Food Safety and Quality Assurance Coordinator

Forager Project is a family-owned, organic, plant-based creamery dedicated to reinventing dairy with plants, not cows. We make dairy-free yogurts, milks, creamers, sour cream, kefir-style drinks, and protein shakes using simple, organic, plant-based ingredients. Built around our own creamery and a commitment to USDA Organic certification, sustainability, and thoughtful sourcing, we are focused on making food that is better for people, the planet, and the future.

Summary

The Food Safety & Quality Assurance (FSQA) Coordinator is responsible for supporting, maintaining, and improving Forager Project’s food safety and quality management system in alignment with regulatory requirements, SQF standards, customer expectations, and industry best practices.

This position serves as the designated SQF Practitioner and acts as the on-the-floor FSQA champion, helping ensure daily compliance with GMPs, food safety procedures, quality standards, documentation accuracy, and audit readiness during daily operations.

The FSQA Coordinator will work closely with the Senior Manager of FSQA on the food safety and quality management system and will drive execution of key food safety programs, including the Food Safety Team, HACCP Team, Recall Team, FSQA training program, monthly internal facility audits, and third-party audit preparation.

This is an individual contributor role with no direct reports. The position provides functional leadership, coordination, training, and technical guidance across departments but does not have direct supervisory authority.

Education & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a science, engineering, or related technical field required.
• Microbiology, Biology, Chemistry, Food Science, or a similar discipline preferred.
• Minimum of 3–5 years of food safety and quality assurance experience in the food manufacturing industry required.
• Experience in non-dairy, dairy, cultured, pasteurized beverage, UHT, or aseptic filling environments is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) required.
• HACCP certification required.
• Preventive Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) certification required.
• SQF Practitioner training required.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Serve as the site SQF Practitioner and support the ongoing maintenance, implementation, and improvement of the food safety and quality management system.
• Drive execution of key food safety programs by facilitating the Food Safety Team, HACCP Team, Recall Team, FSQA training program, monthly internal facility audits, and third-party audit preparation.
• Act as the primary site contact for food safety and quality certification audits, including SQF, Organic, Kosher, customer, regulatory, and other third-party audits.
• Work closely with the Senior Manager of FSQA to maintain compliance with SQF, HACCP, GMPs, FSMA, Food Defense, Food Fraud, Organic, Kosher, customer requirements, and internal FSQA programs.
• Perform routine monitoring, verification, and documentation reviews to ensure compliance with food safety, quality, sanitation, and regulatory requirements.
• Establish, maintain, and execute the monthly internal facility audit/self-inspection program, including documentation of findings, corrective action follow-up, and trend review.
• Support the development, review, implementation, and maintenance of FSQA programs, including the Food Safety Plan, Food Defense Plan, Food Fraud Program, Recall Plan, allergen controls, sanitation programs, shipping and receiving protocols, corrective actions, and related procedures.
• Support investigations, root cause analysis, and corrective and preventive action identification for food safety, quality, sanitation, GMP, audit, customer complaint, and regulatory issues.
• Coordinate and maintain FSQA training records and support training for GMPs, sanitation, food safety, HACCP, allergens, food defense, food fraud, traceability, recall, and other required programs.
• Partner with QA, R&D, Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Supply Chain teams to support documentation, specifications, plant trials, SOPs, SSOPs, GMPs, corrective actions, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Support the organization and maintenance of ingredient specifications, production documentation, SOPs, SSOPs, GMPs, and other applicable FSQA records.
• Report, document, and escalate food safety, quality, sanitation, GMP, or regulatory concerns as appropriate.
• Promote a strong food safety and quality culture by spending time on the manufacturing floor, coaching employees, reinforcing expectations, and supporting audit-ready behaviors.
• Perform other duties and special projects as assigned.

Competencies & Skills

• Strong knowledge of food safety and quality systems in a food manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of SQF or other GFSI-benchmarked audit schemes.
• Understanding of HACCP, GMPs, sanitation, allergen control, traceability, recall, corrective actions, food defense, food fraud, and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Experience with root cause analysis and corrective and preventive action identification.
• Strong organizational, planning, documentation, and follow-up skills.
• High attention to detail and ability to maintain accurate, audit-ready records.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, QA, R&D, Sanitation, Maintenance, Warehouse, Supply Chain, and Management.
• Comfortable spending significant time on the manufacturing floor working with employees and leadership to reinforce FSQA expectations.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, changing manufacturing environment with shifting priorities and schedules.
• Demonstrated ability to identify issues, support root cause analysis, and drive practical corrective actions.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Word, Excel, and other business or quality management systems.

Work Requirements

• Ability to cover shifts as needed to support FSQA operations, including weekends, holidays, and after-hours support.
• This is an on-site position based in the Coachella Valley. The selected candidate must reside in, or be willing to relocate to, the Coachella Valley region to support daily on-site responsibilities.