Corporate Quality Assurance Manager

Butterball, LLC, one of America’s most iconic brands, helps consumers celebrate Thanksgiving and every day in between. Located in the thriving Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina area, our goal is to provide a diverse array of career opportunities and paths which include our farms, processing facilities and support offices. We are the largest producer of turkey products in the U.S., and we make a lot more than Thanksgiving turkeys. Our company’s measurable growth is in no small part due to our team members in North Carolina, Arkansas, Illinois, and Missouri, who each have a seat at the table to contribute to our success

Job Summary

Responsible for the overall management of the Food Safety and Quality Assurance process with a specific focus on continuous improvement, customer and consumer care. Sets the standard for expectations, quality, product safety, attention to detail, and operational style for these areas of our business. Protects the brand from substandard quality and product safety below customer’s expectations. Responsible for evaluating current practices to improve team member welfare, quality, product safety, and profitability. Acts as a liaison for the company in dealing with government officials, outside auditors, and customers.

Key Responsibilities

· Conducts and participates in both internal and external audits. Serves as the lead for GFSI internal audits across all facilities, as well as the point person for all updates to the GFSI standard.

· Assists in the development of audits across all product categories and processes in Safety Chain. Develops and maintains an audit schedule across all production facilities, ensuring timely execution and follow-up on audit results.

· Communicates results of audits to senior leadership.

· Assists in the development, management, and verification of all export verification programs. This will include serving as the point person for regulatory agencies conducting the audit, as well as verification of program implementation across production facilities.

· Assists in providing timely response to requested customer letters and documentation (i.e., Letters of Guarantee, sales requests, pre-requisite requests through customer portals, etc.).

· Assists in the handling and resolution of customer and consumer complaints. Collaborates cross[1]functional to ensure effective implementation of business processes and communication to all relevant parties.

· Performs monthly analysis of all customer and consumer complaint trends for all Butterball production facilities and co-packers. Assists in the identification of negative trends and the development of continuous improvement projects to reduce overall product complaints.

· Assists in the ongoing monitoring of co-packers, including on-site visits for first production runs or for-cause incidents. Assists in monitoring the ongoing performance of their products and response to any customer or consumer complaints.

· Serves as the primary point of contact for the Research & Development team, assisting in accurate data acquisition from all processing facilities for product and specification updates. Ensures alignment across all impacted production facilities concerning product attributes prior to publication.

· Responsible for the Food Safety Culture Survey, development, analysis and reporting of results to senior leadership. Serves as the point person for the development of corrective actions and process improvement actions as a result of the survey data.

· Responsible for World Food Safety Day, including development of graphics, procurement of supplies, and coordination with all production facilities to ensure successful execution company wide.

Minimum Qualifications (Education & Experience)

· Bachelor's degree in related field (i.e., Food Science, Biology, Microbiology, Poultry Science, etc.) or equivalent

· 5+ years of relevant experience or the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed in the role

Essential Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

· Ample experience in food safety, quality assurance and/or regulatory affairs within the food/meat/poultry processing industry

· Some experience related to the design and execution of challenge studies, validation studies, etc.

· Excellent written and verbal communication, interpersonal, and cross-functional collaboration skills

· Thorough understanding of food safety regulations (e.g., USDA, FDA, HACCP, GFSI, FSMA)

· Familiarity with poultry food production processes, microbiology, laboratory processes, live operations, and sanitation practices

· Strong project, program, or people leadership skills

· Highly skilled at problem-solving root cause analysis, identifying trends, and developing corrective action plans

· Exceptional attention to detail with the ability to apply sound judgement to complex issues

· Ability to implement and enforce food safety and quality programs

· Effective time-management and project management skills with the ability to oversee multiple initiatives and meet deadlines

· Ability to maintain current knowledge on food safety and scientific advancements

· Solid knowledge of utilization with on-line tools for data capture and reporting

· Proficient with Microsoft Suites (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, etc.), Power BI, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as SAP, and quality management systems

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

· Master's degree in related field

· Certification(s) such as HACCP, PCQI, SQF, GFSI, Lean Six Sigma, PAACO

Physical Demands

· While performing the duties of this job, the employee may be regularly required to stand, sit, talk, hear, reach, stoop, kneel, and use hands and fingers to operate a computer, telephone, keyboard, and occasionally lift up to 50 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, depth perception, color vision and the ability to adjust focus.

Working Conditions

· Work will be performed in a variety of conditions including climate-controlled office environment(s), manufacturing plant environment(s) with varying conditions, such as cold areas, warm areas, chemicals, and other site conditions and in a farm environment including working outdoors in season conditions with live animals and at times in dusty environments.

· This position requires the individual to wear and work in personal protective equipment (PPE) while in manufacturing, farm, and laboratory environments. This individual may be working around sick or diseased animals where additional precautions may need to be taken.

· The noise level of the office, farm, and laboratory environments is usually moderate; the noise level in the manufacturing environment may exceed 85 DBA. Showering in and out of farm locations may be required.

· Travel may be required up to 25% of the time.

Disclaimer

The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of what is required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not imply or establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.

Butterball, LLC is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to the fair and impartial treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without regard to gender, age, race, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, military/veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this job.

We embrace equal opportunity employment. Butterball is committed to the fair and impartial treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without regard to gender, age, race, religion, color, national origin, physical or mental disability, military/veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, marital status, parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. This position is deemed Safety Sensitive for purposes of Butterball’s Drug/Alcohol Screening & Testing Policy. Details will be provided to individuals who receive a conditional job offer, or upon request.

Full Time