Position Summary
The Quality Assurance Manager is a hands-on leader responsible for the daily execution, oversight, and continuous improvement of NURA's Quality Assurance programs. The position manages team priorities and performance while personally performing, reviewing, and completing critical Quality Assurance activities when needed. The manager ensures certifications, customer documentation requests, complaints and CAPA, SOPs, and quality-related supplier follow-ups are accurate, compliant, and completed on time. The role supports supplier qualification and FSVP activities in coordination with regulatory staff. The role works closely with the Director of Quality on complex customer and supplier requirements, major risks, and strategic initiatives.
Primary Responsibilities
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
1. Department Leadership & Daily Execution
- Lead daily work across QA and Documentation; establish priorities, assign responsibilities, balance workloads, and ensure deliverables are completed.
- Work hands-on in core processes, including document review, supplier qualification, complaint investigation, and technical responses, as needed to resolve issues and maintain service levels.
- Coach team members, establish clear expectations, provide timely feedback, and address performance or execution gaps.
- Monitor departmental KPIs; report progress, bottlenecks, risks, and recovery plans to the Director of Quality; promote proactive communication and continuous improvement.
2. Technical Documentation & Customer Quality Support
- Oversee and contribute to customer technical and documentation requests involving NURA, suppliers, and ingredients, including specifications, COAs, questionnaires, statements, and certifications.
- Ensure responses are complete, technically sound, consistent, professional, and delivered within established turnaround targets.
- Challenge incomplete or unclear supplier information, coordinate with internal subject-matter experts, and improve templates, checks, document currency, and workflows.
- Oversee all internal and external QA-related communications to ensure they are accurate, complete, clear, and timely, supporting customer confidence, effective issue resolution, and positive business outcomes for customers and NURA.
3. Certifications & Ongoing Compliance
- Maintain NURA company/facility certifications and applicable supplier and product certifications, including GMP, Organic, and other customer- or product-specific programs.
- Coordinate renewal schedules, audit preparation, documentation, internal checks, and corrective actions to prevent lapses in compliance.
- Ensure procedures and day-to-day practices continue to satisfy applicable certification and regulatory obligations; obtain specialist guidance when necessary.
4. Complaints, CAPA & Quality Systems
- Lead or directly support complaint investigations, root-cause analysis, corrective/preventive actions, customer communication, timely closure, and effectiveness follow-up.
- Maintain and improve QA SOPs, controlled documents, change control, and associated quality records.
- Work with other departments to ensure cross-functional procedures are understood, followed, and improved when gaps or recurring issues are identified.
- Support internal audits, recall/traceability readiness, and other foundational food-safety and quality-system activities relevant to NURA operations.
5. Systems Implementation & Continuous Improvement
- Help lead implementation and adoption of quality systems and workflow transitions, including TraceGains; translate existing processes into workable procedures and controls.
- Use KPIs, trends, and recurring issues to prioritize improvements, assign action owners, measure results, and sustain changes.
- Communicate project status, dependencies, and decisions clearly to the Director and cross-functional partners.
6. Supplier Qualification & FSVP Support
- Ensure supplier qualification documents are requested, kept current, and maintained in coordination with the regulatory team and the FSVP process.
- Support the regulatory team in evaluating supplier audit reports and reviewing supplier qualification and FSVP assessments.
- Provide supporting documentation and assist with follow-up to address documentation gaps and assessment findings.
7. Supplier Audits & Supplier Improvement
- Coordinate and participate in NURA supplier audits, review audit findings, assess corrective-action responses, and agree on practical improvement plans with suppliers.
- Track commitments, deadlines, evidence of implementation, and effectiveness; escalate unresolved or significant supplier risks.
- Partner with Procurement, QC, the China Office, and suppliers to improve ongoing supplier performance.
- Perform additional duties and responsibilities as assigned.
Experience and Skill Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Biology, Chemistry, Quality, or a related discipline, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Approximately 5+ years of relevant QA experience in food, dietary supplements, ingredients, or comparable regulated operations.
- Practical working knowledge of GMP, FSMA/FSVP, supplier qualification, audits, and quality documentation.
- Demonstrated experience leading people, assigning work, managing deadlines, and following through on performance expectations.
- Hands-on experience with complaints, investigations, root cause analysis, CAPA, SOPs, and compliance programs.
- Experience with Organic, Kosher, Halal, Non-GMO, SQF, or other specialized certification schemes preferred.
- TraceGains or comparable QMS/supplier-documentation software experience preferred, not required.
