Associate, Quality Assurance - Chomps
Chicago, IL
About the Job
Who We Are
We're Chomps, the fastest-growing meat snack brand reimagining best-for-you snacking. Made from the highest quality, humanely raised proteins, no sugar, and only real ingredients, we make snacking simple, delicious, and nutritious. Chomps can be found in over 20,000 stores nationwide with a strong e-commerce presence. Our mission is to inspire, educate, and fuel our community with accessible, sustainable, and real food that tastes great.
Traits of a Chompian
If you've been called scrappy, resourceful, and persistent, then you might just be a Chompian. You're a team player who's self-motivated and action-oriented. You're committed to delivering efficiency and accuracy, and you happen to be great at proactive cross-functional communication. You're a critical thinker and a natural problem solver who enjoys details, research, and data. You take initiative and complete ownership of everything you do, and you'll go the extra mile for your team, consumers, and audience. You're hungry to learn with a passion to grow and improve every day. You also take a keen interest in health, fitness, and nutrition. Sound like you? Then we want to meat you.
What You Will Do
We are actively seeking a detail-oriented and motivated individual to join our team as the Quality Assurance Associate. In this role, you will play a key part in maintaining the quality and safety standards of Chomps products. Your primary responsibilities will include performing QA inspections and tests across our manufacturing and repack warehousing facilities, documenting and reporting any quality issues, assisting in product quality and food safety investigations, and supporting Chomps recall plan and programs. You will work closely and report to the Quality Assurance Manager to ensure continuous improvement in our processes. We are looking for a candidate with strong attention to detail, good organizational skills, and a solid background in food safety regulations and quality assurance programs in the meat manufacturing industry. Join us in our commitment to excellence and ensuring the safety and quality of Chomps products for our customers.
Responsibilities
Contract Manufacturers and Warehousing QA Oversight
- Assist in conducting regular inspections and audits at contract manufacturing plants and repack warehouses.
- Support the Quality Assurance Manager to ensure compliance with Chomps quality and food safety standards, USDA-FSIS regulations, and internal company policies.
- Help onboard new manufacturing and warehousing partners by assisting in scheduling and being on site for sample and test production.
- Assist the Quality Systems Associate with outstanding FS/QA program requirements.
- Maintain relationships with third-party QA partners and support teamwork and collaboration in quality improvement efforts.
Product Quality Continuous Improvement
- Participate in product quality investigations with contract manufacturers to identify possible processing errors and improvement opportunities.
- Collect and organize data for sensory evaluation dashboards and reporting for our manufacturing partners.
- Assist the R&D and operations teams in the creation of process control and product specification sheets.
- Be present for sample and test runs of new products.
- Collaborate with operations on testing and implementing protein tempering best practices and creating SOPs.
Mock Recall and Traceability
- Conduct regular mock recall exercises to test and improve the traceability of products in the event of a recall.
- Perform internal product traceability audits to verify the accuracy and effectiveness of Chomps traceability systems in Netsuite and daily documentation and logging.
- Schedule biannual training for all new Chomps recall team members.
- Maintain recall plan and programs; edit/update after each mock recall drill to continuously improve Chomps systems and readiness.
- Assist cross functional teams with development of department specific recall programs and verify procedures are well documented.
- Work with sales and operations teams to stay current with all customer recall requirements and documentation.
- Schedule and oversee all mock recall drills with co-manufacturers and warehousing partners.
Consumer and Customer Complaint Monitoring
- Monitor and analyze consumer and customer complaints related to product quality and safety. Identify and escalate possible complaint trends.
- Create monthly dashboard reporting categorizing complaints by manufacturer, product, customer, and type. Submit reports to contracted partners and discuss results during weekly meeting.
- Work alongside CX and operations teams to maintain complaint logs and reporting. Audit and edit logs to ensure reporting accuracy and consistency.
Who You Are
- 4+ years of experience in FS/QA within the meat manufacturing industry.
- Bachelor's degree in food science or related field is an asset.
- In-depth knowledge of USDA regulations, labeling requirements, HACCP and GMPs.
- Experience with GFSI standards and food safety auditing requirements.
- Formally trained in RCA and CAPA
- Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
- Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
- Detail-oriented with a commitment to continuous improvement.
- Ability to conduct presentations and training sessions
- Requirement to travel up to 75%
Position: Associate, Quality Assurance
Reports to: Manager, Quality Assurance
Location: Remote
Type: Full-Time, exempt
Salary Range Opportunity:
- The salary range for this role is $85,000 - $95,000 + 15% annual bonus
Compensation Philosophy & Total Comp:
- Our salary ranges are based on verified market data and our philosophy of paying competitively for our size and industry
- Individual pay rate decisions are based on several factors, including qualifications for the role, experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company
- In addition to base salary, full-time team members receive medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401K 6% match, and monthly reimbursements for wellness and home office.
Other Perks:
- Ability to make an impact: Join a rapidly growing and entrepreneurial-spirited team at a pivotal point to positively impact the food industry.
- Opportunities to grow: Advance within Chomps quickly based on outstanding performance.
- Unlimited PTO and 10 paid holiday days. Hybrid & flexible remote schedule. Chicago office open to those in the area.
- Paid maternity and paternity leave.
- Bi-annual total team in-person activities.
- Company-wide Continual Education budget.
- Unlimited snacks: Enough meat sticks that if you wanted to eat your body weight in them you could (no judgment here).
Our Commitment
Chomps is committed to a diverse and inclusive workforce. To achieve our mission of making nutritious food more accessible we greatly benefit from a range of perspectives, which comes from diversity of all types, at all levels of the organization. Achieving true diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do and the smart thing for our business.
We're aware of the research showing that historically underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for a job if they don't believe that they meet all of the criteria. Do you hesitate to submit an application because you believe you need to check every box? Please apply anyway with a thoughtful cover letter! We would love to hear from you to discuss how you can help us build a great team at Chomps.
Important Notice:
It has come to our attention that fraudsters have been posing as Chomps employees or recruiters and contacting job-seeking candidates regarding potential job opportunities. These fraudulent messages sometimes include a request for payment and confidential personal information. Please note that the Chomps recruiting process does not include asking candidates for payments or other confidential financial information.If you are applying for a job, you can confirm the legitimacy of a job posting by viewing current open roles: https://chomps.com/pages/chomps-careers. If you have questions please email us at careers@chomps.com
