Food Safety & Quality Manager

Fishwife is a woman-founded and led food company aiming to make ethically-sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every cupboard. We source from responsibly managed fisheries and aquaculture farms to bring the vibrance of conservas culture to the North American table. We launched in December 2020 and have been feature by publications like The New York Times, Bon Appetit, Forbes, Vogue, LA Times, INSIDER, and many more.

The Food Safety & Quality Manager owns the program end to end: our food safety plan, seafood HACCP importer verification and FSVP, product specifications, certificates of analysis and lot release, supplier approval and audits, complaint and quality claim resolution with our canneries, and our recall and traceability program. You will decide whether a lot ships, you will be the person a cannery hears from when product does not meet spec, and you will lead us if product ever has to come off the shelf.

This is an expert role on a small team. You will inherit a working foundation and will be expected to turn it into a system that is bulletproof everyday and still holds when our volume doubles.

This position is a full‑time, remote role reporting to the Product Development & Quality Manager.

• The food safety plan and quality management system, including seafood HACCP importer requirements and FSVP
• Product specifications, COA review, and lot release for every finished good and critical ingredient
• Supplier and co‑manufacturer approval, verification, and audits
• Consumer and customer complaints, CAPA, and quality claim resolution with our canneries
• Recall, withdrawal, and traceability readiness, including mock recalls
• Quality and compliance documentation that is organized, current, and retrievable on demand

• Own, maintain, and annually reassess our food safety plan and quality management system, including importer obligations under the FDA seafood HACCP regulation (21 CFR Part 123) and our Foreign Supplier Verification Program as needed
• Own recall readiness: maintain the recall plan, lead the recall team in an event from hazard assessment and classification through FDA and customer communication and effectiveness checks, and run mock recalls at least annually, closing every gap they expose
• Maintain lot code standards and one‑up, one‑down traceability from cannery through our 3PL to the customer, and turn regulatory changes in FSMA traceability, labeling, and allergens into specific actions for the team
• Keep every spec, COA, certificate, audit report, and import document current and retrievable within minutes across FoodLogiQ, Trace Gains, and our Quality & Food Safety Hub, so Fishwife is audit‑ready on any given day

• Own product specifications end to end, from creation and version control to alignment between internal, cannery, and customer specs, with specs and release criteria set for every new item before first production
• Accountable for the release COA standard by product and hazard, such as histamine, water activity, pH, seam integrity, and microbiological results where applicable, and hold every cannery to it
• Review COAs and production records for every lot before release, and make and document each hold and release decision
• Run verification testing with accredited third‑party labs, including shelf‑life validation, and serve as the internal authority on quality and food safety questions from Sales, Marketing, and Product Development

• Own approval, reverification, and audits for canneries, co‑manufacturers, and critical ingredient and packaging suppliers, including…