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External Manufacturing & Supplier Quality Assurance Analyst

Kevin's Natural Foods
Stockton, CA

Job Details

Qualifications

Communication with suppliers
Stakeholder engagement
Food safety management
Defect resolution root cause analysis
Quality assurance experience within food and beverage industry
HACCP Certification
Vendor compliance audits
Managing projects
Quality control experience within food and beverage industry
Food safety auditing
Cross-functional communication
Failure analysis

Full Job Description

The External Manufacturing & Supplier Quality Assurance Analyst is responsible for governing quality and food safety across Kevin’s Natural Foods external manufacturing network and supplier base. This role ensures compliance with the Mars Quality Management system. This position plays a critical role in enabling business growth through co-manufacturing while safeguarding product integrity, driving supplier performance, and ensuring inbound material quality in addition to auditing and qualifying conventional suppliers. The role acts as a key cross-functional partner across Procurement, R&D, Supply Chain, and Quality teams, serving as a central hub for external manufacturing and supplier quality activities.

What You'll Do:

Lead the implementation and governance of the External Manufacturing Quality Management (EMQM) program at Kevin’s Natural Foods.

Ensure external manufacturers comply with Kevin’s and Mars Quality Management standards.

Own supplier qualification, approval, and ongoing performance management.

Act as a key technical authority ensuring quality and food safety standards across external partners.

Support both strategic (supplier development, program deployment) and tactical (audits, issue resolution) activities.

Define validation and verification programs to ensure product equivalency and food safety.

Drive visibility of external manufacturer quality performance and lead continuous improvement initiatives.

Manage change control processes impacting quality and food safety.

Facilitate supplier quality processes, policies, and onboarding frameworks.

Develop and improve RACIs and ways of working for material and supplier onboarding.

Monitor and improve inbound raw and packaging material quality across sites.

Establish KPIs and metrics to track supplier quality performance and compliance.

Conduct supplier audits (low, medium, high risk) to assess capability and compliance.

Lead initial supplier assessments and ongoing verification activities.

Identify gaps and drive corrective and preventative actions (CAPA) with suppliers.

Maintain supplier status, risk assessments (e.g., EMPRA), and technical documentation.

Partner with Procurement, R&D, and project teams to support external manufacturing in innovation projects.

Act as the quality lead for co-manufactured product development.

Ensure suppliers meet quality and food safety requirements for new product launches.

Lead investigations related to external manufacturing quality incidents.

Conduct risk assessments and determine product disposition.

Identify root causes and ensure effective CAPA implementation.

Monitor trends and incorporate learnings into continuous improvement efforts.

Drive supplier development initiatives to improve capability and performance.

Contribute quality insights to sourcing and supply strategies.

Engage with global and regional quality communities to align on best practices.

Support management reviews with data-driven recommendations.

Require regular interactions with external manufacturers, suppliers, and global quality teams.

Other duties as assigned or necessary.

What You’ll Need:

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Engineering, Chemistry, or related field (preferred).

4+ years of experience in Quality, Food Safety, or Technical functions.

Experience managing external manufacturers and supplier quality.

Strong background in auditing Quality Management Systems and supplier facilities.

Strong understanding of Quality & Food Safety standards (e.g., HACCP, GMP, FSSC 22000, ISO 22000).

Experience with Material Quality Management and supplier quality systems.

Proven problem-solving and root cause analysis skills.

Ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and external partners.

Strong communication and project management skills.

Certified Lead Auditor (FSSC 22000 or equivalent) Certification

HACCP certification..

Ability to travel up to ~40%.

Healthy, Diverse Teams Breed Innovation:

Kevin’s Natural Foods is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We deeply believe that diverse backgrounds and experiences make better teams, and we seek to attract talent from all walks of life. The team at Kevin’s is smart, humble, and passionate and we value a work environment that fosters personal development and opportunities to move within our small, but quickly growing organization.

More About Kevin’s Natural Foods:

Kevin's Natural Foods is a line of refrigerated and frozen meals, sides, soups, and sauces on a mission to empower even the busiest people to eat clean without sacrificing flavor. Co-founded by Kevin McCray who battled an auto-immune disorder for years, Kevin's Natural Foods was born from his desire to make clean eating seamlessly fit into any lifestyle. Shockingly delicious and made with clean ingredients, Kevin’s products are ready in minutes and always free from gluten, soy, and refined sugar.

In 2023, Kevin’s Natural Foods joined the Mars Food & Nutrition family, allowing us to expand our reach, accelerate innovation, and bring our mission to even more households while staying true to the quality and integrity that define our brand. A true market disruptor, Kevin's is the first clean refrigerated entrée brand working to prove every day that proper nutrition can be as delicious as it is healthy.

Kevin's Natural Foods uses E-verify to confirm employment eligibility. For more information, please see the links

https://www.everify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster%20Eng_Es.pdf

https://www.everify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/EVerifyParticipationPoster.pdf

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