Quality Control Technician Lead in Woodridge, Illinois at HOME RUN INN INC

The QC Tech Lead plays a critical hands-on role in ensuring food safety, quality, and regulatory compliance at Home Run Inn Pizza’s manufacturing facility. This role leads day-to-day QC technician activities on the floor, drives improvements to performance metrics, and helps ensure that products meet internal standards, customer requirements, and regulatory requirements.

Schedule: 3:30am-12pm Monday-Friday. Occasional weekends and off-shifts based on department needs

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Quality & Food Safety

• Lead and support daily QC activities during production
• Monitor and verify CPs, CCPs, cGMPs, and Sanitation activities
• Write and revise SOPs, WIs, and Forms as needed
• Serve as SME on all QC tasks and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Supervise and perform routine product, ingredient, and packaging inspections
• Monitor compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and food safety protocols
• Perform environmental monitoring, allergen verification, and hold/release activities
• Maintain accurate QC records, including test results, deviations, and corrective actions.
• Ensure proper documentation for audits and regulatory compliance. Identify, document, and escalate food safety or quality concerns
• Supports and promotes a culture of safety by ensuring compliance with all workplace health and safety requirements and reinforcing safe behaviors across the team.

Leadership & Training

• Serve as the lead resource for QC Technicians on assigned shift
• Train and coach QC Techs on procedures, documentation, and best practices
• Schedule and assign daily tasks to QC team members
• Report out KPIs to management in daily/weekly meetings
• Work cross-functionally with Production, Sanitation, Maintenance, and Warehouse teams
• Promote a culture of food safety, accountability, and continuous improvement

Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Assist with internal audits, customer audits, and regulatory inspections
• Support traceability, mock recalls, and investigations
• Participate in root cause analysis for non-conformances and support corrective actions and preventive measures (CAPA)
• Ensure compliance with SQF, HACCP, FDA, USDA (if applicable), and state/local regulations
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Must Have:

• 3+ years of QC or Food Safety experience in a food manufacturing environment
• Prior experience in a lead or senior QC technician role
• Working knowledge of HACCP, cGMPs, and FDA/USDA food safety regulations
• Strong documentation and record-review skills
• Ability to work on the production floor in cold/freezer environments
• Comfortable leading without direct authority (lead-by-example style)
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills

Preferred:

• SQF Practitioner or internal auditor experience
• Experience working with FDA/USDA inspectors
• Familiarity with frozen food or pizza production
• Bilingual (English/Spanish) a plus

Food Allergen at the Plant: Wheat and Dairy

Home Run Inn Pizza is a fourth-generation family business that competes in both the restaurant and frozen food industries. Ideally you have one of our frozen pizzas in your freezer right now. Our primary goal at Home Run Inn Pizza is to be more than a participant in these industries. Our goal is to be a leader. We currently dominate the Chicago frozen pizza landscape, and we know exactly why. We’ve identified the key elements of our Chicago strategy and have decided it is time to become the leading tavern style pizza nationally!

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