The Quality & Lab Specialist is a hands-on role responsible for the day-to-day technical integrity of the lab and supporting quality assurance activities on the plant floor. This position supports the QA Manager by conducting lab operations, State Release coordination, and instrumentation oversight, including calibration schedules, preventive maintenance, and test method review. The role applies strong technical lab expertise to resolve routine issues before they require escalation, helping ensure that company quality standards and applicable food safety regulations, including GMP, SQF, and HACCP requirements, are consistently met. This position is intended as the future Quality & Lab Manager, with future responsibility for managing direct and/or cross-functional resources as the role and department needs evolve.

Responsibilities

• Conduct day-to-day lab operations and State Release coordination, including review of analytical test results, sample handling, lab documentation, and release decisions, resolving routine issues before they require escalation.
• Coordinate product release from State positive release, ensuring all required lab results and documentation are reviewed and verified prior to release; support the product Hold program, including tracking, dispositioning, and timely resolution of held product.
• Assess lab instrumentation performance and maintain the calibration schedule for all lab equipment, ensuring instruments are qualified, calibrated, and maintained to specification and that records are audit-ready.
• Review test methods and lab procedures on a regular cadence for accuracy, regulatory alignment, and consistency with current GMP, SQF, and HACCP requirements; update documentation as methods or standards change.
• Support process control and thermal processing compliance for low-acid and acidified food products, ensuring critical factors and scheduled processes are monitored and documented in line with 21 CFR 113/114 requirements.
• Assist in delivering training for lab and QA staff on test methods, instrumentation, and quality procedures, and help maintain training records to ensure staff remain current and qualified.
• Triage and route quality issues in real time.
• Consolidate shift-level quality and lab data into a unified daily and weekly summary for the QA Manager to support KPI reporting and trend analysis, using plant systems such as RedZone and the ERP (IFS) and AI-based tools where useful to streamline reporting.
• Ensure consistent application of QA procedures, specifications, and critical control points across all shifts and the lab, in compliance with GMP, SQF, and HACCP standards.
• Support the QA Manager in monitoring compliance with company quality standards, food safety standards, and government regulations across the facility.
• Assist in the evaluation of processes, specifications, and critical control points for finished goods as directed by the QA Manager.
• Perform other quality, lab, or food safety-related duties as assigned by the QA Manager to support departmental and plant needs.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Microbiology, or a related scientific field.
• 5+ years of hands-on lab experience in food manufacturing, including analytical testing, instrumentation, sample handling, and lab documentation practices.
• Demonstrated experience with lab instrumentation calibration and preventive maintenance, and the ability to assess instrument performance and troubleshoot issues.
• Experience reviewing or authoring test methods and lab SOPs, with an eye for accuracy and regulatory alignment.
• Experience training or mentoring lab and QA staff on test methods, instrumentation, and quality procedures.
• Working familiarity with quality systems (e.g., GMP, GFSI, HACCP) and how lab data and release decisions connect to broader quality assurance programs.
• Working knowledge of State Release procedures and standard lab release testing protocols.
• Demonstrated ability to triage and prioritize competing lab and quality issues in real time.
• Strong communication skills to coordinate consistently across three shifts and the lab.
• Comfortable working with plant technology systems such as RedZone and ERP platforms (IFS preferred), and open to using AI-based tools to support data analysis and reporting as needed.
• Experience with Lab ISO 17025 standards highly preferred.
• Better Process Control School (BPCS) certification, or working familiarity with low-acid and acidified food regulations (21 CFR 113/114) and process control requirements for thermally processed foods highly preferred

Work Environment Information

• Combination food-manufacturing plant and laboratory setting, with regular movement between a climate-controlled lab and an active production floor.
• Exposure to varying temperatures, including cold storage/processing areas and hot thermal-processing zones, as well as elevated noise levels from plant equipment.
• Required use of PPE (hairnet/beard net, safety glasses, closed-toe non-slip shoes, and lab coat where applicable) and adherence to GMP food-safety gowning and hygiene protocols.
• Occasional exposure to lab reagents, cleaning/sanitation chemicals, and food allergens present in the facility.
• Extended periods of standing, walking, and light lifting (e.g., sample handling, lab equipment) throughout a shift.
• Schedule flexibility required to support lab and quality needs across shifts, including occasional early morning, evening, or weekend support for urgent quality/hold issues.