FSQA Manager

FSQA Manager

ML is seeking a hands-on FSQA Manager to lead food safety, quality assurance, USDA-FSIS compliance, sanitation verification, SQF readiness, customer audit preparation, and quality execution for our USDA-regulated frozen food manufacturing operation.

This role is responsible for ensuring ML's products are safe, compliant, consistent, and produced to customer, regulatory, and internal quality standards. The FSQA Manager will lead the plant FSQA team and partner closely with Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, Supply Chain, R&D, and Procurement.

This is a plant leadership role, not a desk-only compliance role. The ideal candidate is visible on the floor, strong with USDA-FSIS, disciplined with documentation, and capable of building quality ownership across shifts.

As ML continues expanding into more complex prepared foods, this role will also help establish RTE / post-lethality food safety controls, including environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, allergen control, hygienic zoning, traffic flow, and finished product risk management.

Responsibilities:

• Lead food safety and quality systems, including HACCP, SSOP, GMPs, allergen control, foreign material prevention, environmental monitoring, sanitation verification, and SQF-related programs.
• Ensure compliance with USDA-FSIS requirements and applicable FDA requirements for non-meat ingredients, sauces, packaging, and imported materials.
• Serve as the site contact for USDA-FSIS inspection activities, NRs, corrective actions, documentation reviews, and HACCP reassessments.
• Verify sanitation effectiveness through pre-op inspections, operational checks, ATP/allergen/micro testing, EMP results, trend reviews, and corrective actions.
• Support MiLa's future RTE / prepared food growth by strengthening post-lethality controls, including hygienic zoning, EMP, sanitation verification, traffic flow, allergen control, product handling, and finished product release practices.
• Lead readiness for SQF, customer, regulatory, internal, and third-party audits.
• Own product quality standards for frozen dumplings, noodles, sauces, meal kits, and other prepared food products.
• Support product consistency for weight, filling, dough quality, meat-to-dough ratio, appearance, packaging, labeling, and finished product standards.
• Lead hold/release, product disposition, deviation management, and escalation of food safety or quality risks.
• Investigate customer complaints, foreign material findings, labeling issues, supplier defects, sanitation failures, and other quality concerns.
• Lead RCA/CAPA processes and ensure corrective actions are documented, verified, and sustained.
• Support supplier quality through COA review, ingredient and packaging specifications, supplier nonconformance investigations, and approval documentation.
• Maintain quality KPIs, including complaints, holds, NRs, audit findings, sanitation findings, EMP results, defects, and label errors.
• Participate in MiLa's Daily Management System and ensure quality risks and actions are visible to plant leadership.
• Lead, coach, train, and develop the FSQA team across shifts.
• Build a culture where food safety and quality are owned by the full plant, not only by QA.

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of food safety/quality assurance experience in food manufacturing.
• 3+ years of people leadership experience in plant quality or FSQA.
• Direct experience in a USDA-FSIS-regulated manufacturing environment.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP, SSOP, GMPs, allergen control, sanitation verification, EMP, CAPA, food safety plans, and regulatory documentation.
• Experience with customer complaints, product holds, nonconforming product disposition, RCA, and corrective actions.
• Experience supporting GFSI, SQF, customer, regulatory, or third-party audits.
• Ability to lead in a fast-paced, multi-shift plant environment.
• Strong communication, documentation, decision-making, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Hands-on leadership style with regular presence on the production floor.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Biology, Meat Science, Animal Science, or related field.
• HACCP certification.
• PCQI certification.
• SQF Practitioner or SQF audit leadership experience.
• Experience with frozen foods, meat/poultry, dumplings, Asian foods, sauces, noodles, prepared meals, or RTC/RTE food products.
• Experience with RTE, post-lethality, high-care, or high-hygiene food manufacturing environments, including EMP, sanitation verification, hygienic zoning, traffic flow, and finished product release controls.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.
• Experience with supplier quality, imported ingredients, COA review, and supplier documentation.
• Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, 5S, or continuous improvement experience.

Success Measures:

• Strong USDA-FSIS inspection performance.
• Improved SQF and customer audit readiness.
• Fewer customer complaints and recurring quality issues.
• Stronger sanitation verification and pre-op readiness.
• Effective EMP execution and corrective action closure.
• Improved product consistency, labeling accuracy, and foreign material prevention.
• Stronger RTE / post-lethality food safety readiness.
• Stronger supplier quality discipline.
• Capable FSQA team with consistent execution across shifts.
• Quality culture is built into daily plant operations.

Working Conditions:

• Plant-based role in a food manufacturing environment.
• Requires regular production floor presence.
• Must be comfortable working around raw meat/poultry, dough, sauces, frozen products, sanitation chemicals, equipment, and cold environments.
• Must be available to support audits, inspections, urgent quality issues, multiple shifts, and occasional weekend or off-shift needs.

Why Should You Join Us?

• Comprehensive health coverage including medical, dental, and vision insurance. MiLa covers 75% of employee premiums & 25% of dependent premiums
• Optional Extra Protection for Life & AD&D (with guarantee issue amounts at time of hire), Hospital, and Short Term Disability
• Invest in your Future - 401(k) plan to help with your long-term financial security