Quality Assurance Manager

Who We Are and What We Do

Farmer Focus's mission is to promote and protect generational family farms by shifting farm-level decision-making and chicken ownership back to farmers and empowering them to farm the way they know is best. We are committed to consistently producing 100% organic and humanely raised chicken that is better for people, the planet, and animals. Our culture is rooted in servant leadership, and we live by our Farmer Focus CARES values: Community, Accountability, Respect, Excellence, and Stewardship.

The Food Safety Quality Assurance Manager (FSQA) provides leadership and direction of all plant food safety functions to support the company's food safety goals and ensures compliance with all regulatory agencies. Responsible for all products produced meet or exceed all customer, regulatory and company requirements as they relate to food safety. The FSQA Manager acts as the liaison between the USDA and the Company's internal departments such as: Sales and Operations. Responsible for financial budgets, managing FSQA personnel, and conducting audits as well as following up on deficiencies. The FSQA will represent at meetings, in addition to other duties as assigned.

• Manages day to day FSQA functions for the facility including 1st and 2nd processing.

• Implements robust quality control processes, conducts inspections, and driving continuous improvement initiatives.

• Leads and manages a team of FSQA by providing guidance, training, and mentoring to achieve departmental objectives.

• Tasked with overseeing staffing, managing overtime, and budget allocation.

• Conducts regular inspections and audits of production processes, raw materials, and finished products to identify and address any quality issues/failures.

• Collaborates with cross-functional teams, including Operations, R&D, and Supply Chain to resolve quality-related concerns and implement corrective action.

• Engages with customer and consumer feedback proactively, employing thorough root cause analysis and implementing impactful preventive measures. Entrusted with the integral role of overseeing data handling, intricate analysis, and comprehensive reporting processes.

• Contributes to the development and execution of product food safety and quality programs to support the organization's goals of operational excellence, customer/client satisfaction, financial performance, and market leadership.

• Responsible for developing and on-going maintenance of the Food Safety Plan.

• Ensures all HACCP, GMP's, sanitation preventive controls, supply chain preventive controls and all other prerequisite food safety standards are met according to USDA, FSIS, FSMA and corporate requirements.

• Manages Allergen Preventive Controls Program ensuring accurate allergen labeling on finished food products and prevention of allergen cross contact.

• Meets with vendors, customers, quality representatives, and company personnel to discuss and resolve quality problems as required.

• Revises and updates the quality control manual to incorporate statistical control programs.

• Other duties may be assigned.

What You Bring to the Role

• B.S. or B.A. degree (or equivalent) in Food Science, Meat Science, Poultry Science, or related field required.

• Over 4+ years of relevant experience in a comparable position.

• HACCP Certification preferred

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities to identify and resolve quality issues.

• Cross-functional team leadership skills including the ability to coaching/mentoring.

• Efficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, UltiPro, and Workday

Work Environment:

Must be able to work in a variety of settings including the office, outside grounds, and the Plant production floor.

Ability to travel to multiple Plant locations up to 15 -20% of the time.

Possibility of being exposed to varying conditions in the Plant setting, such as cold areas, warm areas, chemicals, and other site conditions.

Farmer Focus is committed to the principles of equal employment and to complying with all federal, state, and local laws providing equal employment opportunities, and all other employment laws and regulations. It is our intent to maintain a work environment that is inclusive and equitable, free of harassment, discrimination, or retaliation based upon an individual's age, race (including traits historically associated with race, which includes hair texture, hair type, and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks, and twists), color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, sexual orientation (including transgender status, gender identity, or expression), pregnancy (including childbirth, lactation, and related medical conditions), physical or mental disability, genetic information (including testing and characteristics), military status (including status as a uniformed servicemember, a veteran, or dependent of a servicemember), or any other status protected by federal, state, or local laws. Farmer Focus is dedicated to the fulfillment of this policy regarding all aspects of employment, including but not limited to recruiting, hiring, placement, transfer, training, promotion, rates of pay and other compensation, termination, and all other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment.