (Yogurt/Shakes/Kids)
Danone North America · Louisville, GA
- Level
- Director+
- Team
- Quality
- Base pay
- $143k–$206k
- Experience asked
- 10+ years
- Industry
- Industrial
- Posted
- Recently
The role in 30 seconds
A director-level quality role at Danone North America (industrial) in Louisville, GA. To co-design with factories and supply chain change projects (CapEx and OpEx) to drive food safety compliance and consumer satisfaction.
- They ask for
- 10+ years
- Tools it names
- Root cause
- Base pay
- $143k–$206k
Read from the posting. The full description is below.
From the plant jobs report · week of November 2, 2026
Quality Engineer roles in the US: typical posted base $96k–$135k. This one lists $143k–$206k.
Median of the low and high ends of 588 live postings that list pay, out of 1406 quality engineer openings in the US, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.
Georgia plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →
How this role compares
Against 17 other live quality postings in Georgia.
- Experience asked
- More than usual (10+ vs 5+)
Similar roles usually ask 5+ years.
Skills these teams ask for most
- ✓ Root cause 61%
- Supplier quality 44%
- FMEA 39%
- Team leadership 33%
- New product launch 28%
- PPAP 28%
✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.
At a glance
Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.
How to get in at this plant
Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.
- 1
Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at Danone North America
Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.
- 2
Send a short, curious note
One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.
- 3
Turn a reply into a short call
Questions worth asking about this team:
- What does a normal week look like on your team?
- Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
- How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
- How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
- 4
Apply with someone vouching for you
If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.
- 5
Bring proof to the interview
One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.
Full description from Danone North AmericaAs posted on their careers site.ShowHide
Experienced Professionals
Short Intro and About the Job
This role is responsible for category Quality & Food Safety performance in manufacturing in Danone owned factories.
The main purpose of the Category QFS Manufacturing role is to ensure operational QFS excellence.
Job
Responsibilities
To be a main point of contact with the factory QFS organization ensuring sufficient time and leadership to develop QFS capability within factory teams
- ◆To establish a 2 way stream of feedback to and from US factories, category teams and global QFS to ensure a strengthening of standards and increased performance.
- ◆To be accountable for the implementation of the Danone QFS product and operational QFS standards across all the factories (Danone owned or Co-Manufacturers) within the designated category.
- ◆To ensure the Quality Management System within the factories meets the needs of the product and consumer.
- ◆To drive within each factory a QFS culture of transparency, continuous improvement and zero-defect minded executional excellence.
- ◆To monitor end-to-end QFS performance and consumer satisfaction metrics, reporting, data and insights analytics and make strategies for addressing gaps and performance issues as well as recognizing good performance
- ◆To co-design with factories and supply chain change projects (CapEx and OpEx) to drive food safety compliance and consumer satisfaction.
- ◆To be an IWS expert and lead delivery of the Quality Pillar
- ◆To develop the capabilities within the category QFS team and in the factories to deliver & execute the digital and IWS agenda.
The role covers all end-to-end QFS design and operational activities, within the designated category within the US.
Key Deliverables
Education & Experience
- ✓10 years in Operations Quality or Operations with a quality driven mindset.
- ✓Prior experience within the Dairy category strongly preferred.
Show full description ↓Show less ↑
Director, Manufacturing (Operations) Quality & Food Safety (Yogurt/Shakes/Kids)
Job Locations
US-CO-Louisville | US-TX-Fort Worth | US-OH-Minster
ID
2026-22576
Number of People to Hire
4
Job Family
Quality
Leadership
- •Lead by example with a servant leadership focus enabling a culture of teamwork and trust across all teams
- •Develop highly competent factory QFS organizations that are technical and capable of implementing strong quality management systems
- •Establish a category network linking factories, technical expertise and global QFS teams to drive best practice, shared learnings and ultimately category performance
- •Establish strong, collaborative relationships with Factory Directors, Operations, R&I, C&P and Supply Chain teams
- •Work openly and proactively with zone QFS teams and categories to drive overall performance
- •Develop strategies for continuous QFS improvement in designated category but also input to US + Canada FS strategy
Compliance
- •Ensure implementation of food safety and quality policy, procedures and standards in factories and in quality in design processes
- •Deliver the implementation of reference analytical tools and methods in factory laboratories
- •Ensure audit non-conformances are followed up and closed
Governance & Reporting
- •Ensure transparency in reporting issues, KPIs and QFS risks using the Danone systems and standards
- •Fully interrogate KPIs and consumer feedback to evaluate product performance and protect brand integrity
- •Escalate and manage issues and potential QFS risks timely, to appropriate stakeholders while fully securing product, brand integrity and consumer safety. This includes risks due to factory team capability, performance or product non-conformance.
- •Ensure robust action plans created from a deep root cause analysis are in place and follow up on action closure.
Physical Demands & Work Environment
- •This role will require traveling on a regular basis to plants
About You
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- •Strong ownership and demonstration of Danone behaviors and values.
- •Proven strategic mindset with servant leadership in focus to enable functional teams for execution with excellence.
- •Mastery and globally recognized expertise in QFS systems and programs management.
- •Excellent communication skills and leadership courage.
- •Strong leadership to drive change within the organization.
- •Strong problem solving skills and focus on enabling excellence in execution.
- •Facts and data driven, with strong synthesis and analytical capabilities.
About Us, We offer and What's next
Life at Danone
With approximately 5,000 employees and 13 production locations across the U.S., our vibrant culture and endless growth opportunities are just a couple of the reasons our employees call themselves "Proud Danoners."
Learn more about Life at Danone
Our Brands
When you join us, you'll work with some of the best-known food and beverage brands in the world, including Activia, DanActive, Danimals, Dannon, evian, Follow Your Heart, Happy Family Organics, International Delight, Light + Fit, Nutricia , Oikos, Silk, So Delicious Dairy Free, STK Cold Brew Coffee , Too Good & Co, and YoCrunch.
Our Purpose
We're committed to making a positive impact on our world. Rooted in our mission to bring health through food to as many people as possible, we're proud to be the world's largest B Corp.
Learn more about our mission.
Our Benefits
Our commitment to making the world