Product Safety Lead

Job Title: Food Safety and Merchandise Quality Lead Job Description This role leads the onboarding and qualification of new suppliers and manufacturing sites for retail food and merchandise products, ensuring they meet rigorous food safety, GMP, and quality standards. The position provides technical and quality oversight across packaging and a wide range of consumer merchandise categories, partnering closely with cross-functional teams to deliver safe, compliant, and robust products to market while maintaining strong work-life balance and meaningful local partnerships. Responsibilities Lead the onboarding and qualification of new suppliers and manufacturing sites to ensure compliance with food safety, GMP, and merchandise quality requirements. Conduct and coordinate risk assessments, audits, and readiness evaluations for new and existing suppliers and manufacturing locations. Collaborate closely with R&D and Merch Development teams to define material, process, and performance qualification standards for packaging and merchandise. Ensure packaging solutions are robust, fit for use, and compliant prior to commercialization by providing quality oversight during pilot runs, scale-ups, and first production. Identify quality and safety gaps early in development and drive corrective and preventive actions to minimize downstream risk to retail operations. Assess manufacturing process capability, including Cp/Cpk, control plans, and validation activities, to confirm suppliers can consistently produce high-quality merchandise before full-scale manufacturing. Act as a trusted quality advisor on innovation governance, balancing speed-to-market goals with a strong commitment to product safety, quality, and customer trust. Apply in-depth technical knowledge to projects and gather insights through testing and supplier/product assessments across a wide variety of merchandising materials and items, including toys, textiles, drinkware, accessories, and other consumer products. Assist with obtaining and coordinating product samples for analysis and testing to support safety and quality evaluations. Proactively analyze product and supplier quality signals, metrics, audit data, customer feedback, regulator input, and workgroup insights to identify trends and emerging risks. Lead investigations and drive resolution of merchandise and consumer product-related concerns raised by regulators, retail stores, field QA partners, or internal and external customers. Interface with and influence suppliers and cross-functional teams, including internationally based partners, to deliver results within demanding timelines. Act as a retail food merchandise product safety and quality system expert in the development of new merchandise initiatives and operating practices. Track product-level testing and work with suppliers to collect and review test data points and documentation. Maintain and monitor product supplier testing records to ensure ongoing compliance with safety and quality standards. Work collaboratively across multiple cross-functional teams while also operating autonomously to manage priorities and deliverables. Support continuous improvement of quality systems, processes, and documentation related to food safety and merchandise quality. Essential Skills 3–5 years of experience in quality assurance, food safety systems, or related product safety roles. Hands-on experience with basic laboratory practices and product safety testing. Experience working with merchandising and multi-category consumer products such as toys, textiles, drinkware, accessories, ornaments, and other retail merchandise. Strong understanding of packaging quality and performance requirements. Knowledge of food safety systems and quality assurance principles, including HACCP. Ability to assess manufacturing process capability, including interpretation of Cp/Cpk, control plans, and validation activities. Demonstrated ability to analyze product and supplier quality metrics, audit data, and customer feedback to identify trends and risks. Strong communication skills, with the ability to interface and influence suppliers and cross-functional teams, including international partners. High attention to detail in reviewing test data, documentation, and quality records. Ability to work both collaboratively across multiple teams and autonomously with minimal supervision. Capability to test and evaluate products for safety and compliance across multiple categories. Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite and basic computer skills. Ability to manage multiple projects and timelines in a fast-paced, cross-functional environment. Additional Skills & Qualifications Experience with food packaging development, qualification, and performance testing. Background in textile and garment products, including quality and safety considerations. Experience with merchandise such as cups, plates, bottles, drinkware, toys, ornaments, and similar consumer products. Familiarity with food safety systems and HACCP methodologies. Process improvement experience, particularly in quality or safety systems. Experience building or enhancing SharePoint sites or other system-based tools to support documentation and workflow. Degree or relevant certifications in food science, quality assurance, engineering, or a related field preferred but not required. Comfort working with broad cross-functional teams, including R&D, merchandising, retail operations, and regulatory partners. Ability to respond effectively to multiple cross-functional stakeholders and manage competing priorities. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills for investigating product and supplier issues. Work Environment This position operates in a hybrid work environment, with four days per week onsite and the remainder remote as business needs allow. The role involves regular collaboration with local and international partners, providing exposure to a broad cross-functional network and meaningful projects that impact retail food and merchandise safety and quality. Standard business tools such as Microsoft Office Suite and Smartsheet are used for documentation, data analysis, and project tracking, along with other computer-based systems to manage testing records and supplier information. The culture emphasizes being closely connected to what is happening across the business, offering exciting work with local partnerships, meaningful contributions to customer safety and trust, and a strong focus on work-life balance. Attire is generally consistent with a professional office and lab-support environment, with appropriate dress when visiting manufacturing sites, suppliers, or retail locations as required. Job Type & Location This is a Contract position based out of Seattle, WA. Pay and Benefits The pay range for this position is $50.00 - $55.00/hr. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following: • Medical, dental & vision • Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital • 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available • Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents) • Short and long-term disability • Health Spending Account (HSA) • Transportation benefits • Employee Assistance Program • Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave) Workplace Type This is a hybrid position in Seattle,WA. Application Deadline This position is anticipated to close on Aug 24, 2026. About Actalent Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service. The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law. If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email [email protected] for other accommodation options. San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.