Quality Technician, 1st Shift | Southern Tier Brewing - Lakewood, NY

Join our passionate community brought together by our love for great beer, cider, craft cocktails, and the process that makes it all happen. Quality is our thing, and so is staying curious—always learning, evolving, and pushing to get better at what we do. We’re fired up by the people who enjoy our pours and the teams that make it all possible. If you’re into collaboration, craft, and being part of a tight-knit crew, we’d love to raise a glass with you.

Who We Are & What We Offer

Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) is a top 10 regional craft alcohol company in the US, made up of 5 long standing, successful craft brands (75 combined years!): Victory Brewing, Bold Rock Cider, Sixpoint Brewery, Southern Tier Brewing & Southern Tier Distilling. We have locations in 5 states (NY, PA, OH, VA, NC) including taprooms, production facilities, & our corporate headquarters.

• Competitive Compensation
• Exceptional Health Benefits
• No Waiting Period to Enroll
• Paid Family Leave
• Flexible Schedules & Generous Paid Time Off
• Ample Product Discounts
• Opportunities for Growth Across 5 Successful Brands
  
  

What We Do

At Southern Tier, some of the best moments happen with a great beer in hand. That idea—and our commitment to brewing beers that live up to those moments—led us to team up with Artisanal Brewing Ventures back in 2014. Since then, our brewers have been able to focus on what they do best, while Southern Tier has reached more craft beer fans in new places. Beyond that, sharing resources like marketing, administration, and accounting has created valuable business efficiencies. Access to carefully selected ingredients and the collaborative opportunities that come with scaling have made the Southern Tier-ABV partnership a true match made in craft beer heaven.

Quality Technician, 1st Shift | Southern Tier Brewing - Lakewood, NY

Compensation Target: $22/HR

The Quality Technician executes all daily quality duties in the areas of packaging, cellar, laboratory, and sensory, ensuring the day-to-day operations of the lab are run according to the Quality SOPs. They ensure quality is a priority across the brewery by focusing on quality control testing, analysis, reporting, and troubleshooting in all areas of production. This includes sterile work for microbiological stability screening, fermentation tracking, chemistry, statistics, sensory, and package testing. They will be trained to be cross-functional in analytical, microbiological, and organoleptic testing.

Reports to: Quality Manager

What You'll Do

• Understands and follows all safety procedures and wears appropriate PPE.
• Executes daily quality duties across the brewery according to the staff rotation plan, including rotating through any shift that needs support as necessary. Able to work with lab team to provide weekend and holiday coverage.
• Ensures that the daily operations of the lab are run according to the Quality SOPs.
• Works with the Quality Manager to continuously improve Quality SOPs, sample workflow, and record keeping.
• Collects, organizes, and reports QA/QC data from raw materials through packaging. Reviews Quality Records for completeness and accuracy.
• Works independently and closely with laboratory team to complete daily task and longer-term projects. Communicates clearly when handing off a task to another person.
• Escalates issues and out-of-specification results quickly and appropriately to laboratory and brewing leadership.
• Analyzes data and presents findings to brewery leadership.
• Collaborates with other departments and team members to tackle issues as they arise.
• Assists with maintaining consumables and equipment inventory ordering, and recordkeeping in the laboratory area and other Quality workspaces throughout facilities.
• Helps coordinate proper disposal of all laboratory products, including disposables and waste.
• Maintains, calibrates, and verifies accuracy of equipment and instrumentation.
• Maintains clean workspaces including laboratories and all other Quality workspaces.
• Performs chemical and analytical testing on product samples including:
• IBU, color, and acetaldehyde testing on a UV/Vis spectrophotometer.
• Alcohol testing on an Anton Paar Alcolyzer.
• Prepares analytical standards.
• Execute package quality testing including:
• O2 and CO2 testing on brite and packaged beer using a Haffman’s c-DGM and Anton Paar CBoxQC.
• Package integrity testing.
• Package line hygiene audits.
• Collection of can, bottle, and keg samples for analytical and microbiological testing.
• Inspects equipment for adherences to GMP.
• Performs microbiological testing on product samples including:
• Using aseptic technique to take sterile microbiological samples from a variety of places.
• Preparing microbiological media.
• Sterile plating of microbiological samples.
• PCR testing.
• Monitors fermentations including performing cell counts, viability and vitality testing, and pH measurements.
• Leads sensory panel for true-to-brand and other sensory tests at the direction of brewery leadership.
• Performs other duties as necessary.
  
  

Who We're Looking For

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Microbiology, Food Science, or other related science field preferred or equivalent experience.
• Experience working in a laboratory strongly preferred.
• Minimum 1 year of QA/QC experience preferred.
• Strong organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work collaboratively within the lab and across multiple departments.
• Prior experience with GMP/GLP, HACCP, ISO 9001, Safe Laboratory Operations, and/or a Brewing education is preferred.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of recipes, processes, procedures, and other proprietary information.
• Ability to safely handle and work with potentially hazardous chemicals.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications specifically Excel
• Experience with basic statistics, data analysis, and results reporting.
• Flexibility to travel between brewing locations and provide weekend and evening support. Willing to rotate between 1 and 2 shifts. On rare occasion a 3rd shift may be necessary.
• Ability to work both independently and as part of a team to accomplish lab and production goals.
• Strong work ethic, positive attitude, and a high level of professionalism.
• Ability to perform under pressure and prioritize multiple demands.
  
  

Physical Demands

• Ability to stand for long periods of time and do physically demanding work is required.
• Ability to lift up to 50 lbs. is required.
• Willingness to work in an environment with high noise levels is required.
• Willingness to occasionally work nights, weekends, or holidays as necessary is required.
• Alcohol Responsibility – The candidate must fully understand that they are a representative of not only the company, but of the alcohol beverage industry. They are to conduct themselves within the limits of the law and with concern to the education of responsible consumption at all times. This includes working hours, trade shows, festivals and while entertaining in the name of the company or its affiliates. Any poor reflection or legal matters that may arise due to poor judgment may be dealt with by means of disciplinary action up to and including termination.
  
  

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment

The Quality Technician will primarily perform work duties in a laboratory, with frequent trips to the production and warehouse areas. While performing the duties of the job, the Quality Technician is regularly exposed to a damp, wet environment with hot liquids, airborne particles, chemicals and moving machinery. There can be loud noise levels, and protective eyewear is required on the production floor at all times.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work

This is a full-time, salaried position. Days of work are typically Monday through Friday. Evening and weekend work may be required as job duties demand.

Disclaimer

This Job Description is only a summary of the typical functions of the job, not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all possible job responsibilities, tasks and duties.

Artisanal Brewing Ventures is an Equal Opportunity Employer.