Senior Food Safety and Quality Assurance Manager

Do you thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial environment? Love the Natural Food space? Have a knack for rapid problem solving? Want to be a part of a winning, fast growing company?

Join us at Country Archer - the #1 jerky brand in the Natural and Specialty Channel and one of the fastest growing brands in the meat snacks category! As the Food Safety & Quality Assurance Senior Manager, you will be a high impact leader charged with owning the Food Safety & Quality discipline across the Country Archer portfolio, including our entire Value Chain and our internal manufacturing facility.

Country Archer is looking for a highly organized, detail-oriented, and cross-functional leader, who contributes to advancing the business as a champion of product quality, food safety, and new product development. This candidate will report to the Plant Director, partnering closely with the CEO and COO, and act as the subject matter expert across the organization on food safety, quality and regulatory. 

The ideal candidate comes from a background in vertically integrated food manufacturing businesses, with expertise in driving thought leadership in food safety, quality and regulatory across established food brands, as well as new product innovation. They're able to multi-task, balancing multiple priorities simultaneously, and can flex from big picture strategy to tactical execution. This candidate is a clear communicator with fluency in translating complex policy to cross-functional teams and synthesizing nuance into operational recommendations. This individual is a collaborator and effective people leader skilled at partnering with manufacturing teams. 

We are a nimble team; this opportunity will develop and showcase your ability to own and drive continuous improvement in our holistic food safety and quality program. 

We're excited to build something special with you! 

 Things you will own as a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Manager:

• Act as the Subject Matter Expert with Master Class knowledge on all aspects of food safety, quality, and regulatory across the portfolio, ensuring that Country Archer is proactively prepared for any changes in the dynamic regulatory environment
• Be the driving force for defining Country Archer product quality and quality control standards. Physically and figuratively be at the very center of all topics or issues relating to food safety, quality, or regulatory compliance for our portfolio.
• Proactively identify and address issues or concerns relating to the safety, quality, or regulatory compliance of our products before they negatively impact the business or in a manner that thoughtfully mitigates the impact.
• Lead our efforts to understand how our suppliers, inputs, and processes all influence the end-product desirability and reliability.
• Lead a team of 6 Quality experts, including a Quality Supervisor and QA technicians
• Ensure skill development, succession planning, daily attendance and personal development plans
• Provide timely feedback on performance and provide training to support plans  
• Guarantee that Country Archer complies with all federal, state, and company-mandated regulations with regards to meeting food safety requirements (e.g., USDA/FSIS, FDA, FSMA, and California Department of Public Health).
• Own Country Archer's compliance with GFSI SQF certification requirements
• Ensure compliance with label claims and customer demands, including Gluten Free Certification Organization, Paleo Friendly Certification, and USDA Organic Program, etc.
• Continuously improve and build all required SOPs and associated team training to drive efficiency and efficacy related to food safety and quality
• Conduct plant wide training on SOP's, GMP's, SSOP's and HACCP.
• Support product safety, quality, and regulatory compliance components of all R&D driven projects at the site through effective planning, project oversite, cross-functional coordination, and communication.
• Review and approve final proofs for compliance and market readiness.
• Lead efforts to investigate and resolve quality issues arising from internal and external quality complaints. Drive learning for continuous improvements based on feedback received.
• Initiate item set up on customer portals for newly commercialized products.
• Will be required to perform tasks such as lifting up to 50 pounds, walking, standing, climbing, reaching, stooping, pulling, pushing, grasping, and balancing as part of activities out on the production floor. Will be required to see and hear well enough to understand associates' questions and respond to their concerns. Will be required to work in freezers, near noisy machinery, near confined spaces as part of daily production activities

What we're looking for:

• B.S. degree or higher in a relevant technical discipline
• 10+ years of experience as QA Manager or Director in an industrial food manufacturing environment
• Proven knowledge and success in building and leading an all-encompassing food safety & quality program for manufacturing facilities
• Experience in managing food safety & quality with co-packing operations
• Demonstrated success in utilization of Lean - Six Sigma tools and processes to drive continuous improvement and product quality.
• Successful track record and experience in a USDA plant required
• HACCP and food safety management certified
• SQF Practitioner Certified
• FSMA PCQI certification required
• Ability to read and understand technical documents and requests, including Microbiological Reports
• Demonstrated success in leading and holding teams accountable through an effective demeanor,
• Detail-oriented, independent, critical thinker, and a problem solver
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Bilingual English / Spanish a PLUS