Quality Manager - APAC

The Quality Manager - APAC is the primary factory-facing quality leader across Vita Coco’s APAC manufacturing and co-manufacturing network. The role drives consistent quality and food-safety performance, reinforces Vita Coco Minimum Mandates and Policies, and ensures that deviations, non-conformances, complaints and emerging risks lead to timely containment, evidence-based investigation and effective corrective and preventive action (CAPA).

The role combines hands-on factory engagement, disciplined governance, quality-data analysis and continuous improvement with leadership of the APAC Quality Engineers. It strengthens factory accountability and capability while supporting the broader RUN, GROW and INNOVATE objectives of Technical Services.

Responsibilities

1. Factory-Facing Quality Leadership and Governance

• Serve as the primary quality partner for assigned APAC factories and co-manufacturers, building effective relationships with factory management, Quality, Production, Engineering and Laboratory teams.
• Establish a routine governance rhythm covering quality performance, risk assessment, action tracking and escalation.
• Drive consistent implementation of Vita Coco Minimum Mandates, Policies, quality standards and manufacturing-network ways of working.
• Identify and escalate risks affecting food safety, compliance, product integrity, supply continuity, customer requirements or consumer satisfaction.
• Conduct regular factory engagement and site visits to assess practices, process controls, quality-system effectiveness and improvement opportunities.
• Challenge gaps constructively and ensure corrective measures are practical, risk-based and sustainable.

2. Non-Conformance, Root Cause Analysis and CAPA

• Lead or facilitate investigations into significant deviations, non-conformances, complaints, process failures, product-integrity concerns and recurring issues.
• Ensure timely containment and risk assessment of affected products, processes and potentially impacted production lots in coordination with authorised Quality decision-makers.
• Drive structured root-cause analysis using appropriate tools such as 5 Whys, fishbone, fault-tree analysis, process mapping, SPC, trend analysis and comparative production data.
• Challenge investigations to differentiate immediate causes, contributing factors and verified systemic root causes.
• Review CAPA plans for clear root-cause linkage, accountable owners, realistic timelines and measurable effectiveness criteria.
• Maintain CAPA governance covering progress, overdue actions, recurring issues and systemic risks; escalate weak evidence, delay or ineffective action.
• Verify implementation and sustained effectiveness through objective evidence before recommending closure.
• Share significant incidents, root causes, lessons learned and preventive controls across factories.

3. SOPs, Standards and Factory Quality-System Capability

• Support factories to develop, improve and implement practical SOPs, quality-control plans, inspection methods, testing protocols, escalation procedures and records.
• Confirm procedures reflect actual factory practice, define responsibilities and critical controls, and are supported by training and implementation evidence.
• Assess quality-system effectiveness and close gaps between documented procedures and operational execution.
• Strengthen preventive controls including process monitoring, equipment verification, calibration, inspection, laboratory controls and traceability.
• Translate recurring network gaps into standard approaches, templates, guidance and training.
• Support compliance with applicable HACCP, BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and US FDA FSMA requirements, and preparation for internal, customer, certification and regulatory audits.

4. Factory Performance, Risk and Continuous Improvement

• Analyse production, laboratory, complaint, non-conformance, audit, process-monitoring and product-evaluation data to identify trends and priorities.
• Maintain meaningful KPIs covering non-conformance trends, CAPA ageing and effectiveness, complaint recurrence, audit closure, process-control compliance and product quality.
• Apply risk-based prioritisation and conduct routine performance reviews with factory teams.
• Partner with Operations, Engineering, Laboratory, Continuous Improvement and factory teams to improve process capability, sterility assurance, shelf life, manufacturing consistency and right-first-time performance.
• Support improvement of aseptic processing, filling operations, packaging integrity, filling-volume compliance, calibration, sanitation and process controls.
• Investigate physicochemical, microbiological and sensory trends; use SPC and process-capability analysis to improve consistency and reduce recurring losses.
• Support factory qualification, process verification, production trials and manufacturing changes within RUN responsibilities and in collaboration with GROW and INNOVATE.
• Provide concise management reporting on performance, critical risks, improvement actions and unresolved issues.

5. Team Leadership and Execution

• Lead, coach and develop the APAC Quality Engineers, translating Technical Services priorities into objectives, work plans, KPIs and development goals.
• Prioritise factory support, investigations, audits, analysis, qualification and CAPA verification according to risk, business impact and available resources.
• Provide technical oversight for complex investigations and review the quality and timeliness of reports, assessments, communications and closure evidence.
• Build team capability in aseptic manufacturing, food-safety systems, risk assessment, root-cause analysis, data interpretation and factory governance.
• Develop independence, technical judgement, constructive challenge and disciplined follow-through; address capability gaps through coaching, training, mentoring and factory exposure.
• Maintain continuity of quality support during critical manufacturing events and foster a collaborative, accountable improvement culture.

