Manager – Food Safety & Quality Assurance

💵 Pay Range: $114,000 to $137,000 annually (based on experience and qualifications)

🥩Hands-on experience in a USDA-regulated meat manufacturing environment is required

📍 Norwood, MA | Onsite
⏰ Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM

OVERVIEW OF ROLE: 

As part of the management team, the Manager, Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) develops and implements food safety and quality assurance strategies, programs, policies, and procedures to ensure the highest levels of food safety and quality. The Manager, Food Safety & Quality Assurance communicates the food safety and quality assurance vision to the department and key stakeholders, manages the food safety and quality functions and staff, and their performance, and makes decisions on workforce planning. They will ensure products are manufactured within USDA FSIS’ regulations and Home Market Food’s quality assurance specifications. A keen interest in food and the ability to assess qualities like color and flavor are valuable for this role.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop Quality Assurance and Food Safety personnel in their job functions.
  • Involved in the new hire process and ensure implementation of new hire training.
  • Deliver quarterly and annual performance reviews for shift employees, and ongoing performance management to ensure high high-functioning team Coach and mentor FSQA Supervisors in leading their respective teams.
  • Collaborate with the Associate Director of Food Safety & QA to create career development plans for QA staff.

• Strong organizational and time management skills, with the ability to effectively manage competing priorities, adapt to changing operational demands, and meet deadlines in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Ensure strict compliance with quality standards, formulations, and procedures by collaborating with management to maintain product integrity, and safety to guarantee absolute product wholesomeness.
  • Participate in formula design and shelf-life studies with R&D.
  • Participate in customer complaint investigations, as well as foreign material investigations.
  • Collaborate cross functionally with Production Management on the shift.
  • Partner with other operational departments in equipment selection/ modification.
  • Partner with the Food Safety Programs Manager and Vendor Assurance Manager.
  • Organize and conduct employee training in Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs), HACCP, SQF, and any other training that affects product safety and quality.
• Partner with Vendor Assurance and Procurement to:
  • Ensure a sustainable supply of raw materials and maintain a high-level supply chain visibility.
  • Generate procedures and quality specifications.
  • Ensure consistent product quality, integrity, and conformance from raw material to finished product shipment.
• Conduct sensory evaluation of products which is a critical component of the function (taste, smell, texture, and visual evaluation), as needed.
• Act as FSQA technical resource for company initiatives, work on cross-functional projects including involvement with the Continuous Improvement (CI) team to develop solutions that will drive the company’s goals and objectives.
• Influence processes, technologies, and systems to ensure products are consistently of the highest quality (SPC, Sensing, AI vision, etc.).
• Partner with the Sanitation team to ensure program compliance.
• Ensure plant and product conformance to third-party audit standards such as GFSI’s SQF – which include preparation and employee awareness training for audits.
• Be a SQF Practitioner backup.
• Develop a professional working relationship with regulatory agencies such as FDA and USDA.
• Develop organizational understanding of the cost of quality.
• Other duties as assigned.
• In their absence, the Associate Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance or the Food Safety Programs Manager will perform his/her responsibilities or delegate to a QA designate.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE: 

• Bachelor's degree in food science, Biology, Chemistry, or another related field required.
• 5-8 years of people management - food industry required (meat industry highly preferred)
• Working knowledge of USDA and FDA regulations.
• Knowledge of Quality Management System (QMS), SPC, Total Quality Management (TQM) a plus.
• Excellent communication skills (both oral and written) are required.
• Bilingual in Spanish or Portuguese a plus.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products is required.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS AND ENVIRONMENT: 

• Comfortable walking, climbing stairs, and sitting/standing for long periods.
• Requires an extended and consistent presence on the manufacturing floor throughout the workday to support operational needs.
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment, learn new tasks, and meet productivity quotas.
• There is a possibility of travel which will be less than 5%.
• Exposure to 85-decibel sounds on the plant floor (PPE provided).