Quality Assurance Manager
Location: Glencoe, MN
Work Arrangement: On-site manufacturing plant role
Employment Type: Full-time
Compensation: $85,000 to $95,000 base salary, depending on experience
Bonus: TBD
Job Overview
A leading food manufacturing company is seeking a Quality Assurance Manager to oversee plant-level quality, food safety, regulatory compliance, and product-specification programs at a high-volume manufacturing facility.
This role is responsible for planning, organizing, directing, and controlling quality programs across the plant. The Quality Assurance Manager will help ensure that products meet internal quality standards, customer expectations, food safety requirements, and applicable county, state, and federal regulations.
This is a strong fit for a food manufacturing quality leader who understands plant operations, production records, GMPs, sanitation, audits, product grading, fill control, statistical process control, thermal processing, container closure, and spoilage investigations. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working closely with production, sanitation, corporate quality, plant leadership, and hourly employees to maintain food safety and product consistency.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and manage plant quality assurance programs to ensure product safety, regulatory compliance, and product-specification conformance.
- Monitor compliance with GMP standards, food safety standards, food safety procedures, case and label procedures, and plant safety programs.
- Perform routine quality and food safety audits throughout the manufacturing facility.
- Review, organize, and verify plant processing records for compliance with local, state, federal, and company requirements.
- Administer and support the plant food safety program.
- Coordinate plant quality functions with corporate quality and technical services teams.
- Supervise quality employees on the assigned shift or within the assigned area of responsibility.
- Train employees on fill control, sanitation, double seams, product grading, IQF production, statistical process control, and other plant quality procedures.
- Audit sanitary conditions throughout the plant and partner with sanitation and operations teams to correct issues.
- Investigate causes of spoilage, quality deviations, process failures, documentation issues, and nonconforming product.
- Participate in internal, customer, regulatory, and third-party food safety audits as required.
- Work cross-functionally with production, sanitation, maintenance, warehousing, technical services, and plant leadership to achieve quality goals.
- Support corrective actions and preventive actions related to food safety, sanitation, process control, product quality, and documentation.
- Maintain strong attention to detail in all records, audits, investigations, and follow-up actions.
- Communicate quality expectations clearly to production teams, supervisors, and plant leadership.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Food Science or a related field.
- 1 to 2 years of supervisory experience.
- Food manufacturing, food processing, or plant quality experience.
- Strong attention to detail and accuracy.
- Strong communication skills.
- Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented manufacturing environment.
- Understanding of GMPs, food safety programs, sanitation, production records, and regulatory compliance.
- Ability to review production and processing records for accuracy and compliance.
- Ability to train employees on quality procedures and food safety expectations.
- Certified, or able to become certified, in Better Process Control School.
- Certified, or able to become certified, in Thermal Processing.
- Certified, or able to become certified, in Container Closure.
Preferred Qualifications
- Quality assurance leadership experience in canned foods, frozen foods, vegetables, fruit, soup, beans, ready-to-eat foods, or other food manufacturing environments.
- Experience with low-acid canned foods, thermal processing, retorts, seams, closures, fill control, product grading, and spoilage investigations.
- Experience with IQF production or frozen vegetable processing.
- HACCP, PCQI, SQF, BRC, GFSI, or similar food safety certification.
- Experience preparing for or participating in FDA, USDA, state, customer, or third-party audits.
- Experience working with corporate quality teams or regional technical services teams.
- Strong working knowledge of sanitation verification, environmental monitoring, corrective actions, and preventive actions.
- Experience supervising QA technicians, quality supervisors, lab personnel, or production quality staff.
- Strong plant-floor presence and ability to coach employees in real time.
Success Measures
- Consistent product quality and food safety compliance.
- Accurate and complete plant processing records.
- Strong audit readiness and successful audit outcomes.
- Effective administration of the plant food safety program.
- Timely investigation and resolution of spoilage, process, sanitation, or quality issues.
- Well-trained employees who understand fill control, sanitation, double seams, product grading, IQF procedures, and statistical process control.
- Strong communication between quality, production, sanitation, maintenance, corporate quality, and plant leadership.
- Reduced repeat quality issues through effective corrective and preventive actions.
- Strong compliance with GMPs, food safety standards, labeling procedures, and regulatory requirements.
Benefits
Eligible employees may have access to a competitive benefits package, including:
- Medical insurance.
- Dental insurance.
- Vision insurance.
- Life insurance.
- 401(k).
- Paid time off.
- Additional company benefits.
Work Environment
This role works primarily in a food manufacturing plant. The Quality Assurance Manager should expect regular time on the production floor, interaction with hourly employees and supervisors, review of processing records, participation in audits, and coordination with plant and corporate quality leadership.
The plant environment may include exposure to production equipment, sanitation activities, wet areas, temperature variation, food-processing conditions, and active manufacturing operations. The role requires strong food safety discipline, attention to detail, and comfort balancing documentation, audits, training, and plant-floor problem solving.
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