QUALITY ASSURANCE SPECIALIST

Job Summary

Fresh & Ready Food Group is a fast-paced food manufacturing organization focused on delivering safe, high-quality products while creating a workplace where people can grow, contribute, and make an impact. Our teams work together across operations, quality, safety, supply chain, and support functions to keep our facilities running safely, efficiently, and with our customers in mind.

We believe great results come from strong teams, clear expectations, continuous improvement, and doing the right thing. Whether you are working on the production floor or supporting the business behind the scenes, every role plays a part in helping Fresh & Ready deliver on our commitments.

The QA Specialist is a supervisory role directly involved in protecting the safety and quality of products from receipt of incoming ingredients through distribution of finished goods. This position helps ensure manufacturing and warehousing operations comply with regulatory requirements, quality specifications, and established Quality Assurance policies and procedures. The QA Specialist gathers and evaluates information from multiple sources, documents findings, supports facility compliance, and provides leadership and direction to QA and Operations teams.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

What You’ll Do

• Serve as acting QA leadership when the manager is unavailable.
• Perform supervisory activities including scheduling, performance management, hiring, discipline, coaching, training and development.
• Facilitate effective shift transitions and handoffs by communicating key information to peers, team members, and Production Management.
• Support a safe work environment by ensuring appropriate work instructions, practices, and procedures are in place and employees are trained to follow them.
• Apply corrective action consistently when required.
• Participate in continuous improvement initiatives by identifying opportunities and recommending changes within the area of responsibility.
• Prepare routine and special reports documenting testing activities, test results, and operational issues related to product quality and safety.
• Support quality activities including swab testing, finished product testing, and HACCP audits.
• Review nutritional and product data for accuracy, including product names, ingredients, allergens, net weight, lot codes, dates, and other required information.
• Prepare, review, and maintain product labels in compliance with USDA and FDA labeling requirements.
• Communicate with Quality Assurance, Production, Warehouse, and other departments regarding labeling and quality needs.

REQUIRED

-    Bachelor's degree.
-    3+ years of Quality Assurance experience in food manufacturing.
-    Ability to train and coach QA Technicians and Operations employees.
-    Strong planning, organizing, coordinating, and leadership skills.

-    Ability to work effectively with employees at all levels of the organization.
-    Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
-    Strong written and verbal communication skills.
-    Ability to manage multiple and sometimes conflicting priorities, extended work schedules, and specific time constraints.
-    Ability to work effectively with other employees and work overtime as needed.

PREFERRED

• Ready-to-Eat or USDA-regulated manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Previous lead, trainer, or informal team leadership experience preferred.
• Bilingual in English and Spanish preferred.
• Experience using Genesis or a similar inventory system.
• Previous experience overseeing label and ingredient changeovers, labeling inventory, and data entry.