Food Safety & Quality Assurance Specialist

Orca Bay Foods is seeking a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Specialist to support food safety, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and audit readiness at our seafood manufacturing facility in Seattle. This role plays a key part in ensuring products consistently meet customer specifications, regulatory requirements, and company standards while promoting a culture of food safety, quality, and continuous improvement throughout the organization.

The Food Safety & Quality Assurance Specialist supports the implementation and maintenance of HACCP, GMP, sanitation, environmental monitoring, product quality, and regulatory compliance programs. This position assists with customer, third-party, social responsibility, and regulatory audits, including SQF, BAP, SMETA, Costco Social Compliance, customer audits, and regulatory inspections. Working collaboratively with Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, Human Resources, and Corporate Quality, the Specialist helps maintain compliance, investigate quality concerns, implement corrective actions, and ensure the facility remains audit-ready.

The ideal candidate will have 3-5 years of experience in food manufacturing, seafood processing, or a related FDA-regulated environment, with a strong understanding of food safety systems, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance. Experience with HACCP, FDA regulations, GMPs, root cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and continuous improvement is highly desirable. Strong organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills are essential. This position is based in Seattle and requires regular on-site presence.

Key Responsibilities

• Support the implementation and maintenance of facility food safety and quality assurance programs.
• Maintain compliance with HACCP, Seafood HACCP, GMPs, SSOPs, SQF, BAP, SMETA, Costco Social Compliance, and applicable regulatory and customer requirements.
• Assist with customer, third-party, and regulatory audits by preparing documentation, participating in inspections, and tracking corrective actions through completion.
• Investigate product quality issues, customer complaints, non-conformances, and food safety concerns, and assist with root cause analysis and corrective and preventive actions.
• Maintain accurate, organized, and audit-ready food safety, quality, and compliance documentation.
• Partner with Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, Human Resources, and Corporate Quality to support compliance initiatives and continuous improvement efforts.
• Monitor environmental, sanitation, and quality data, identify trends, and recommend corrective or preventive actions.
• Assist with employee training on HACCP, GMPs, food safety practices, quality systems, and regulatory requirements.
• Support product inspections, process verification, environmental monitoring, and other quality assurance activities as assigned.

Join a growing seafood industry leader committed to delivering safe, high-quality products while maintaining the highest standards of food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and social responsibility. As a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Specialist, you will play an important role in protecting our products, supporting certification programs, and driving continuous improvement across the organization.

Education/Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Quality Assurance, or related field preferred.
• 2+ years of food safety or quality assurance experience in food manufacturing, seafood processing, or related industries.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP, FDA regulations, SQF, BAP, GMPs, sanitation programs, and food safety systems.
• Experience leading customer, regulatory, and third-party audits.
• HACCP Certification required or ability to obtain; SQF Practitioner and PCQI certifications preferred.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills.

Required Skills:

• Intermediate proficiency with MS office applications, specifically, Excel.
• Working knowledge and experience with ESHA Genesis R&D is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with 3rd party web data sites.
• Excellent organizational skills
• Food industry-specific knowledge of ingredients, food allergens, ingredient functionality and product formulas.
• Experience working with and current understanding of nutrition, labeling, and regulatory concepts gained through technical reading, industry interaction, and/or attendance at appropriate seminars and educational courses.

Certificates, Licenses, Registrations:

HACCP, PCQI and SQF Certifications preferred.