Contract Manufacturing Quality Manager

ABOUT KINDER'S:

Kinder’s has evolved from a beloved regional Butcher shop/restaurant into one of the fastest-growing flavor-forward food companies in North America. Today, we’re found in one in four U.S. households, with national distribution, breakout innovation, and passionate consumer engagement across categories.

We are not your traditional CPG company. Kinder’s is privately held, founder-led, and obsessed with building a modern brand that delivers real value to consumers and partners. We believe in the power of curiosity, authenticity, bold decision-making, and building systems that allow humans to thrive at scale.

HOW YOU'LL HAVE IMPACT AT KINDER'S:

The Co-Manufacturing Quality Manager will be responsible for quality assurance at our co-pack partners for our high-growth flavor brand and will play a critical role in both defining and driving compliance with our high quality standards across our co-pack network. You will partner with Kinder’s Co-Pack/Operations, Corporate Quality, and Product Development teams, to build an organization and processes that ensure Kinder’s delivers high quality and amazing tasting products consistently while adhering to industry best practices for food safety and quality assurance.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING:

Quality Assurance Strategy and Execution – 35%

• Quality / Food Safety Procedures: Work with internal and external teams to drive clear understanding of quality standards and establish robust capability to drive compliance with the goal of consistent quality attainment. Develop / implement continuous improvement program with collaboration with manufacturing partners to ensure consistent elevation of quality standards.
• Testing Program: Evaluate / refine existing company testing procedures and work with internal stakeholders and manufacturing partners to develop robust, balanced program to ensure compliance with key standards.
• Process Development: Collaborate with PD and manufacturing partners to evaluate process development opportunities to drive consistency in lot-level quality attainment.
• Consumer Quality Support: Track / maintain database of consumer complaints or other quality issues. Identify trends in consumer issues and, where applicable, develop corrective action plans for vendor partners or work with internal PD team to develop reformulation strategies

Co-Manufacturing Management; Audit / Compliance – 35%

• Refine company audit process / manuals and develop clear, effective communication strategy with key manufacturing partners
• Collaborate with operations / PD teams to evaluate new manufacturing partners and, where applicable, develop remediation / process improvement programs to ensure compliance with company standards
• Maintain audit / regulatory / and SOP tracking systems for manufacturing partners to ensure all documentation is current and compliant with company and / or regulatory standards
• Oversee testing at co-packers to ensure products are free of defects and in compliance with quality standards. Participate in investigations, identify quality issues, and create Corrective and Preventative Actions (CAPAs)
• Develop annual / quarterly vendor business reviews to highlight quality trends and key areas for improvement

Regulatory / Documentation – 15%

• Monitor FDA /USDA regulatory activities and plant compliance with regulatory standards and act as a liaison for all manufacturing locations, ensuring regulatory compliance within the business unit
• Work with PD to catalog robust item specifications and ensure that manufacturing partners are delivering consistent compliance with established standards

Cross-Functional Partnership – 15%

• Lead cross-functional team to ensure quality standards while also achieving aggressive commercialization timelines.
• Drive clear cross-functional understanding of key quality issues / drivers and help team make intentional, active trade-offs to balance quality, brand, and commercial objectives
• Identify any sources of food safety risk and drive clear organizational understanding and alignment on how to achieve “zero-tolerance” standard
• Identify key sources of business risk from quality issues (e.g. variance in appearance, flavor profile, packaging look / feel) and highlight trade-offs to senior management

WHAT YOU BRING TO THE TABLE:

Education / Experience:

• B.S. in Food Science or related field preferred; A.S required.
• PCQI & HACCP required, Better Process Control School (Acidified Food School) preferred
• 7 years relevant work experience in FS/QA/QC in CPG Food and Beverage industry
• Advanced level food safety technical knowledge, including demonstrated knowledge of microbiology, allergens, FSMA and other food regulations
• Experience in innovation and/or product development is a plus
• Experience with food audit procedures and systems (e.g. BRC, SQF, Tracegains) strongly preferred
• Track record in agile creative thinking, generation of standards / processes, and working with internal and external partners
• Collaborative business partner with a track record of helping internal and external stakeholders identify win-win solutions and driving alignment around best course of action and accountability for delivering committed outcomes
• Proven strategic thinker excited by a dynamic, highly innovation-focused model
• Strong analytical & quantitative acumen with ability to collect and use data to drive better, faster decision-making
• Strong project management skills and understanding of new product development process from ideation to execution

Personal Characteristics

• Business builder who owns and drives results
• Growth mindset with an excitement to learn (and teach)
• Thrive in a dynamic, lean, and agile environment with proven record of completing projects on time in full through excellent cross functional team management, leadership, communication and influence
• Self-starter who takes initiative and speaks their mind
• Excited to be part of a fast-moving team with the ability to be a leader and a follower
• Enjoy making decisions and finding ways to say ‘yes’ as often as possible to impactful and important priorities

THINGS ABOUT THE WAY WE WORK:

• No two days here are the same.
• We try to be good team members and good communicators, but we don’t live by hierarchy and structure – everyone is a difference maker here.
• We make a lot of decisions in the face of incomplete information – our team embraces ambiguity and tries to make good decisions fast rather than great decisions slow
• We believe our job is to take smart risk, not to eliminate risk.
• We believe in growing our skills and becoming a better company with more managerial expertise, but we are an entrepreneurial company at heart.
• We aren’t trying to be average – we want to do exceptional things and we are willing to work hard to achieve them.

LOCATION AND TRAVEL:

The position will be based out of our 20,000 sq. foot office in Walnut Creek, CA. We strongly believe in the power of culture and community and have a hybrid work structure with 4 days in the office on a weekly basis to encourage collaboration and personal connections that will allow us to better serve our customers and consumer and to have more fun. We have 1 flex day per week with employees having the opportunity to choose to be either in the office or to work from home based on what makes most sense for them.

Travel approximately 50% to co-manufacturing partners and industry conferences.