Quality Assurance Manager

Your Opportunity as a Quality Assurance Manager

Ensure food safety and quality of all ingredients packaging and finished products. Take responsibility and accountability for the safe and effective use of materials and equipment and ensure compliance with defined policies and procedures including regulatory, GMP’s, HACCP, and GFSI. SOP’s. Fulfill role of company Practitioner for a GFSI recognized Quality System developing, validating, verifying, and maintaining that system. Train and mentor employees towards individual and team continuous improvements.

Location: 1969 Victory Dr. Columbus, Georgia 31901 (Hostess Manufacturing Plant)

Work Arrangements: 100% on-site, Day Shift – Flexibility required. Willingness to work off shift (including nights, weekends, and/or holidays) and flow to the work as needed

In this Role You Will:  

• Act as a leader in the organization, actively champion and role model our site vision which focuses on the safety and well-being of our employees, our products and our equipment

• Develop and lead programs that ensure compliance to all company quality and food safety policies, and all Federal, State, and local regulatory requirements; ability to teach and translate these requirements into daily operation

• Ensure compliance to company quality procedures, ingredient specifications, process control specifications and finished product specifications

• Be responsible for people management and leadership development to include coaching, developing and empowering leadership team members and technicians to enhance peak performance

• Lead the Quality Team for the plant through data driven direction setting, prioritization, building capability, maintaining a Quality master plan and 90-day plans

• Build skills and capabilities in Quality subject owners

• Ensure effectiveness of site QA training program (new hire and ongoing QA training)

• Drive continual quality improvement as measured by Quality key performance indicators including internal and external audits, and company quality metrics, and site lead and lag measures

• Provide consistent and standardized technical support to the manufacturing facility in relation to quality and food safety requirements

• Perform quality audits at supplier facilities in the U.S., Canada and internationally, including working with each facility to implement corrective actions

• Participate in JMS initiatives and projects for supply chain changes and new product introductions

• Coach Quality Assurance team members and oversee the Food Safety and Food Defense programs for the plant; responsible for the site Food Safety Plan; lead the GFSI Audit program

• Communicate JMS quality, food safety and food defense guidelines and present training as applicable to all employees

• Manage Quality Non-Conformance Events with the goal of investigating root cause and implementing corrective actions to prevent incident reoccurrence

• Coordinate holds, product disposition, product withdrawals and recalls

• Monitor quality of manufactured products using computer complaint data, including complaint investigation, root cause analysis, complaint response and corrective action

• Perform annual performance appraisals for all direct reports and develop key personnel through coaching, training and organizational development

• Manage Quality Assurance Budget

• Oversee documentation management and change management for all Quality and Environmental programs

• Manage the department using principle-based decision making and the Basic Beliefs as a foundation to preserve the Smucker culture

• Build relationships internal and external to the site for personal development

• Represent our organization in a professional, positive manner with our contract manufacturing partners and regulatory agencies

What We are Looking For:  

Minimum Requirements: 

• A Bachelor’s Degree is required

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in food manufacturing operations is required

• Minimum of 2 years of QA/QC management experience is required

• Experience with GFSI, USDA, FDA, SQF, or BRC audits

• Excellent organizational skills, attention to detail, and