Quality Specialist -Strategic Accounts

COMPANY DESCRIPTION
At Beyond Meat, we started with simple questions. Why do you need an animal to create meat? Why can’t you build meat directly from plants? Thus, we make plant-based meats that allow families to eat more, not less, of the traditional dishes they love while feeling great about the health, sustainability, and animal welfare benefits of plant protein. Our goal is to bring exciting change to the plate—and Beyond.
OVERVIEW
The Quality Specialist, Strategic Accounts primary role is to support the Quality Manager for Strategic Accounts.  This role will perform routine and timely sensory evaluation of all strategic customer products, as well as training con-manufacturing Quality team members to do the same.  This role will provide support for specific strategic customers including specification development, co-man and internal manufacturing training to the meet customer standards and a complete understanding of the customer’s quality and food safety requirements.   The Quality Specialist will create timely and accurate reports with all pertinent quality, food safety and sensory data.

RESPONSIBLITIES

• Ensure all Strategic Partners equipment is well maintained and that all current settings are cataloged
• Maintain an organized catalog of retains from trial and commercialized products 
• Ability to problem-solve and find solutions  
• Validate labels and packaging integrity 
• Work closely with our innovation team to ensure they are well informed on our Strategic Partners in-store procedures
• Prepare and maintain customer documentation and requests for information
• Lead shelf-life studies to validate microbial limits and organoleptic properties
• Develop training materials for operations on how to correctly handle and cook products
• Create new SOPs, update existing SOPs for kitchen equipment and reinforce operational procedures
• Work closely with Co-manufacturing team to have the information, material, and equipment needed for assigned Strategic Partners trials/production runs
• Ensure that co-manufacturing partners are conducting all quality evaluations that meet customer standards
• Assist in customer facing specification creation; providing accurate date to support limits/standards
• Generate reports describing product details, trends, and communicate findings and action plans to necessary/appropriate parties
• Fully understand our Strategic Partners quality/product expectations.  Communicate these expectations effectively cross-functionally
• Ability to problem-solve and find solutions  
• Record keeping, and retrieves corporate documents, records and reports.
• Other activities as assigned and needed

QUALFICIAITONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Culinary Science or a related certificate
• Ability to spot and resolve problems efficiently 
• Excellent communication, leadership, presentation and teaching skills
• Must be able to work in a team environment as well as independently
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a food manufacturing or product development environment
• Professionalism and ability to maintain confidentiality is required
• Excellent organizational skills with the ability to prioritize work effectively
• Ability to work effectively under pressure and time constraints

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• Ability to travel ~50% of the time to 3PL and co-manufacturing sites
• Food Manufacturing environment – 20%  (<40 degrees F, >80 degrees F)
• Frozen warehouse environment – 25% (<10 degrees F)
• Office setting 5%

Beyond Meat is an equal employment opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, creed, color, national origin, age, sex, religion, ancestry, veteran status, marital status, gender identify, sexual orientation, national origin, liability for military service, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. If you are interested in learning the status of your application, please note you will be contacted directly by the appropriate human resources contact person if you are selected for further consideration. Beyond Meat reserves the right to defer or close a vacancy at any time.