Nova MFG is a contract manufacturer of nicotine e-liquid in Gardena, California. We compound, bottle, and package finished product for a portfolio of customer brands, each with its own recipes, specifications, label artwork, and regulatory obligations. Our customers audit us, our regulators inspect us, and our product is a nicotine-containing consumer good sold into one of the most heavily regulated categories in the country.
This role is mostly on the production floor. Verifying incoming raw materials against their Certificates of Analysis. Checking batches in process — that the nicotine strength compounded is the strength ordered, that the weights match the batch record. Inspecting finished goods before they ship, including that the label on the bottle is the right SKU, the right strength, and the artwork the customer actually approved. And making the call on whether a lot goes out the door.
Behind that sits the paperwork that makes those checks count: complete batch records, investigated deviations, qualified suppliers, and controlled documents. Nova already has a quality management system in place and our regulatory filings are handled outside this role, so this is not a build-from-nothing job. It is a run-it-properly-every-day job.
Experience running a quality function is a real advantage and we will pay for it. But we are just as open to someone with the right instincts who learns this on the job. The technical content here is teachable; the disposition it requires is not. We would rather train the right person than hire the wrong experienced one, and the pay range below is wide precisely because we mean that.
Key responsibilities
1. Quality control — production floor
- Incoming material inspection. Receive and verify nicotine, PG, VG, and flavor concentrates against purchase specifications and Certificates of Analysis. Confirm vendor lot numbers, quantities, container integrity, and labeling. Release, quarantine, or reject.
- In-process checks. Verify compounding against the approved batch record and compounding sheet — gram weights per component, specific gravity, appearance, and homogeneity. Confirm the nicotine strength actually compounded matches the theoretical target and reconcile any variance.
- Line clearance and changeover. Enforce line clearance between batches so that flavor carryover and nicotine strength cross-contamination cannot occur. Sign off on changeovers.
- Bottling and packaging inspection. Fill volume, seal and child-resistant closure integrity, cap torque, and label accuracy — correct SKU, correct nicotine strength, correct lot and date coding, and label artwork matching the customer-approved version on file.
- Finished goods disposition. Review the completed batch record and inspection results and issue the release, hold, or reject decision. Own the quarantine area and ensure nothing on hold moves.
- Retain samples and stability. Maintain the retain sample program for every lot produced, with the storage, labeling, and retention period our SOPs and customer agreements require.
- Third-party testing. Manage outside analytical testing where required — nicotine assay, ingredient verification, contaminant screening — and review results against specification.
2. Quality records and systems
- Batch record review. Review every executed batch record for completeness and correctness before product release. Chase down blanks, corrections, and unexplained deviations.
- Deviations and CAPA. Log and investigate deviations, out-of-specification results, and customer complaints. Find the root cause, drive the fix, and verify it worked.
- Supplier quality. Qualify and re-qualify suppliers of nicotine, base liquids, flavor concentrates, bottles, closures, and labels. Maintain the approved vendor list and require CoAs.
- Calibration and equipment. Keep scales and measuring instruments calibrated on schedule, with records to prove it.
- Audits. Host customer and third-party audits and close out findings on time.
- Documents and training. Keep our written procedures matching what actually happens on the floor, and keep training records current. Where the two have drifted apart, fix the procedure or fix the practice.
3. Regulatory compliance — grow-into
These filings are handled outside this role today. Nobody is expected to walk in owning them. Expect to support and learn them first, and take ownership of as much as you are ready for over time.
- FDA. Maintain establishment registration and product listing on schedule (listing updates by June 30 and December 31; establishment re-registration October 1 – December 31). Maintain the records that support customer PMTA obligations, including formulation and manufacturing documentation.
- California tobacco licensing. Maintain CDTFA manufacturer/distributor licensing, including the location-tied licensing implications of our facility move. Support the monthly tobacco products tax return.
- Unflavored Tobacco List. Manage annual UTL submissions and renewals (window April 1–15; fee received by April 30) for applicable brand styles, and coordinate with customers on who is the applicant of record.
- PACT Act. Maintain shipment memoranda and state reporting records.
- Hazardous materials and waste. Treat nicotine as P075 acute hazardous waste, which counts against a 1 kg/month generator threshold — off-spec batches, expired concentrate, spill residue, and non-empty drums all count. Maintain the CERS / HMBP hazardous materials inventory with LA County Fire as our CUPA, and manage DOT hazmat classification for outbound shipments.
- Safety. Own the SDS library and GHS labeling, chemical hygiene, PPE program, and Cal/OSHA IIPP compliance for a facility handling concentrated nicotine and ethanol-based flavor concentrates.
Pay: $55,000.00 - $85,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
