Luke’s Lobster Hiring for VP of Food Safety and Quality Assurance Job at Saco, ME Full Time

Job Summary

Food Safety and Quality are the number one priority at Luke’s Lobster, an SQF Safety and Quality, USDC, Whole Foods, CostCo, MSC, FDA, DMR, and Maine Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, audited and approved producer of the world’s best seafood. As the leader of the QA department, the VP of Food Safety and Quality will be the authority on food safety standards and practices, the champion of food safety culture, and the key to the company’s commitment to its primary core value of Taste and its vision to be the world’s most respected seafood brand. This individual is a leader, not just of the QA department teammates whom they directly supervise, but of all team members at every level of Luke’s Lobster and its suppliers insofar as their roles intertwine with food safety and quality practices and culture. They will provide strategic direction and leadership on all safety and quality improvements and initiatives, maintain and enforce all safety and quality policies and documentation, be the decision-maker in any safety or quality-related incidents, and be accountable for the ultimate safety and quality of the products that Luke’s Lobster brings to market in all its channels.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities (not restrictive)

• Provide oversight of all product quality, sensory, and safety properties, spanning seafood as well as any other ingredient incorporated into a Luke’s Lobster product or passing through a Luke’s Lobster facility;
• Ensure constant 100% compliance with all state and federal regulations regarding food safety and quality, staying current on all changes to regulation that affect our processes and implementing the required process changes to remain compliant;
• Oversee the development and implementation of safety and quality plans and processes for the production of all Luke’s Lobster products, including but not limited to HACCP plans, SQF plans, breaking and grading procedures, cook studies and recipes, quality inspection, packaging, freezing, holding, and shipping;
• Review and manage all internal control documents to ensure they are being completed accurately and consistently;
• Administer the company’s micro testing and hold and release program, as the authority on interpreting micro results, gatekeeping product release, and implementing any corrective actions to address any flaws suggested by test results;
• Act as the leader and authority figure in any food safety incident, including but not limited to suspected contamination, foodborne illness, product adulteration, or recall of any kind; maintain control over and documentation of all affected product until a final determination is made and it is used or properly disposed of;
• Lead all quality and food safety audits from preparation (scheduling and coordination with auditing bodies, managing mock audits, self-auditing documentation, creating and managing punch lists for maintenance and operational improvements, training teammate culture and practice), to audit (managing the auditor at all times and their process of gathering necessary materials), to corrective action and response (identifying appropriate corrective actions, managing implementation with maintenance and operations, and documenting and reporting corrective actions in a timely fashion). Ensure certifications are maintained consistently and third party suppliers maintain all audits and certifications we require of them as well;
• Work with process authority to ensure process validation;
• Ensure customer expectations are maintained and communicated in clear spec sheets and any other QA-related documentation requested by the customer; respond to all customer complaints and manage and communicate corrective actions for any non-compliant products; study trends in customer satisfaction and use the data to inform a process of continuous improvement or to mitigate potential issues;
• Collaborate with team members conducting R&D or preparing to launch new products, helping navigate safety, quality, or regulatory obstacles, developing and testing processes and materials, allergen declarations and nutrition panels, and onboarding new ingredients and new suppliers that meet our standard;
• Manage our supplier approval process and work with our suppliers and co-packers to ensure that they consistently meet our food safety and quality standards and provide all appropriate documentation; work with smaller suppliers to teach and bring them to our standard;
• Provide expert guidance to all team members in every line of Luke’s Lobster business when facing food quality or safety concerns or questions, such as refrigerator outages in restaurants, customer allergen questions, etc.;
• Proactively lead relevant teams in root cause analyses on systemic Quality and Safety problems or areas for improvement, and generate and implement solutions to these root causes;
• Oversee the development, maintenance, and documentation of training programs for teammates at every level regarding Food Quality, Food Safety, and Quality and Safety Culture.
• Work directly with the sanitation team to correct any sanitation issues and/or continuously improve sanitation within the facility; lead QA team in conducting pre-operation inspections before each processing day to ensure sanitation team has left the space ready for processing safely;
• Manage and develop the QA team to ensure each individual is performing to their maximum potential, learning on the job, and growing their responsibility and career within QA at Luke’s.

Qualification & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree required, Master’s Degree preferred, preferably in Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, or Food Science;
• Ideal candidate has 10+ years QA and food safety work experience, some at a senior level. Experience with ready-to-eat foods is a must;
• Seafood HACCP experience; SQF Practitioner Certification is a plus
• Strong leadership, influencing, and teamwork skills, and ability to clearly communicate QA standards and action items to a diverse team;
• Proficiency in complex food safety regulatory and scientific publications, and ability to translate such technical content to help the team understand what it means for them;
• Experience planning, goal-setting, driving a team toward results, and measuring achievement of continuous improvement goals;
• Ability to prioritize and conduct in-the-moment risk assessments, interpret statistical data and trends;
• Must be exceptionally well organized, detail-oriented, and effectively multitask;
• Competency with recall plans and performing mock recalls.
• Familiarity with using SPC charts for quality management;
• Ability to see quality and safety within the company’s strategic framework and make long-term decisions for the benefit of the Company and its stakeholders.

Supervisory Responsibilities

• Will initially work side by side with outgoing senior QA/Food Safety/Compliance officer during a several month onboarding, training, and transition period to ensure smooth transfer of knowledge and systems;
• Ultimately reports to company’s Co-Founder/Chief Innovation Officer;
• Will directly oversee two QA supervisors and one QA Lead with potential for team growth.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $1.00 – $2.00 per hour

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 10 hour shift
• 8 hour shift

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Saco, ME 04072: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Preferred)

Experience:

• ISO 9001: 1 year (Preferred)

Work Location:

• One location

Work Remotely:

• No