Food Safety Quality Assurance Manager

Title: Food Safety Quality Assurance Manager                                                   
Salary Range: $135,000 - $145,000 Annually 
Status: Exempt                                             
Location: Soledad, CA                                           
Reports to: FSQA Director 
 
GENERAL DISCRIPTION / PRIMARY PURPOSE:
The position is responsible for managing the Food Safety and Quality Assurance programs for the value-added manufacturing facilities.  The FSQA Manager works as a liaison between customers and internal business teams to ensure all regulatory, 3rd Party and Bud Antle’s quality & food safety standards are met or exceeded.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS / DUTIES OF THE POSITION:
•    Ensure compliance with Federal (FDA and USDA for facilities with RTE salad bowls with animal protein), State and local regulations.
•    Responsible for managing customer and consumer food safety and quality complaints including investigations, data analysis/trending and responding to complaints. 
•    Ensure all manufacturing facilities follow Bud Antle’s quality and food safety requirements.
•    Maintain the Food Safety Plans, HACCP plans, Preventive Controls and Prerequisite programs.
•    Maintain the Organic System Plan (OSP) for the facility and ensure ongoing compliance with the organic certification requirements.
•    Identify areas of microbial risk and ensure corrective actions are implemented. 
•    Provide internal and external quality & food safety training.
•    Manage, implement, maintain quality & food safety related policies. 
•    Supervise and train salaried and hourly employees within the FSQA departments. 
•    Act as liaison with federal and state agencies including on site regulatory inspectors (USDA) to ensure compliance with regulatory issues.
•    Must be willing to travel to any of Bud Antle’s value-added manufacturing facilities, as needed. 
•    Ensure customer requests related to quality & food safety are completed appropriately and timely.
•    Prepare and manage department budgets.
•    Follow all food safety requirements and GMP’s as applicable for this position.
•    Participate in product innovation and commercialization, process validations and operational improvement initiatives. 
•    Ensure the FSQA department follows compliance with third party auditing schemes.
•    Leverage internal and external data to drive continuous improvement. 
•    Serve as a resource for equipment commissioning, decommissioning activities and capital projects
•    Other duties and special projects as assigned

JOB SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES:
•    Minimum of 3 to 5 years in a FSQA related field. 
•    Three to five years of supervision experience required. 
•    Produce or high-risk FSQA related experience preferred. 
•    Manufacturing FSQA related experience, strongly preferred. 
•    Technical knowledge of regulatory requirements, inclusive of FSMA, HACCP, microbial hazards, hygienic design, third party auditing entities, sanitation procedures and plant operations.  
•    Strong written and verbal communication skills in English are required.
•    Must have the ability to make decisions, appear for work on time, follow directions,
interact well with co-workers, understand, and follow posted work rules/procedures.
•    Must be self-motivated and able to keep projects moving forward under stressful conditions.  Changing priorities will be a persistent factor.
•    Ability to work and adapt to a fast-paced, dynamic environment.    

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: 
•    Ability to lift up to 10-25 pounds, identify and distinguish colors, and work in extreme cold some of the time. (Notification required due to the Americans with Disabilities Act).

WORK HOUR & TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS: 
•    Flexibility to work various hours/days as needed as well as more than 40 hours per week.
•    Ability to travel – up to 30% required.

EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION:
•    BA/BS degree in Microbiology, Food Sciences, Agriculture or related field is required.

EEO STATEMENT:  We are an equal opportunity employer.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or on the basis of disability.