
Sr. Quality Assurance Manager
- Atwater, CA
- $115,000-125,000 per year
- Permanent
- Full-time
- In conjunction corporate quality, develop food safety programs to comply with relevant government, customer and certification standards.
- Lead the implementation of food safety programs across USA manufacturing facilities and ongoing enforcement to these standards.
- Coaching and mentoring of the manufacturing QA teams, providing training and development across the department.
- Fostering a culture of continuous improvement within the USA manufacturing facilities.
- Sit on facility senior management leadership team overseeing operations and setting the strategic direction in line with corporate business objectives.
- Serve as the ATW facility PCQI and SQF Practitioner.
- Ensuring audit readiness for food safety inspections including certification audits and regulatory visits.
- Provide reports on quality assurance metrics (KPIs) to local and corporate executive management and develop action plans to address shortfalls in performance.
- Management of food safety and quality incidents including investigations and corrective action plans to resolve issues and develop process improvements.
- Develop, execute, and manage department budget to ensure facilities and equipment are enough to support department goals and objectives.
- Monitor and train respective employees and establish safe work procedures.
- Responsible to comply with FSMA requirements, SQF Code and other applicable Food Safety Management Standards.
- Responsible to enforce all Quality and Food Safety Management Standards and Regulations to ensure continual improvement and effectiveness of the Food Safety Management System with the ability to satisfy our customers and provide products that are in accordance with their intended use and safe for human consumption.
- Document processes and procedures which standardize and support company and regulatory information requirements.
- Convey, demonstrate, and implement good manufacturing practices.
- Ethically represent the company and be compliant with corporate Code of Conduct.
- Supervises the dayshift and nightshift QA/QC Supervisors, Quality Assurance Specialists, Quality Assurance Associates and Sample Lab Technicians.
- Hosting and responding to regulatory, certification and customer audits.
- Leadership duties include reviewing and managing items such as requests for time off and balances of accruals to ensure alignment with time off policy.
- Other duties as assigned.
- B.S. in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry or related fields.
- 10 years of experience in Quality Assurance in food industry including experience in RTE food manufacturing.
- 5 years of experience in a Quality management role.
- Must hold Preventive Control Qualified Individual (PCQI) certification.
- SQF practitioner.
- Advanced knowledge of FSMA regulations, state and federal food standards, food microbiology, sanitation chemical/material use and food safety procedures.
- Passionate about a purpose driven career
- Committed to fostering inclusive environments that support employee development and well-being
- Proven ability to lead team members effectively
- Sets clear expectations, encourages innovation, and drives continuous improvement
- Models and coaches towards transparency and integrity in decision-making
- Effectively facilitates cross-team communication and teamwork
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate at the appropriate level across the organization.
- Must be assertive and able to function independently
- Must be able to recognize and correct quality problems
- Must be able to exercise good judgement and decision-making skills
- Must be able to compete tasks in a timely fashion
- Bachelor’s Degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, or related field
- This position requires exposure to elements consistent with plant/manufacturing and the ability to work in cold, wet, or hot, dusty environments.
- Ability to occasionally reach with hands and arms, as well as walk, stand, stoop, kneel, crouch, climb as well as lift, push and pull.
- Specific vision abilities required for this job include distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.
- Ability to walk the interior and exterior of facilities and the ability to safely climb ladders, stairs, walk on uneven ground and work in areas of cold temperature (35-40 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Ability to sit and use the computer for extended periods of time; ability to answer phones and use a variety of office equipment; ability to lift 40 pounds and reach overhead.
- Industrial manufacturing environment with related noise and temperatures.
- 15% travel, both domestic and international, may be required