6. Contribution to Technical Services - RUN, GROW and INNOVATE

• Provide factory insights, recurring issues, constraints, systemic risks and improvement opportunities to the RUN Director and wider Technical Services organisation.
• Capture lessons from incidents, investigations, audits and improvement work for network-wide learning.
• Provide quality input to new factories, lines, products, packaging, technologies, qualification, validation and scale-up activities.
• Support structured handovers into RUN by confirming requirements, SOPs, controls, monitoring, training and outstanding risks are documented and understood.
• Assess risks from manufacturing changes and confirm operational readiness before transition to routine production.
• Document improvement outcomes and measurable benefits that demonstrate Technical Services value.

7. New Factory Assessment and Onboarding

• Lead the quality assessment of potential new factories and co-manufacturers, evaluating their quality-management systems, food-safety controls, manufacturing capability, laboratory capability, regulatory compliance and readiness to meet Vita Coco requirements.
• Identify quality, food-safety and operational gaps against Vita Coco Minimum Mandates, Policies and applicable regulatory and certification requirements.
• Define required corrective actions, accountable owners, completion timelines and verification evidence before factory approval or commercial production.
• Provide factory quality input into qualification trials, process validation, product testing, packaging verification and production-readiness assessments.
• Establish the factory quality operating model, including responsibilities, escalation pathways, reporting routines, quality KPIs, non-conformance management and CAPA governance.
• Ensure required SOPs, control plans, specifications, inspection methods, testing protocols, traceability controls and training are implemented before transition to routine production.
• Coordinate other departments and functions to support a structured handover into RUN.
• Monitor quality performance during initial production and stabilization, ensuring emerging risks, deviations and capability gaps are addressed before onboarding is considered complete.

Factory Quality Governance

• Owns prioritisation, coordination and governance of factory-facing quality support across the assigned APAC network.
• Establishes performance monitoring, investigation follow-up and CAPA governance routines aligned with RUN priorities.
• Recommends escalation and risk mitigation where performance, compliance or product-integrity concerns require intervention.

Quality Incidents and Product Disposition

• May recommend production stoppage, containment, additional testing, enhanced verification, investigation escalation or delayed CAPA closure where evidence is insufficient.
• May initiate urgent escalation under approved incident procedures when significant product-safety or compliance risks are identified.
• Formal product release, hold, rejection and final disposition remain with authorised Quality personnel. Product decisions must be supported by technical evidence, risk assessment and documented communication.

CAPA and Cross-Functional Boundaries

• Owns the technical review, challenge, monitoring and effectiveness verification of factory investigations and CAPAs; factory management remains accountable for implementing and sustaining site actions.
• May recommend CAPAs remain open where effectiveness evidence is inadequate or improvement is not sustained.
• Partners with Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, Laboratory, Product Development, Engineering and other functions. Formal qualification approvals and delegated functional decisions remain with the respective authorised roles.
• Escalates decisions outside the role’s authority to the RUN Director or appropriate functional leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Microbiology, Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum 7 years of progressive quality experience in food or beverage manufacturing, including factory investigations, supplier or co-manufacturer management, quality-system implementation and audits.
• Demonstrated experience in root-cause analysis, CAPA governance, audit follow-up, SOP implementation and continuous improvement.
• Regional, multi-site or co-manufacturing network experience is advantageous. Experience leading or coaching Quality Engineers is preferred.

Technical Knowledge

• Strong knowledge of food and beverage manufacturing, particularly aseptic processing, UHT operations, filling systems and packaging integrity.
• Practical experience with Tetra Pak processing and filling systems; canning exposure is advantageous.
• Sound understanding of HACCP, GFSI-recognised schemes including BRCGS and FSSC 22000, and applicable US FDA FSMA requirements.
• Lead Auditor and PCQI qualifications are preferred.
• Strong capability in root-cause analysis, CAPA effectiveness, quality-risk assessment, process controls, calibration, laboratory testing and microbiological verification.
• Ability to interpret manufacturing and quality data using Excel, Power BI, SPC, Minitab or equivalent tools; Python is advantageous but not essential.
• Strong technical writing, investigation documentation and management communication skills.

Leadership and Working Style

• Able to influence factory management and cross-functional teams without direct operational authority.
• Strong analytical thinking, technical judgement and practical, risk-based problem-solving.
• Effective cross-cultural communication and stakeholder management across functions and organisational levels.
• Able to manage competing priorities and respond effectively to critical quality incidents.
• Willing to travel internationally across APAC and provide extended-hour support when critical events require intervention.