Job Description
Job Overview:
Job Title: Quality Assurance and Food Safety Manager
Market Title: QA Manager
Location: Wittenberg WI
Status: Regular Full-Time
FLSA: Exempt
JOB SUMMARY:
The Quality Assurance (QA) Manager will oversee the daily activities of the quality assurance department including developing, implementing, and maintaining a system of quality and food safety for a company that has continuously maintained an AA grade audit rating for BRC. The QA Manager will provide a critical role in ensuring food safety and quality standards maintained to meet all customer expectations. This role will help drive for continuous improvement within quality and food safety parameters through key performance indicators for the company. This position reports to the Quality Assurance Director and will have three direct reports consisting of QA Supervisor, HACCP Coordinator, QA Technician and four indirect QA Auditors. This is a full time first shift position in a state-of-the-art meat processing facility.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
These duties are not meant to be all-inclusive and other duties may be assigned.
- Maintaining the company’s food safety and quality goals and objectives
- Management of quality programs including maintaining written policies and records for product specifications
- Maintain an understanding of customer requirements and quality standards.
- Maintain quality metrics program and help drive for continuous improvement by working with other departments.
- Assist in management of food safety programs including HACCP, further validations, risk assessments and all other related prerequisite programs.
- Assist in management of customer complaints through further investigations, documentation, tracking, and trending KPIs to drive for continuous improvement.
- Support and assist all R&D projects and related activities.
- Lead and support commissioning and qualification projects on new assets and processes
- Assist and maintain label compliance and all regulatory aspects.
- Provide technical support by analyzing data for trends and opportunities for improvement.
- Help drive continuous improvement through root cause analysis and facilitate solutions to these opportunities.
- Management of non-conformance programs within the plant
- Lead and manage all associated pre-requisite programs and activities relating to BRC audit standards to ensure successful audit certification.
- Maintain crisis management program.
- Conduct annual audits of copacker facilities and other product ingredients as needed.
- Oversee environmental and finished product microbiological testing programs.
- Manage and maintain all associated equipment PEC events with Sanitation and Maintenance
- Build programs, specifications, and processes to ensure product adheres to strict quality and food safety standards.
- Implement and assist with trainings for production line staff to maintain quality and food safety standards.
- Implement detailed and recorded inspections of all critical processes through finished products to ensure all standards are met.
- Develops, implements, and manages processes to ensure that products meet required specifications for quality and food safety prior to delivery
- Assist with data analysis and trending of all Environmental and PEC swabbing data to determine further action as needed
- Maintains compliance with all federal, state, and organizational laws, regulations, guidelines, and policies
- Conducts performance evaluations that are timely and constructive.
- Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policy.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
A Bachelor of Science Degree with 3 to 5 years of related experience in a manufacturing setting and 5-7 years of supervisory experience. Meat processing experience is preferred.
- Ability to make effective decisions independently or with a team.
- Strong critical and analytical thinking skills
- Ability to work and interact with different departments in a positive, respective, and proactive manner.
- Ability to read, analyze and interpret technical and scientific journals and legal documents.
- Ability to define problems, gather facts, and draw conclusions.
- Strong training and presentational skills
- Customer focus for both internally and externally
- Results driven approach.
- High integrity and ethical behavior
- Strong attention to detail
- Ability to lead and manage projects.
- Skilled at analyzing and developing solutions to problems.
- Experience with statistical tools used for data analysis and comparison.
- Familiarity with GFSI audited schemes; BRC a plus.
- Ability to manage stress.
- Ability to operate under deadlines while still meeting standards.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Excellent interpersonal and customer service skills.
- Excellent organizational skills
- Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines.
- Strong supervisory and leadership skills
- Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite or related software
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and taste or smell. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must regularly lift and or move up to ten pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision and ability to adjust focus.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently exposed to extreme cold. The employee is occasionally exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and moving mechanical parts. The noise level in the work environment exposed to wet and/or humid conditions and moving mechanical parts. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
The employee is regularly required to use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms and talk or hear. The employee is frequently required to stand, walk, sit, and taste or smell. The employee is occasionally required to climb or balance and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl. The employee must regularly lift and or move up to 10 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision and ability to adjust focus.
NUESKE’S CULTURE ELEMENTS:
At Nueske’s, we share a few basic Culture Elements. By design, they are simple and straightforward and provide the foundation for how we do business and treat each other.
- Communicate Effectively
- Be Caring
- Be Engaged
- Be Quality Minded
- Be Responsible
- Share the Why
Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Meats provides equal opportunity in all our employment practices to all qualified employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital status, military status, genetic information, or any other category protected by federal, state, and local laws. This policy applies to all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruitment, hiring, compensation, promotion, transfer, disciplinary action, layoff, return from layoff, training, and social, and recreational programs. All such employment decisions will be made based upon the merits of the employee/application and without unlawfully discriminating on any prohibited basis.
1st Shift
