QA Coordinator

This is a floor and desk-based role — you'll spend half of your day in the production facility, half behind a desk.

Who should apply

Candidates with hands-on experience in food safety or quality assurance within a food manufacturing environment — meat, protein or similar FMCG production is a strong plus. You're comfortable being on the floor for most of the day, you know your way around HACCP/SQF-style checks (or can pick them up fast), and you don't let a check slide just because production is under pressure to keep the line moving.

Who shouldn't apply

Candidates who want a desk-only QA role, who avoid raising issues with production because it's uncomfortable, or who see documentation as optional when things get busy. If a check gets missed and you're tempted to just sign it off — this isn't the role for you.

Why join Barbell Foods

We make no bullsh#t meat snacks for people who care about their health. Quality and food safety aren't a side function here — they're core to the product and the brand. As QA Coordinator, you'll be the eyes and ears on the floor that keep our SQF, HACCP and export compliance genuinely solid, not just paperwork-deep.

The Role

As QA Coordinator, you'll own the day-to-day, floor-based quality verification that keeps Barbell compliant — from incoming raw material checks through to finished product testing, batch traceability and customer complaint coordination. You'll report directly to the Head of Quality Assurance, working closely with production to catch and correct issues before they become non-conformances.

Working half of your day is on the floor. Half of it is at a desk, logging checks in the QMS platform and verifying batch records against what actually happened on the line.

Key Responsibilities

• Run daily compliance checks verifications— cleaning/hygiene, labelling, pre-ops and/or end-of-day checks verification — and raise non-conformances and corrective actions through QMS platform.
• Non-conformance handling including customer complaints. Investigation, root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Inspect incoming raw materials: meat inspection, temperature checks, bag testing, spice testing
• Monitor and verify the drying process (water activity testing), flagging deviations or trends to the Head of Quality Assurance.
• Test finished product every day — thickness, cut, dry test
• Verify weight, label and seal accuracy every day.
• Run cleaning validation using the monitoring device every day.
• Coordinate monthly environmental swabs and water/product sampling
• Manage retention samples
• Verify batch sheets and traceability records against the floor
• Support the Head of Quality Assurance in preparing for and conducting internal and external audits.
• Maintain audit-ready records and follow up on corrective actions.
• Coordinate with relevant departments during the audit process.
• Manage audits with minimal assistance when the Head of Quality Assurance is unavailable.

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

Experience

• 1–3 years in a QA, food safety, or quality inspection role within food manufacturing
• Experience conducting floor-based inspections and compliance verification
• Food safety / HACCP awareness training (required, or willingness to obtain within first 3 months)
• Familiarity with HACCP/SQF-based quality systems
• Experience with exporting meat would be advantageous.

Non-negotiable skills

• Attention to detail and comfort with repetitive, disciplined verification routines
• Working knowledge of QMS platform
• Confidence raising non-conformances and holding the line on standards

How you're wired

• Hands-on — you're on the floor, not just at a desk
• Consistent — you don't skip a check because you're busy
• Direct — you raise issues early, not once they've become a bigger problem
• Reliable — production and the Head of Quality Assurance can count on your checks being done right, every time

THE OPPORTUNITY

Barbell is growing fast, and our QA function is growing with it. This is a genuine opportunity to build a career in food safety and quality within a business that's serious about compliance and export growth — with a clear path to more responsibility as we scale.

If you have any questions about the role, please email [email protected].

As part of your application, please answer three questions:

• Tell us about a food safety issue or potential food safety risk you identified during production. What immediate action did you take, how did you assess the risk, and what did you do to prevent it from happening again?
• Tell us about a time when you identified that production was not following an SOPs, but the production team did not consider it a significant issue.What was the issue, how did you handle the situation with the team, and what actions did you take to make sure the food safety or quality risk was properly controlled?
• Tell us about a recurring quality problem that people had started to accept as ‘normal’. What did you do about it?
• Are you currently based in Canberra, or are you willing to relocate to Canberra for this role?