FSQA Lead Technician - 3rd Shift in Fullerton, California at Stir Foods

Job Description: Quality Assurance Technician Lead

Food Safety and Quality

Stir Foods employees are committed to food safety and quality. We adhere to, promote, and improve quality and food safety policies and practices within the department and throughout the facility. Food Safety and quality are at the forefront of our culture.

Job Purpose

The FSQA Lead plays a key role in supporting the Quality department through ownership of quality assurance activities on the production floor ensuring tasks are adequately performed to the company, customer and regulatory food safety and quality standards. This includes conducting daily preop sanitation, working collaboratively with QA, sanitation and production, reviewing records for accuracy and completion, and escalating quality concerns when needed. This position serves as a working lead within the Quality Department verifying sanitation effectiveness, monitoring production processes, ensuring compliance with food safety and quality systems, and supporting the training and development of Quality personnel. The QA Lead assists QA Management in maintaining compliance with company standards, customer requirements, HACCP programs, GMPs, regulatory requirements, and continuous improvement initiatives to work towards striving for zero defects and an infinite trust mindset. This role contributes to improving our quality programs, including supporting GMPs, Non-Conformances, root cause investigations, CAPAs, training stakeholders, conducting GEMBA walks, resolving consumer complaints, and developing SOPs.

Job Functions

• Conduct pre-operational inspections of equipment and production areas to verify cleaning and sanitation effectiveness in accordance with SSOPs, GMPs, HACCP requirements, and company procedures.
• Perform environmental, ATP, allergen, gluten, and other verification testing as required.
• Ensure sanitation personnel properly disassemble, clean, inspect, and reassemble equipment according to established sanitation procedures.
• Identify sanitation deficiencies and collaborate with Operations and Sanitation teams to implement corrective actions.
• Verify line clearance and line setup activities prior to production startup.
• Support the development and implementation of quality improvement programs. Analyze trends, identify recurring issues, and recommend preventive and corrective actions.
• Promote a culture of food safety, quality excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement throughout the organization.
• Review and verify HACCP, food safety, quality, and sanitation documentation for accuracy and completeness.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, SOPs, GMPs, HACCP plans, Food Safety Plans, customer requirements, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Participate in internal audits, GMP inspections, Gemba walks, customer audits, and regulatory inspections.
• Assist with corrective action implementation, root cause investigations, and continuous improvement initiatives. Support complaint investigations and verification of corrective actions.
• Assist Supervisors and FSQA Manager in enforcing food safety, quality, and GMP standards on the production floor.
• Provide coaching, mentoring, and guidance to QA Technicians.
• Prepare reports, facilitate, and document training programs related to food safety, quality systems, SOPs, GMPs, HACCP, allergen control, and regulatory compliance.
• Maintain awareness of department performance and proactively identify opportunities for improvement.
• Performs other duties as assigned by a manager.

Competencies

• Strong understanding of GMPs, HACCP, FSMA, SQF/BRC, sanitation, and food safety requirements.
• Ability to conduct investigations, analyze data, and implement corrective actions.
• Strong documentation and record review skills.
• Effective communication, coaching, and training abilities.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and electronic quality systems.
• Ability to work independently and make sound decisions in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Team Player with good communication skills
• Accountable and results driven
• Self-motivated
• Acute attention to detail
• Strong time management skills

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job.

Lifts Weight or Exerts Force Work Environment: The employee is occasionally lift to 35 pounds.

Visions: Specific vision abilities required by this job include Close vision; Distance vision; Ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment

This job operates in a production and lab environment. Warehouse and production exposure will be expected. You may be exposed to fumes, temperature changes (hot, cold), loud noises, wet environment and moving mechanical parts and vibration.

Qualification

• Education and Experience
• Minimum 3 years of food manufacturing quality assurance experience required.
• Experience with HACCP, GMPs, sanitation programs, allergen controls, and food safety systems required.
• Experience in sauce, dressing, beverage, or ready-to-eat food manufacturing preferred.
• HACCP certification and/or PCQI required.

Skills

• Sanitation, Pre-op, Analytical Testing, Audit experience, SQF, FDA, third party & internal audits.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Suite required.
• Ability to demonstrate good communication skills in English oral and written.
• Time management and multi-task
• Working knowledge of data collection, data analysis, evaluation, and scientific method.

AAP/EEO Statement

We are an EEO employer.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.