Quality Assurance Manager - National 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 Assurance Manager for National Accounts primary role/ position is to ensure that all food products packed for any National Foodservice or Retail account meets or exceeds the requirements of customers, regulatory bodies, and the Company.  The Quality Manager for National Accounts is responsible for the overall coordination and implementation of quality control programs and procedures, as necessary to meet internal and customer specific quality control standards.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Work closely with the customer to identify any risks, challenges or opportunities
• Actively work with BYMT owned manufacturing facilities, Co-Manufacturing QA Manager, Co-man management team, Tech Ops and Innovation on proactively improving performance issues as noted above 
• Assist with new co-man facility set-up and qualification, including attending all qualification production runs attended by Customer QA or as required by specific customer request
• Actively communicate with National Accounts sales and marketing, as well as Customer Experience team members to proactively identify areas of improvement
• Conduct routine validations of co-man compliance to BYMT and Customer standards
• Champion quality and food safety initiatives to monitor and document product, facility and worker compliance
• Ensure corrective action plans are implemented in a timely manner when required to improve product performance
• Interface with all National Account customers and ensure compliance of manufacturing facilities
• Review and ensure capability to reliably meet any new or proposed product specifications
• Work closely with Customer team (sales, marketing, supply chain, Co-man, Innovation, QA, etc.) to revise /review customer requirements or specs as needed
• Ensure that products being shipped to customers meet visual, microbiological, and physical specifications on raw materials, WIP items, and finished products per customer specifications
• Generate reports describing QA activities, trends, and expenditures as well as communicate findings and action plans to necessary/appropriate parties
• Ensure that co-mans are conducting sensory evaluations that meet company standards
• Calibrate our expectations with National Account Sensory teams so that we are always meeting or exceeding our customer’s expectations
• Lead efforts with plant QA teams to respond to specific food safety and quality concerns and customer complaints with corrective action reports
• Assist with method development, modification, and validation of any new customer required testing
• Attend industry educational trainings, seminars, and events to understand industry best practices and provide technical support to BYMT team
• Prepare and maintain customer documentation and requests for information

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Science degree in Food Science, Nutrition, Culinary Arts or Comparable Industry Experience
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in a food and/or beverage manufacturing environment
• Thorough knowledge of GMP, FDA/USDA and Food Safety, SOP’s

Skills:

• Leadership skills, focused on results, employee’s engagement, decision making, team work, change management
• Strong customer service focus
• Strong PC skills includes MS office programs
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, problem solving and organizational skills

Abilities:

• The employee must have the ability to quantitatively review technical procedures and representative regulations.  In addition, must be capable of writing detailed reports, and general day-to-day oversight and related correspondence
• The ability to effectively present information to groups and respond to questions from peers, supervisors and managers is essential
• Ability to multi-task and set priorities within Quality Assurance

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• This position requires travel to customer locations and to co-manufacturing plants
• Office, production and warehouse floor environment
• Travel required between Columbia, MO & El Segundo, CA - HQ
• Work remote/Home based

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.
Please note that Beyond Meat has adopted a COVID-19 vaccination policy to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees. All U.S. employees who (a) physically enter a Beyond Meat facility in the United States, (b) represent Beyond Meat at work-related events, including but not limited to trade shows and product demonstrations, or (c) physically enter customer or potential customer sites in connection with their work for Beyond Meat must take all necessary steps to be Fully Vaccinated as a condition of employment, unless a reasonable accommodation is approved.