Job purpose

The Senior Quality Assurance Technician is a critical role for the daily execution of plant and process related quality and food safety verification activities. She/He is on the plant floor regularly engaging with the production, sanitation, warehousing, and maintenance teams representing and promoting quality and food safety in all that they do. They have daily accountabilities in order to support the manufacturing of quality, compliant products.

Essential Duties and responsibilities

• Be accountable for training other quality assurance technicians in quality, food safety and HACCP related audits and verification activities.
• Complete CCP and quality verification and document review to ensure documents are properly filled out, verified, approved, and filed as appropriate.
• Conduct product evaluations in accordance with 50CFR.
• Responsible for identifying out of specification product and have the ability to interpret specifications and apply subjective quality decisions to product when related to appearance, color, texture, etc.
• Complete less than daily audits that contribute to the plant success with 3rd party and customer audits.
• Complete daily sensory and organoleptic analysis.
• Complete investigations for consumer and customer complaints.

Continuous Improvement:

• Identify problem areas and contribute to the problem-solving process working with production, maintenance, and sanitation teams.
• Participate in continuous improvement (CI) teams as appropriate including the QM pillar.
• Participate in ongoing product and process improvement efforts in order to improve made right first-time performance (MRFT) and reduce customer and consumer.

General:

• Quarantine, investigate and partner with supervisor on the disposition of non-conforming materials.
• Support organization in the preparation and execution of GFSI, customer, regulatory and GMP food safety and quality audits.
• Update and revise quality and food safety procedures, job aids, training materials and forms.
• Maintain the lab and quality workspace in a neat and orderly condition and ensure a sufficient supply of consumable material.
• Assist in plant wide onboarding related to quality and food safety trainings.

Qualifications

• Associate degree or above preferred, but not required
• HACCP certified
• Strong mathematical and critical thinking skills.
• Reliability, decisiveness, good judgment, assertiveness, flexibility, persistence, and patience
• Prior experience in quality assurance or food handling or food processing.
• Knowledge of food sanitation requirements are preferred, but not mandatory
• Well-developed and demonstrated English-language communications (both written and verbal), interpersonal, and decision-making abilities
• Ability to communicate and enforce quality and food safety expectations in a collaborative and effective manner.
• Must be available for overtime as needed
• Ability to flex schedule to support the business.

Physical requirements/Allergens

Physical Demands: The physical demands described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform he essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to walk, sit, talk, listen, reach with hands and arms, and bend. The employee is required to use hands to handle, operate, and feel objects, tools or controls.

• Work with allergen containing food materials: Fish, shellfish, tree nuts (including coconut), eggs, wheat, soy, dairy and other sensitizing agents.
• Standing and walking for long periods on production floor or in laboratory environment.
• Sitting for computer work, preparation of documents, reports, research and investigations.

AAP/EEO Statement High Liner Foods (USA), Inc. provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, High Liner Foods (USA), Inc. complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.