Quality Assurance Manager

ABR is recruiting a DIRECT HIRE Quality Assurance Manager for a food manufacturing client in Central Wisconsin. This is a first shift position Monday - Friday, but may require nights and weekends. Company offers a competitive salary, plus full benefits package.
As the Quality Assurance Manager, you are entrusted with maintaining the scientific integrity, regulatory compliance, and food safety standards that define our products.

Your leadership ensures that every product we produce is safe, consistent, and aligned with regulatory and customer expectations. You will guide teams through a balance of scientific rigor, strong documentation, and collaborative problem solving. Your influence strengthens our food safety culture at every level of the plant.

Key Areas of Responsibility
-Food Safety & Quality System Leadership
In this role, you will provide scientific, regulatory, and operational guidance across all major food safety and quality systems within the plant. This includes supporting the HACCP program, SQF and GFSI requirements, environmental monitoring activities, sanitation verification, product specifications, and the hold/release process. You will help ensure these programs remain accurate, validated, and reflective of both regulatory expectations and plant operations. Success in this area comes from maintaining smooth and confident audit performance, identifying areas for improvement before they become issues, keeping documentation clear and reliable, and fostering strong communication and partnership with all departments.
-Regulatory Compliance & Audit Readiness
You will serve as a key point of connection between the plant and regulatory agencies such as FDA, USDA, and DATCP, as well as third-party and customer auditors. Your role is to help keep the facility consistently aligned with regulatory requirements and industry best practices. This includes staying aware of changes in regulations, preparing teams for audits, supporting documentation accuracy, and helping create an environment where inspections are approached with confidence and transparency. Success in this area is reflected in constructive, low-stress audit experiences, minimal regulatory findings, and clear communication that support both internal teams and external partners.
-Sanitation & Hygienic Design Oversight
Although day-to-day sanitation is executed by operations, you will provide scientific and practical guidance to ensure that sanitation practices are effective, validated, and aligned with hygienic design standards. This includes offering input on equipment cleanability, supporting chemical and procedural validations, reinforcing strong GMP habits, and participating in verification activities that confirm sanitation outcomes. Success is demonstrated through improved hygienic design decisions, consistent environmental and sanitation verification results, and a steady, plant-wide commitment to GMP excellence across all shifts.
-Scientific Analysis & Continuous Improvement
Your role includes supporting the plant's commitment to data-driven decision-making. You will interpret scientific and analytical data such as microbiological results, SPC trends, compositional variation, defect patterns, and customer feedback. These insights help identify areas for process stabilization, risk reduction, and efficiency gains. You will work closely with operations and other teams to ensure data is understood, communicated, and acted upon in a collaborative way. Success in this area includes measurable reduction in recurring deviations, improved process capability, and a culture where data is used constructively to drive meaningful improvement.
-Leadership & Cultural Expectations
Your leadership plays an important role in shaping the plant's culture. You are encouraged to bring a calm, supportive perspective to decision-making and to communicate in a way that is respectful, proactive, and solutions focused. Building strong relationships across all functions helps create alignment and trust. Supporting accountability through clarity, fairness, and consistency is essential, as is promoting food safety as a shared responsibility-not just a department. Your role helps reinforce a culture where quality, safety, and respect guide daily work.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in related field is strongly desired
• A strong scientific understanding of dairy and food systems, combined with a personal commitment to food safety and product integrity.
• Your curiosity helps uncover improvement opportunities, and your continuous improvement mindset supports long-term plant growth.
• Your leadership style encourages teamwork, supports problem solving, and empowers individuals to take pride in their work.
• You also bring passion for producing cheese that meets the highest standards of quality, consistency, and craftsmanship.

ABR Employment Services is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected veterans' status.PandoLogic. Keywords: Quality Control / Quality Assurance Manager, Location: Rudolph, WI - 54475