Quality Assurance Manager

General Summary:

This is a high-profile position reporting directly to the Director of QA with a functional reporting line to the Plant Manager and effectively supporting the quality mission. This position will Lead, by example, and support the continuous improvement of food safety and food quality performance at the plant in every aspect of the business. This position will ensure all Quality policies, programs and procedures are effectively developed, implemented, and managed for ingredients, packaging, sanitation, processing, and finished products.

This position is the guardian of quality compliance and conformance, the challenger of all functions across the value chain, in support of Operations. This position utilizes quality tools such as auditing, process evaluation, trend analysis, statistical process control, lean six, and CAPA.

The responsible individual will facilitate the development of an open and productive culture where people take pride & responsibility in what they do. The responsible individual will continually inform and involve all relevant personnel in the exchange of information necessary to ensure alignment to current and future objectives to meet quality goals.

Qualifications:

Masters Degree in Food Science, Dairy Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Biology or similar scientific discipline, and one to three years of relevant experience; or a Bachelors Degree in a discipline described above, with three to five years of relevant experience.

Strong knowledge and understanding of:

• Food Safety and Food Quality auditing, internal and external
• Preventive controls, including allergen and foreign material controls
• GMPs, sanitary design, pest control
• Federal and state food regulations
• Specifications, including ingredient and packaging, manufacturing and finished goods
• Analytical equipment and methods in processing quality control, microbiology, chemistry, and organoleptic assessments and evaluations; relevant software applications
• Relevant applications of food technologies

Also key to this position are:

• Strong leadership and mentoring skills
• Ability to successfully interact with a wide variety of people, and provide excellent service to internal and external customers.
• Excellent problem solving skills including root cause , corrective action & preventive action
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Successful supervision of environmental and hygienic microbiological monitoring.

Prefer prior successful experiences in:

• Dairy industry and RTE Packaging
• Preventive Controls Qualified Individual
• Quality Systems and principles in GFSI- SQF, as SQF Practitioner
• Good Manufacturing Practices (FDA)
• Quality Control, such as statistical process control (SPC) and lean six
• Continuous Improvement, including measurable results from actionable information in process evaluation and trend analysis
• Internal auditing, third party audits, customer audits, and regulatory inspections
• SAP, and PC proficiency in Windows-based applications

Responsibilities:

• Direct and supervise the Quality team in the plant and laboratory.
• Ensure plant compliance with all Quality policies, programs and procedures.
• Manage HACCP and Food Safety Plan development, assessments and validations for new products and processes, including records and file maintenance.
• Ensure compliance of the audit programs for internal and external audits, i.e. FDA, WDATCP, IDA, GFSI/SQF, USDA, NOP, and customers.
• In close cooperation with corporate Quality, liaise with Customer Services and Sales and Marketing on complaint investigation and communication, trending and sustaining resolution.
• Promote Quality awareness and ownership throughout plant operations.
• Drive improvements and monitor Quality metrics/KPIs at the facility.
• Evaluate and assist in developing processes, specifications and critical control points in manufacturing for ongoing Quality Assurance of all finished goods.
• Monitor and assess performance of the quality systems, report its effectiveness to management and implement actions for improvement.
• Develop and execute training programs that support Food Safety and Food Quality objectives.
• Apply administrative and record-keeping processes to support the Quality policies, programs and procedures.
• Manage QA related projects from inception to final reports and implementations.
• Member of Plant Crisis Management Team, e.g. Recall Team
• Perform other duties as assigned.