Quality Assurance Manager

Summary

The Quality Assurance Manager is responsible for food safety, GMP practices, food quality, development of the laboratory and laboratory personnel within the facility by creating, where necessary, and maintaining all laboratory functions and quality management systems. The incumbent is expected to have intimate knowledge of laboratory GMP practices and procedures, production process, and be actively engaged in improving laboratory and production efficiencies.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

1. Must be intimately involved and responsible for securing all aspects of food safety from ingredients received to the production and shipment of food from the facility and ensuring HACCP and Good Manufacturing Practices are met. The root cause of instances of food safety deficiencies are to be determined and resolved as quickly as possible. Determining the triggers that interfere with food safety and developing predictors that eliminate the risk are key to maintaining Food Safety. Acts as the primary facility contact for USDA and FDA personnel to resolve issues and maintain constructive relationships. Keeping all regulatory documentation organized, accurate, and available is essential. Achieving a passing score on customer, third party, and regulatory audits is required by maintaining constant audit readiness. The person in this position is responsible to see that corrective actions of all deficiencies identified by an audit are completed in a timely manner.

2. Responsible for ensuring that food quality is consistently met. The incumbent is responsible for identifying process locations and attributes that can be used to predict quality and use process attributes to maintain consistency and reduce the need for finished product testing. Finished product quality attributes with targets and ranges are to be identified and set while taking into account process capability. Supporting specification changes and test procedures are to be published in a timely manner. Challenging quality specification and production capability becomes a normal routine. Identifying and resolving the issues arriving from customer complaints is a primary responsibility. The root cause of customer complaints are identified and resolved within the timeframe of the Customer Complaint policy

3. Ensure the ongoing coaching, development, and training of the Laboratory staff that supports all plant operations. Development of the QA laboratory and personnel are key to maintaining Food Safety/GMP, food quality, and the longevity of the QA Department. Collection of data needed to make Food Safety and Food Quality decisions needs to be well thought out, correct, complete, and presented in a manner that facilitates evaluation and conclusion. Lab data needs to be stored in the prescribed corporate database. Where appropriate the Lab needs to be set up to do routine microbiological testing and personnel need to be trained to achieve accurate and consistent microbiological results.

4. Efficiency of operation extends beyond that of the Laboratory. Must have intimate knowledge of laboratory and production processes and actively engaged in evaluating processes within the facility to remove waste and reduce cost. The expertise of the incumbent should be sought out by Operations to evaluate and resolve issues.

Must maintain the highest standards of ethics and integrity while embodying the tenets of “What We Stand For” and “The Basic Principles.”

Must maintain the highest standards of data management by creating consistent, reliable data which will ensure accuracy and in turn, maximize the use of data and confidence in decision making.

Proactively manage safety by ensuring compliance with all Federal and State regulations and internal Company policies. Regularly complete behavior based safety observations. Ensure unsafe conditions are corrected in a timely manner.

Other duties may be assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Directly supervises employees in the Quality and Regulatory Operations. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; appraising performance; rewarding and disciplining employees; addressing complaints and resolving problems.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and/or Experience

Bachelor of Science degree (B.S.) from four-year college or university; and two to five years related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Language Skills

Ability to read, analyze, and interpret common scientific and technical journals, financial reports, and legal documents. Ability to respond to common inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, or members of the business community. Ability to write speeches and articles for publication that conform to prescribed style and format. Ability to effectively present information to top management, public groups, and/or boards of directors.

Mathematical Skills

Ability to work with mathematical concepts such as probability and statistical inference, and fundamentals of plane and solid geometry and trigonometry. Ability to apply concepts such as fractions, percentages, ratios, and proportions to practical situations.

Reasoning Ability

Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions. Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.

Computer Skills

To perform this job successfully, an individual should have knowledge of Accounting; Database; Human Resource systems; Internet; Inventory; Manufacturing; Project Management; Spreadsheet; Word Processing; and Product Lifecycle software.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations

HACCP Certification

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear and taste or smell. The employee is frequently required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include color vision.

Work Environment

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this Job, the employee is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions. The employee is occasionally exposed to moving mechanical parts; high, precarious places; fumes or airborne particles; toxic or caustic chemicals; outside weather conditions; extreme cold; extreme heat; risk of electrical shock and vibration. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.