Quality Control Lead

Quality Lead – Food Manufacturing

Join a respected Chicago food manufacturer with a family-oriented culture.

Are you an experienced Quality professional ready to take ownership of food safety and quality programs while leading a team? This is an opportunity to join a well-established Chicago-area food manufacturer with a strong reputation, a collaborative culture, and a commitment to promoting from within.

As our Quality Lead, you will serve as a key member of the Quality team, acting as the frontline leader for daily quality operations. You'll have the opportunity to mentor and develop QC Technicians, partner with cross-functional teams, influence continuous improvement initiatives, and help ensure the highest standards of food safety and product quality.

Why You'll Love This Opportunity

• Lead and mentor a team of Quality Control Technicians
• Play a critical role in food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance
• Work for a stable, family-oriented organization with a long-standing reputation
• Collaborate directly with Production, Sanitation, Maintenance, and Warehouse leadership
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives and make a visible impact
• Grow your career with a company known for internal advancement opportunities

Key Responsibilities

Quality & Food Safety Leadership

• Lead and support daily quality assurance and food safety activities throughout production.
• Serve as the primary resource and point of escalation for QC Technicians.
• Promote a culture of food safety, accountability, and continuous improvement across the facility.
• Ensure compliance with HACCP, CCP, GMP, sanitation, allergen, and regulatory requirements.

Team Leadership & Development

• Train, mentor, and provide day-to-day guidance to Quality Control Technicians.
• Support employee development through coaching, feedback, and best-practice sharing.
• Help drive consistency and execution of quality standards across all shifts.

Quality Systems & Compliance

• Oversee product, ingredient, packaging, environmental, and allergen monitoring programs.
• Investigate quality concerns and non-conformances, identify root causes, and support corrective actions.
• Maintain accurate quality records and documentation.
• Develop, update, and improve SOPs, work instructions, and quality procedures.
• Support internal audits, customer audits, and regulatory inspections.

Continuous Improvement

• Track, analyze, and report quality and food safety KPIs.
• Identify opportunities to improve product quality, process efficiency, and compliance.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to implement sustainable improvements.

Qualifications

Required

• 3+ years of Quality, Food Safety, or Quality Assurance experience within a food manufacturing environment.
• Previous experience leading, mentoring, coordinating, or serving as a go-to resource for Quality team members.
• Strong understanding of HACCP, GMPs, cGMPs, FDA/USDA regulations, and food safety systems.
• Experience conducting inspections, product evaluations, environmental monitoring, allergen control, and documentation management.
• Excellent communication, leadership, problem-solving, and organizational skills.

Preferred

• SQF Practitioner certification or internal auditing experience.
• Experience supporting customer audits and FDA/USDA inspections.
• Frozen food manufacturing experience.
• Bilingual English/Spanish.
• Experience analyzing, tracking, and reporting quality performance metrics.

Ideal Candidate

• You are a hands-on Quality professional who enjoys leading by example, coaching others, solving problems, and driving food safety excellence. Whether you're currently a Quality Lead, Senior QC Technician, QA Coordinator, or an emerging Quality Supervisor, you'll have the opportunity to make an immediate impact while building a long-term career with a company that values its people and promotes growth from within.
• Strong knowledge of HACCP, GMPs, cGMPs, FDA/USDA regulations, and food safety programs.
• Experience with inspections, testing, environmental monitoring, allergen control, and document management.
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills.

Job Type & Location

This is a Contract to Hire position based out of Naperville, IL.

Pay and Benefits

The pay range for this position is $27.00 - $32.00/hr.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms. If eligible, the benefits available for this temporary role may include the following:

• Medical, dental & vision
• Critical Illness, Accident, and Hospital
• 401(k) Retirement Plan – Pre-tax and Roth post-tax contributions available
• Life Insurance (Voluntary Life & AD&D for the employee and dependents)
• Short and long-term disability
• Health Spending Account (HSA)
• Transportation benefits
• Employee Assistance Program
• Time Off/Leave (PTO, Vacation or Sick Leave)

Workplace Type

This is a fully onsite position in Naperville, IL.

Application Deadline

This position is anticipated to close on Jul 14, 2026.

About Actalent

Actalent is a global leader in engineering and sciences services and talent solutions. We help visionary companies advance their engineering and science initiatives through access to specialized experts who drive scale, innovation and speed to market. With a network of almost 20,000 consultants and 5,000 clients across the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe, Actalent serves many of the Fortune 500. We are proud to be an Engineering News-Record (ENR) Top 500 Design Firm for our engineering design services and a ClearlyRated Best of Staffing® winner for both client and talent service.

The company is an equal opportunity employer and will consider all applications without regard to race, sex, age, color, religion, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information or any characteristic protected by law.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, such as the modification or adjustment of the job application process or interviewing process due to a disability, please email View email address on click.appcast.io for other accommodation options.

San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, for all positions located in the city and county of San Francisco, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

Massachusetts Lie Detector: It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): We may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support parts of our hiring process, including sourcing, screening, and evaluating candidates. AI helps assess applications and qualifications, but final decisions are made by our hiring team. By applying, you acknowledge and agree that your application may be reviewed using AI tools.