Assistant Manager / Deputy Manager / Manager- Quality Assurance

Role & responsibilities

1. Quality Assurance, Process Control & Product Compliance

• Ensure raw milk, ingredients, packaging materials, in-process, semi-finished and finished products comply with company specifications, SOPs and statutory standards.
• Monitor critical quality and process parameters across Plants and Chilling Centres, including CIP, SSOP, GMP, GHP and HACCP compliance.
• Investigate quality/process deviations, drive RCA and CAPA, and coordinate with Production, Engineering, Procurement and other teams for sustainable improvements.
• Drive continuous improvement in product quality, process capability, first-pass quality and reduction of non-conformances, rejections and complaints.

2. Food Safety, Regulatory & Audit Compliance

• Implement, sustain and improve FSMS requirements including ISO 22000/FSSC 22000/HACCP, and ensure compliance with FSSAI regulations and applicable food safety standards.
• Coordinate internal audits, MRMs, certification audits, customer audits and regulatory inspections; ensure timely closure of observations.
• Maintain statutory records, laboratory documentation, product labelling compliance and recall readiness as per regulatory requirements.
• Promote strong food safety culture and ensure adherence to SOPs, GMP, GHP, SSOP and HACCP requirements across operations.

3. Laboratory, Supplier & Packaging Quality Management

• Ensure timely and accurate laboratory testing, validated test methods, compliance with testing protocols and effective microbiological/chemical trend monitoring.
• Maintain calibration of laboratory equipment and measuring instruments, and ensure availability of chemicals, glassware, reagents and consumables.
• Monitor quality of packaging materials and ingredients, conduct supplier evaluations/audits and ensure compliance with approved specifications.
• Address supplier and packaging quality issues through effective CAPA and preventive actions.

4. Customer Complaint, Traceability & Recall Management

• Investigate market complaints, perform RCA, implement CAPA and monitor complaint trends for preventive action.
• Coordinate with Sales, Production and other stakeholders for timely and effective complaint resolution.
• Ensure complete product traceability across the supply chain and conduct mock recall exercises to verify system effectiveness.
• Maintain recall readiness and ensure traceability/recall systems meet regulatory and company requirements.

5. Team Leadership, Capability Development & Continuous Improvement

• Lead and mentor Regional QA teams, identify competency gaps and conduct training on quality standards, testing methods and food safety practices.
• Build a culture of quality, accountability, continuous improvement and best-practice sharing across regional operations.
• Drive quality improvement projects, improve laboratory efficiency/testing accuracy and support new product development and validation.
• Prepare and monitor QA budgets, optimize laboratory operating costs, manage consumables/calibration expenditure and improve cost efficiency without compromising quality.

6. Quality Analytics, Reporting & Management Review

• Prepare, review and present product quality, laboratory performance, complaint analysis, CAPA status, audit compliance, microbiological trend, supplier quality, KPI and food safety compliance reports/dashboards.
• Provide quality insights and recommendations to Management for decision making, risk reduction and performance improvement.

7. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• First Pass Quality, customer complaint rate, product non-conformance/rejection rate and supplier quality performance.
• CAPA closure within timeline, audit compliance score, FSSAI/FSMS compliance and product recall readiness.
• Laboratory testing accuracy, training completion, budget adherence and quality cost reduction.

8. Functional Competencies

• Dairy Technology, Food Safety Management Systems, FSSAI regulations, HACCP, GMP/GHP/SSOP and internal quality auditing.
• Laboratory management, microbiology/chemistry testing, calibration, statistical quality control and method validation.
• RCA, CAPA, product traceability, supplier quality management, quality analytics/reporting, SAP/ERP/LIMS, Microsoft Excel and Power BI.

9. Behavioural Competencies

• Leadership, strategic thinking, decision making, analytical ability, problem solving and attention to detail.
• Stakeholder management, communication and influencing, team development, planning and organising, customer focus, integrity, accountability, continuous improvement and change management.

Preferred candidate profile

• Dairy, Food Processing, FMCG, Beverages, Nutraceuticals, Pharma Food Division or Process Manufacturing.