Product Quality Assurance Specialist in Totowa, New Jersey at New Cibo Vita LLC

About Us:
Cibo Vita is a leading innovator in the wellness and nutrition sector, dedicated to enhancing lives through premium, health-conscious products. We compete in a range of snacking and confection categories, including fruit snacks, dried fruit, snack nuts, and trail mixes. Our diverse portfolio includes several owned brands and a robust private label business, supporting top-tier retail partners across the U.S.

Job Summary:
The Product Quality Assurance Specialist will serve as the quality guardian of the R&D-to-market process, ensuring every product that reaches the consumer is consistently produced to specification, approved manufacturing process, and quality standard. Working closely with the R&D Manager and cross-functional teams, this role is responsible for evaluating post-launch product performance, assessing competitor benchmarks, and managing complaint and deviation reviews. The role requires a strong analytical mindset, technical expertise in product quality evaluation, and the ability to translate market insights into actionable improvements that uphold the company's quality standards.

Responsibilities:
Post-Launch Market Evaluation:
• Assess real-world product quality against development benchmarks to ensure products in market consistently meet formulation and quality standards.
• Conduct structured sensory and technical evaluations of launched products at defined intervals to identify quality drift or deviations.
• Document audit findings and communicate results to the R&D Manager and relevant stakeholders with recommended corrective actions.

Competitor Product Evaluation:
• Benchmark competitor products against internal quality and formulation standards to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
• Conduct systematic evaluations of competitor offerings, including ingredient composition, sensory attributes, and overall product quality.
• Synthesize competitive insights and present findings to the R&D and Marketing teams to inform innovation and portfolio strategy.

Complaint Evaluation:
• Review and investigate consumer complaints and quality deviations captured internally and externally, conducting root cause analysis to determine corrective actions.
• Maintain a structured complaint tracking system, ensuring all issues are logged, categorized, and resolved in a timely manner.
• Collaborate with Product Development, Operations, and Regulatory teams to implement corrective and preventive actions resulting from complaint investigations.
• Identify recurring quality trends from complaint data and proactively escalate systemic issues.

Quality Standards and Documentation:
• Ensure all quality evaluation activities are documented thoroughly and aligned with internal quality standards and regulatory requirements.
• Maintain and update quality assurance protocols, evaluation templates, and audit records to support traceability and compliance.
• Support the development and enforcement of product quality specifications in collaboration with the Regulation and Product Development teams.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:
• Partner with the Product Development & Commercialization team to provide quality feedback during scale-up and launch execution phases.
• Work with the Project Management function to ensure quality milestones are incorporated into project timelines and gate reviews.
• Communicate quality findings and recommendations clearly across departments to drive a culture of quality and continuous improvement.

Qualifications:
• Bachelor’s degree in food science, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related field (Master’s degree is preferred).

Requirements:
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in product quality, quality assurance, or a related role within the food industry.
• Strong technical knowledge of food product formulations, quality evaluation methods, and sensory assessment.
• Proven ability to conduct root cause analysis and implement effective corrective actions.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with a detail-oriented approach to identifying and resolving quality issues.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional teams.
• Knowledge of food safety regulations, quality assurance standards, and complaint management systems.

What do we offer:
• Medical, Dental and Vision Benefits
• Life Insurance
• 401K
• PTO
• Company Paid Holidays
• Career advancement and training