Intermediate Quality Assurance Technician

Intermediate Quality Assurance Technician

This position partners cross-functionally with Operations, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Management to ensure food/feed safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements are consistently applied throughout the manufacturing process. The Quality Assurance Technician serves as a key resource on the production floor, supporting quality systems in real-time to drive First Pass Quality, product compliance, material yield, and operational efficiency.

This is a highly visible plant-support role requiring significant time on the manufacturing floor. Candidates must be comfortable working in a fast-paced production environment and interacting with employees at all levels of the organization.

Hours:

Monday - Friday, 7:00 AM - 3:30 PM

Pay: $24.00 per hour

This role may require weekend work, overtime, and schedule flexibility based on plant and business needs.

Core

Job Duties:

* Support quality assurance and food/feed safety programs in real-time on the production floor.

* Spend approximately 60-70% of the workday in production and ingredient handling areas.

* Collect/review ingredient, in-process, finished product, and retained samples for testing and evaluation.

* Assist with ingredient and finished feed evaluations to determine compliance with quality standards and specifications prior to use in production or release for shipment.

* Perform routine laboratory testing and maintain quality records.

* Verify product specifications, formulations, labels, lot codes, sequencing, and manufacturing requirements.

* Assist in investigating quality concerns, customer complaints, process deviations, and non-conforming products.

* Monitor and maintain tag inventory to ensure adequate supply for production.

* Verify correct tags and labels are available and utilized for production runs in accordance with product specifications and regulatory requirement.

* Provide quality guidance and support to production employees and supervisors.

* Support regulatory, customer, and internal audit activities.

* Monitor compliance with food/feed safety programs, prerequisite programs, and quality management systems.

* Assist with inventory verification, product holds, releases, and quality-related documentation.

* Support training initiatives related to quality and food/feed safety.

* Other duties as assigned by management.

Experience/

Education Required:

* High School Diploma or GED.

* Minimum one (1) year experience in manufacturing, quality assurance, laboratory, food, feed, or related industry.

Competencies/

Skills Required:

* Strong attention to detail and organizational skills.

* Effective verbal and written communication skills.

* Ability to work independently and make sound decisions.

* Demonstrated teamwork, collaboration, and willingness to support fellow Quality Assurance team members while maintaining a positive and professional work environment.

* Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications SAP, and REPETE and other business systems used to support quality, production, and inventory management activities.

* Ability to work cross-functionally with Operations, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Management teams.

* Ability to prioritize multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.

* Strong problem-solving and continuous improvement mindset.

Competencies/Skills Preferred:

* Associate's or Bachelor's Degree in Food Science, Animal Science, Biology, Chemistry, Quality Assurance, or related field.

* Experience in food, feed, or manufacturing environments.

* Experience with ERP systems such as SAP, JD Edwards, or Oracle.

* Understanding of GMPs, HACCP, Preventive Controls, and food/feed safety programs.

* Experience supporting audits and regulatory inspections.

Physical Requirements:

* Ability to lift up to 50 pounds.

* Frequent walking, standing, bending, stooping, kneeling, climbing stairs, reaching, pushing, pulling, and lifting.

* Ability to access production equipment, ingredient areas, and elevated work platforms.

* Ability to work while wearing required personal protective equipment (PPE).

* Ability to work in environments with dust, noise, moving equipment, and varying temperatures.

* Ability to work in both indoor and…