What are the responsibilities and job description for the Quality Assurance Manager position at Farmer Focus?
Work location & Schedule: Work conducted on-site in our Harrisonburg, VA packaging facility. Normal work schedule is Monday through Saturday with frequent 12-hour days. The manager must be available to attend meetings and support team members as issues arise at any hour of the day.
The Quality Assurance Manager is responsible for development and maintenance of all QA programs, meeting USDA, FDA and customer requirements and ensuring the quality and safety of supplied goods. The ideal candidate must have strong knowledge in preventive controls for human food, a strong understanding of FSMA, strong background in manufacturing and quality assurance.
- Contributes to the development and execution of product food safety and quality programs to support the organization’s goals of operational excellence, customer/client satisfaction, financial performance, market leadership, and preferred employee.
- Responsible for developing and on-going maintenance of the Food Safety Plan.
- Actively provides new and on-going training of employees to ensure the Food Safety Plan is understood and executed properly
- Ensures all HACCP, GMP’s, sanitation preventive controls, supply chain preventive controls and all other prerequisite food safety standards are met according to USDA, FSIS, FSMA and corporate requirements
- Manages verification and validation procedures
- Manages Allergen Preventive Controls Program ensuring accurate allergen labeling on finished food products and prevention of allergen cross contact
- Ensures complete traceability of incoming raw materials and finished product while managing lot code tracking
- Conducts regular organoleptic and shelf life evaluations of finished product
- Involved in all food safety audits
- Meets with vendors, customers, quality representatives, and company personnel to discuss and resolve quality problems as required.
- Establishes/revises internal metrics to measure and improve location’s quality service performance.
- Provides/coordinates training of production personnel in making quality measurements and developing core quality competencies.
- Revises and updates the quality control manual to incorporate statistical control programs.
- Assumes responsibility for a variety of assignments and projects, potentially including: technical support of product specifications; private-label, external sales, export, and other procurement and business initiatives.
- Other duties as may be assigned.
What You Bring to the Role
- B.S. degree in food technology, food science, or related curriculum and/or experience required.
- At least 5 years of leadership experience.
- At least 4 years of directly related experience required in a Quality Assurance/Food Safety manufacturing role.
- HACCP program development and FSMA is required
- HACCP certification, Preventive Controls for Human Food (PCQI) and GFSI auditor certification a must
- Working knowledge of food processing and distribution regulations, i.e. FDA and USDA/FSIS, and industry practice
- Track record of food safety/QA success in any of the following focus areas a plus: meat, poultry, seafood, processed foods, distribution, proprietary/private-label product development and/or monitoring.
- Must have knowledge of or familiarity with LSAS software for label creation.
- Strong data management, reporting, and technical writing skills.
Work Requirements and Environment & Reasonable Accommodations Statement
Work conducted on-site at our Harrisonburg, Virginia facilities.
Work will require access the production environment. Must be able to tolerate the varying heat, wet, and chill of the plant. Hearing and eye-protective equipment required in the production area. Required to wear hair and beard nets in the production area. Must be able to traverse a two-story staircase multiple times per day.
