Quality Assurance Manager

Position Summary: Responsible for building food safety and quality capability on the production floor through hands-on training and coaching of QA leads, technicians, production, maintenance, and warehouse teams.

Owns product adherence to specifications, food safety plans, customer requirements, and certification standards, and maintains a consistent, visible QA presence on the floor to verify that programs are followed as written.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Training & Coaching · Develop the QA team: Train, coach, and develop QA leads and technicians so they can independently verify, document, and escalate food safety and quality issues.

· Train the floor: Deliver and maintain floor-level training for QA, production, maintenance, and warehouse employees on GMPs, allergen control, food safety plans, and product specifications -- at hire, annually, and whenever a process, product, or line changes.

· Real-time coaching: Coach in the moment on the floor: correct gaps as they are observed, explain the "why," and follow up to confirm the correct practice sticks.

· Training tools: Develop and maintain floor-accessible training tools (OPLs, job aids, visual standards) and verify training effectiveness through observation and record review.

· Accountability: Set clear expectations for the QA team and hold them accountable through regular one-on-ones, performance reviews, and performance management.

Responsible for hiring and terminations within the QA department.

Product Adherence · Specification ownership: Own product adherence to finished product specifications, formulations, labeling, customer requirements, and consumer certification standards (SQF, Organic, Gluten-Free).

· Verification: Verify that critical controls, preventive controls, line checks, and pre-op/start-up checks are performed and documented correctly; review records for completeness, accuracy, and trends.

· Nonconforming product: Lead hold, evaluation, and disposition of nonconforming product, and drive root cause analysis and corrective action (CAPA) to prevent recurrence.

· Customer complaints: Own investigation of customer and consumer complaints, including root cause, corrective action, and timely response to the customer; share findings with the floor so the same issue does not repeat.

· Trending: Trend quality data (line checks, holds, complaints, self-inspections) and share results with QA and production leadership to target coaching and improvement.

Floor Visibility · Daily floor presence: Maintain a consistent daily presence on the production floor across shifts, including routine GMP walks, line audits, and start-up verification.

· Go-to resource: Serve as a visible, approachable resource for operators, leads, and supervisors on food safety and quality questions.

· Partnership: Partner with production and plant management to resolve food safety, quality, and regulatory issues on the floor in a timely manner.

· Escalation: Report non-compliant food ...