Principal Program Lead, Food Safety Programs, Field Operations

The Food Safety team at Chick-fil-A exists to serve safe food to protect our guests and our good name by keeping safe service first. Food Safety resides in the Field Operations department which is focused on helping Operators thrive in a dynamic restaurant environment.

The Principal Program Lead, Food Safety Systems role leads critical Food Safety Programs including Third Party Food Safety Audits, Self-Assessment, Integrated Pest Management, Chemical Program, and Employee Health. These programs work together to equip Restaurants with robust systems to enable active managerial control while also providing the organization with actionable data around food safety performance both at the individual Restaurant and chainwide altitude, including all Chick-fil-A concepts, domestic and international. This role influences strategic direction as well as plans and directs ongoing execution and enhancements of the programs through close collaboration with internal stakeholders such as Food Safety Risk Analysis, Quality, Facilities and Equipment, and Digital Technology & Transformation as well as the third-party vendor performing the audits. This role applies advanced technical food safety and Chick-fil-A operational knowledge to ensure content and user experience are relevant and actionable for Restaurants to accurately assess food safety performance in a dynamic environment. This role serves as primary relationship manager for the third-party vendor and is accountable for project outcomes and a multi-million-dollar annual budget.

The Principal Program Lead, Food Safety Systems will report to the Director of the Food Safety Systems team. This is a Professional Leadership role.

Our Flexible Future model offers a healthy mix of working in person and virtually, strengthening key elements of the Chick-fil-A culture by fostering collaboration and community.

• Significant autonomy in daily management of program and decisions to drive outcomes
• Provide advanced expertise in Restaurant operations and food safety content
• Establish and track performance metrics to evaluate programs and vendor performance
• Ensure alignment of content across multiple program platforms
• Effective project management to ensure successful planning and execution of quarterly content updates across multiple programs
• Contribute to projects that support Restaurant food safety initiatives across the organization
• Facilitate meetings and lead cross-functional teams to achieve desired business outcomes
• External vendor management including performance reviews and selecting and onboarding new vendors as needed
• Manage the Appeals Process
• Serve as point of contact for Operator inquiries and feedback on the programs
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to ensure program captures data needed to inform critical decisions on future food safety solution development
• Analyze data and provide insights to support ad hoc food safety analytics requests
• Participate in departmental and team meetings
• Actively pursue professional development through attending industry conferences, seminars and participating in round table discussions
• Effectively manage the tension between senior leaders with strong divergent views

• Bachelor’s Degree in a science such as: Food Science, Biochemistry, Engineering, Environmental Health Science, Chemistry, Biology or other related area
• Minimum of 10 years of experience
• Ability to work in a technical area and a non-technical area (such as a restaurant environment).
• Ability to influence change in a complex environment
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to build long term, trust based relationships
• Maintain high standard for achieving goals, process utilization, and strive for continuous improvement
• Ability to adapt to changing technologies and priorities
• Attention to detail and organization skills with in-depth operational knowledge

• Master's degree in related specialization area
• Chick-fil-A Team Member experience
• ServSafe, Certified Professional - Food Safety, HACCP Certificate for Food Handlers, etc.