The Quality Assurance & Food Safety Manager is responsible for maintaining and continuously improving the company’s food-safety and quality systems. This position oversees regulatory compliance, preventive controls, HACCP-based programs, SQF readiness, sanitation verification, product quality, employee training, recordkeeping, and corrective actions.
Because we are a growing manufacturer, this is a highly visible and hands-on role. The successful candidate will be comfortable working directly on the production floor, training employees, reviewing records, investigating issues, and collaborating with production and company leadership to develop practical solutions.
Key ResponsibilitiesFood-Safety System
· Maintain and improve the company’s written Food Safety Plan, hazard analysis, preventive controls, and supporting programs.
· Serve as the facility’s Preventive Controls Qualified Individual and primary SQF practitioner, or prepare to assume that role.
· Maintain the company’s SQF-based food-safety management system and support certification and audit readiness.
· Ensure compliance with FDA regulations, FSMA, current Good Manufacturing Practices, applicable state requirements, and customer standards.
· Review and approve food-safety records, including preventive-control, CCP, sanitation, receiving, production, and verification records.
· Reassess the Food Safety Plan as required and update it when products, processes, ingredients, equipment, or regulatory requirements change.
Quality Assurance and Production Oversight
· Monitor daily production activities for compliance with food-safety, quality, allergen, sanitation, and GMP requirements.
· Verify that finished products meet established specifications for appearance, weight, packaging, labeling, coding, and overall quality.
· Manage product holds, releases, dispositions, and nonconforming-product investigations.
· Review ingredient, packaging, and finished-product specifications.
· Investigate quality deviations, customer complaints, process failures, and food-safety concerns.
· Develop and document corrective and preventive actions and verify their effectiveness.
· Partner with production personnel to resolve issues without compromising food safety or product quality.
SQF, Audits, and Documentation
· Maintain organized, accurate, and audit-ready food-safety and quality documentation.
· Lead internal audits and facility inspections.
· Coordinate regulatory, customer, third-party, and SQF-related audits.
· Lead third-party, and SQF-related audits.
· Track audit findings, nonconformities, corrective actions, and completion deadlines.
· Maintain document-control procedures and ensure only current versions of policies, SOPs, forms, and work instructions are in use.
· Provide management with regular updates on food-safety performance, risks, corrective actions, and improvement priorities.
Sanitation, Allergens, and Environmental Controls
· Maintain and verify sanitation programs, including master sanitation schedules and sanitation standard operating procedures.
· Oversee pre-operational inspections and sanitation verification activities, including ATP testing and microbiological testing when applicable.
· Maintain the allergen-control program for milk, wheat, soy, and sesame.
· Verify allergen labeling, ingredient segregation, production scheduling, cleaning, changeover, and employee practices.
· Oversee pest-control, chemical-control, glass and brittle-plastic, foreign-material, waste-management, and environmental-monitoring programs.
· Work with outside laboratories, sanitation providers, pest-control providers, and other technical vendors.
Supplier and Ingredient Controls
· Maintain the approved-supplier program and supplier documentation.
· Review ingredient specifications, allergen statements, Certificates of Analysis, guarantees, and other food-safety documentation.
· Evaluate new ingredients, packaging materials, suppliers, and equipment for food-safety and quality risks.
· Monitor receiving, storage, traceability, lot coding, and inventory-rotation practices.
Training and Food-Safety Culture
· Conduct and document employee training on GMPs, personal hygiene, allergen controls, sanitation, food defense, food safety, and applicable SOPs.
· Provide additional coaching when procedures are not being followed.
· Help build a positive food-safety culture in which employees understand both what is required and why it matters.
· Work collaboratively with production leadership and employees to create procedures that are effective, understandable, and practical.
Traceability and Incident Preparedness
· Maintain traceability, product-recall, crisis-management, food-defense, and food-fraud programs.
· Conduct and document mock recalls and traceability exercises.
· Coordinate investigations and response activities involving customer complaints, potential contamination, labeling errors, product withdrawals, or recalls.
· Ensure required records can be retrieved promptly and accurately.
Required Qualifications
· One to three years of quality assurance, food safety, regulatory, sanitation, or related experience in a food-manufacturing environment.
· Completed HACCP training from a recognized training provider.
· Current PCQI qualification through recognized preventive-controls training or clearly documented equivalent job experience.
· Working knowledge of FSMA, FDA requirements, current Good Manufacturing Practices, hazard analysis, preventive controls, and food-manufacturing sanitation.
· Experience reviewing production and food-safety records and investigating deviations and corrective actions.
· Strong written, organizational, documentation, and communication skills.
· Strong attention to detail and willingness to spend significant time on the production floor.
· Ability to work independently, prioritize competing responsibilities, and follow issues through completion.
· Comfort using digital recordkeeping, document-management, and spreadsheet systems.
Preferred Qualifications
· Bachelor’s or associate degree in food science, microbiology, biology, chemistry, public health, quality assurance, or a related field.
· Experience with SQF, another GFSI-recognized certification program, or a comparable food-safety management system.
· Completion of Implementing SQF Systems training or demonstrated knowledge of the SQF Food Safety Code.
· Experience serving as an SQF practitioner or supporting an SQF-certified facility.
· Internal-auditor training or experience conducting internal audits.
· Experience with allergen control, environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, supplier approval, product traceability, and recall exercises.
· Experience in bakery, confectionery, chocolate, snack-food, or other ready-to-eat food manufacturing.
· Familiarity with food-safety or quality-management software.
Physical and Work Requirements
· Ability to work on-site in an active food-manufacturing environment.
· Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and move throughout production, storage, and warehouse areas.
· Ability to occasionally lift up to 50 pounds.
· Ability to comply with all facility hygiene, PPE, jewelry, and GMP requirements.
Schedule
· Full-time, on-site position.
· Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
· Occasional schedule flexibility may be required for audits or urgent food-safety needs.
Legally Addictive Foods is an equal-opportunity employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to any status protected by applicable law
Pay: $55,000.00 - $62,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee discount
- Health insurance
- Paid time off
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
