Job Title: Quality Assurance and Food Safety Director
Location: Richmond VA
Company: Nightingale Ice Cream
Salary: Range up to 120,000 annually
Job Overview: We are seeking a knowledgeable and proactive Food Safety and Quality Assurance Director to oversee all aspects of food safety, regulatory compliance, and product quality at our ice cream sandwich production facility. Our operation includes specific production rooms such as Bakery, Ice Cream and Packaging. Each plays a vital role in the building of the complete ice cream sandwich.
This leadership role is essential in ensuring our facility meets all food safety standards, including HACCP, FSMA, and third-party audit requirements. You'll develop and implement quality control protocols, conduct regular inspections, and collaborate with production teams to uphold excellence. Additionally, you'll work with the Quality Assurance Manager to maintain a high quality and safe product for our customers and spearhead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance our products' safety and consistency.
Beyond compliance, you'll play a hands-on role in training staff on food safety best practices with the management team, investigating deviations, and addressing concerns with swift corrective actions. Your ability to build strong relationships with regulatory agencies and internal teams will be crucial to maintaining compliance and product quality.
If you're passionate about food safety and quality, and ready to make an impact in a fast-paced environment, we'd love to hear from you.
Food Safety Program Management - control of program documentation and continuous improvement. Goal is to be audit ready every day. Key Responsibilities: Food safety plan- continuous improvement. Work with the Production team to ensure process changes are both efficient and results in safe products. Ensuring food safety and quality operational plans are developed, implemented, and reviewed to ensure policies and practices manage continuous improvement to meet regulatory, customer and company goals.
Maintain an audit ready food safety plan and staff. Document annual review of all systems (and any additions or corrections are in place) prior to the annual 3 rd Party audit date and ready for any Customer or Regulatory (state or federal) - announced or unannounced audit.
Maintain current sanitation & environmental monitoring procedures and recordkeeping documentation to ensure facility conditions are audit ready by monitoring sanitation verification activities such as ATP and EMP plans and results.
Conducting / or ensuring the monthly internal audit & site inspection occurs with the management team to be audit ready and maintain proper facility conditions.
Review Food Safety Production Documentation - as 2 nd PCQI reviewer - backup to QC Manager (current primary PCQI documentation reviewer). Secondary Review is to assist in training and to ensure audit compliance.
Oversee and review the following:
Work with production staff (management and team members) to ensure quality standards and food handling practices meet food safety and quality goals. Ensuring activities are properly documented.
Help respond to or investigate
customer complaints, or requests for information. Track complaints for trends - per Audit requirements.
Review Pest management reports to ensure compliance with 3 rd party audit requirements - not involved in selection of company or working with them during their visits.
Ensure
Food Safety Team Meetings occur and are documented monthly as the plan requires.
Ensure
Annual Mock Recall of each type (packaging, ingredients, finished product) occurs and can be complete within the time frame required per Customer or Regulatory Audit.
Ensure
annual calibrations (thermometers + scales), water quality related tests (backflow and water purity), and product testing (food fraud, or quality evaluations, or micro testing) events happen as per food safety plan schedule.
Help ensure physical hazard monitoring equipment is properly installed and functioning by manufacturer's instructions and is calibrated/tested for accuracy as per plan, and staff is properly trained to ensure staff's safety.
Training Documentation - and development of training materials - with the input from the production team. Conduct staff training, at minimum be ablet to conduct train-the- trainer training. To ensure all new staff members and as part of job advancement and general reminders. The training content will be outlined and developed in conjunction with the Managers of the areas requiring training. Training activities will be conducted on-site by appropriately trained trainers. Trainers will keep records of their training activities and QA Director will monitor training events and assist with recordkeeping activities documenting training to be audit ready.
Assist with Supply Chain Programs as applies to Food Safety Plan, and Food Quality Standards, to ensure Labels are accurate.
Supply Chain Programs - Management team and Purchasing is responsible for determining the ingredients needed to meet the quality & costing goal of the company. Supplier Approval Program Documentation requests will be handled by Purchasing. QA Director must also review and ensure that supplier information is properly documented, and the approved products meet the food safety requirements to ensure that all SAHCODH Hazards are managed per FSMA requirements.
Supply Chain Documentation -for approved suppliers - updated facility and product information must be collected and reviewed annually - the QA Director will develop a system to track and request Purchasing to gather updated information for review. This is to ensure no changes were made by Approved Vendors that might cause a SAHCODH risk to our products.
Purchasing will also gather ingredient statements and Nutritional facts panels per 100 grams for the ingredients the team has selected & approved for use.
Recipes are the responsibility of the full management team Assist with the develop of new flavors and must fully manage documentation to ensure that recipes the staff are to work from are accurate, and changes are tracked per the document control policy to aid in making sure the most current version is in use. Creation of documents that track the production process lot codes, quantities, to ensure finished goods traceability is the responsibility of the QA Director.
New Labels for new recipes - QA Director will take the recipe and supply chain information to create the Technical Data necessary for the Marketing Team to use to develop the labels.
o Using special software, the QA Director will develop the nutritional facts panels and the ingredient statement for the finished product based on the recipe.
o Any time there is a recipe modification or ingredient change - (by original ingredient supplier or from a new supplier) Production team (or warehouse) will notify purchasing - who will confirm the change and notify the QA Director so that the label information can be verified as acceptable - or to arrange for label update depending on situation.
Label review - at minimum annually per the food safety plan the firm will review labels to ensure accuracy and update any legally required changes or marketing changes. The QA Director will assist with ensuring the technical requirements are met and to assist proofing with any marketing information during the review process. Multiple people need to proof labels for content, prior to going to the printers.
Customer Assistance:
Aid sales and marketing teams when there are requests for
food safety supply chain information requested by retail and distribution customers - Provide potential and existing customers with:
o
Letters of Guarantee - write and update as requested/required.
o
Supplier Approval Program Questionnaires - assist with providing technical or food safety-related answers
o Create and maintain
finished product specifications to share with customers -
o As required in
put or update technical data in customers onboarding and data collection software.
Other duties as assigned, such as:
o Help firm with audit selection types based on customer requirements or marketing direction (e.g., move from GMP to SQF level audit, NON-GMO project, Organic Certification, RSPO - Sustainable Palm Oil Certification) - many will affect the food safety plan and required documentation - so job description may need to be updated.
Qualifications: Must have excellent language skills -excellent written and communication skills in English required. Spanish speaking skills preferred (production staff is 95% Latino with Spanish as their primary language).
BS or MS in Food Science and Technology - or equivalent with PCQI or HACCP training and SQF Practitioner training helpful.
5 years or more - Food Quality/Food Safety Industry Experience a must - Dairy industry preferred
Work conditions: onsite at Production Facility - available during production hours.
Why Join Us?- Be part of a dynamic team that brings joy to people's lives through our delicious ice cream sandwiches. You'll play a vital role in keeping our production running smoothly and contributing to our facility's overall improvement.