Research & Developement cum QA Manager
Riachtanach:QA/TestLeadPrincipal
R&D CUM QA MANAGER - JOB SCOPE
Key Responsibilities
- R&D & Product Development
- Leads the formulation and development of new food products particularly in sauces and pastes.
- Improve existing products in terms of quality, stability, cost and consumer acceptance.
- Lead shelf-life studies, product validation and process validation.
- Ensure successful scale-up of laboratory formulations to commercial production.
- Process Development & Optimisation
- Develop and optimise manufacturing processes and processing parameters.
- Troubleshoot production and formulation problems.
- Improve product consistency, production yield and manufacturing efficiency.
- Establish robust and reproducible manufacturing parameters.
- Work closely with Production during new product trials and commercial production.
- Quality Assurance & Food Safety
- Lead and maintain the Company's Quality and Food Safety Management Systems.
- Ensure compliance with FSSC 22000 and customer requirements.
- Lead HACCP activities, food safety risk assessments and verification programmes.
- Establish and maintain raw material, packaging, in-process and finished product specifications.
- Monitor product quality and food safety performance.
- Drive preventive measures to minimise quality and food safety failures.
- Regulatory & Certification Compliance
- Ensure compliance with applicable food regulations and customer requirements.
- Maintain product specifications and technical documentation.
- Coordinate regulatory submissions and liaison with relevant authorities.
- Monitor changes in legislation, standards and certification requirements.
- Customer Complaints & Quality Issues
- Lead investigations into customer complaints and product quality issues.
- Conduct root cause analysis and establish effective corrective and preventive actions.
- Coordinate investigations with Production, Purchasing, Warehouse and other departments.
- Monitor recurring complaints and implement measures to prevent recurrence.
- Prepare technical investigation reports and customer responses.
- Supplier Quality Management
- Establish and maintain raw material and packaging specifications.
- Participate in supplier approval and evaluation.
- Review supplier technical documents, COAs and food safety certifications.
- Monitor supplier quality performance.
- Lead investigation and resolution of supplier-related quality issues.
- Evaluate and approve alternative ingredients and suppliers from a technical and food safety perspective.
- Audit & Quality System Management
- Lead preparation for FSSC 22000, Halal, customer audit and other regulatory audits.
- Manage internal audits and follow-up actions.
- Ensure timely and effective closure of audit non-conformities.
- Maintain continuous audit readiness.
- Review quality and food safety trends and drive system improvements.
- Laboratory & Technical Management
- Manage R&D and QA laboratory activities.
- Ensure appropriate testing programmes and methods are established.
- Manage calibration and verification of laboratory and measuring equipment.
- Review laboratory and external test results.
- Ensure proper control of laboratory chemicals and materials.
- Recommend new equipment, testing capabilities and technical resources where required.
- Team Leadership & People Development
- Lead, supervise and develop the R&D and QA teams.
- Allocate resources and prioritise R&D and QA activities.
- Provide mentorship and capability development of staff.
- Conduct performance evaluations of staffs.
- Build a strong culture of quality, food safety, accountability and continuous improvement.
- Cross-Functional & Management Support
- Work closely with Production, Purchasing, Sales & Marketing, Warehouse and other departments.
- Provide technical advice to Management for business and product decisions.
- Assess technical feasibility of customer requirements.
- Continuous Improvement
- Lead initiatives to improve product quality and food safety
- Reduce customer complaints and product non-conformities.
- Improve process consistency and production yield.
- Strengthen the Company's R&D, QA and food safety capabilities.