Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager

Position Summary:

The Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) Manager is responsible for overseeing, maintaining, and improving all FSQA programs, policies, and procedures. The FSQA Manager provides leadership, support, and guidance directly to their team and indirectly and directly to other plant personnel to ensure food quality standards, food safety guidelines, legal requirements (as they pertain to food safety) and customer expectations are met. The FSQA Manager reports directly to the Corporate FSQA Manager and will assure consistent quality of production by developing and enforcing good manufacturing practice (GMP) systems, validating processes, providing documentation, and managing staff.

Essential Duties and Requirements include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Leading the quality and sanitation functions on-site to ensure that products and processes comply with documented requirements, systems, and specifications.
• Adhering to personnel safety policies and procedures as well as promoting personnel safety to direct and indirect reports.
• Ensuring the Food Safety programs meets regulatory requirements as the site's SQF Practitioner as well as customer requirements.
• Manage quality standards and quality policies (such as HACCP and internal auditing), with skills and ability to execute against requirements.
• Manage sanitation program (including MSS, verification and validation of cleaning, and plant environmental program).
• Identify, facilitate and/or support continuous improvement efforts in alignment with the site's operational plan.
• Perform and support the development of problem-solving techniques with manufacturing functions to develop corrective actions for quality issues and to initiate continuous improvement.
• Report FSQA metrics and trends routinely utilizing analysis tools to determine quality performance.
• Provide coaching and mentoring for the FSQA team, taking responsibility for the team's performance management and development.
• Execute regular coaching sessions with direct report/s to leverage potential and improve performance.
• Championing food safety culture and ensuring safe working practices are implemented.
• Collaborating with all stakeholders to improve performance of the lines, with a key focus on food safety, quality, and sanitation.
• Assists with all aspects of new product development, production trials, test sampling and production test runs of new materials and finished products as needed.
• Conduct effective Quality and Food Safety training to all levels of the organization.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This position has direct supervisory responsibilities for FSQA Supervisors, who oversee both the FSQA Technicians and Sanitors.

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.

Essential Skills

This position requires exceptional planning, organizing, analytical, problem solving, communication, and team facilitation skills.

This position further requires computer literacy, orientation to detail, quick decision-making ability and a high service orientation.

Educations Level: Undergraduate degree in Food Technology, Biology, Life Sciences, Engineering, Chemistry, Microbiology, or equivalent.

Related Experience: Minimum 8 years of directly related food industry experience, including supervisory experience. Experience with FDA and other third-party auditing entities a plus.

Licenses / Certificates: HACCP, PCQI, and Food Defense certified.

Expertise Level: Knowledge of quality assurance / food safety concepts, practices, and procedures to handle complex tasks and give experienced guidance to others.

Hours of work vary and may include traditional office hours as well as non-traditional (night shift, weekends).

Language Skills

This position requires the ability to read, write and speak English in order to: read requests for proposals; contracts, correspond and communicate with current and prospective customers, employees, auditors and make presentations when required.

Mathematical Skills

Mental ability is required to complete business required math and formulas, ability to manage all data processing needs of the company, ability to maintain self-control during high degree of stress periods such as taxes and year end statements.

Computer Skills

This position requires at least intermediate level knowledge of MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint. Proficient with ERP systems.

Reasoning Ability

Dealing with customers, employees, and others in the accomplishment of the goals of the company.

Physical Ability

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 sit and talk or listen. The employee frequently is required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel. The employee is occasionally required to stand, walk, and reach with hands and arms.

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.

The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

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