Quality Assurance & Training Manager

Quality Assurance & Training Manager

Department: Food Safety

Classification: Exempt

Salary Range: $85,000 - $95,000

Location: Downtown Los Angeles, CA

Schedule: Full-Time, On-Site

About People’s Choice Beef Jerky

People’s Choice Beef Jerky is a fourth-generation family business that has been making beef jerky in Downtown Los Angeles since 1929.

We manufacture our products in-house and take pride in doing things the right way. As we've grown, our operation has become more complex, and we're continuing to invest in strong people and better systems to support that growth.

We value people who take ownership of their work, treat others with respect, and look for ways to make things better.

About the Position

People’s Choice Beef Jerky is looking for an experienced Quality Assurance & Training Manager to take ownership of our food safety, quality, regulatory, and employee training programs.

We're a growing food manufacturer with a small team, which means our managers lead their departments while also doing the work alongside their teams. On a typical day, this person may review HACCP records, walk the production floor, work directly with USDA inspection personnel, investigate a quality issue, prepare documentation for a new product, coach a QC Technician, and train production employees on a procedure.

We already have established food safety and quality programs and an experienced operations team. We're looking for someone who can take ownership of the quality assurance and food safety department, strengthen them, keep them organized, and identify practical ways to make them better.

The training side of this position is equally important. As we've grown, we've learned that good procedures aren't enough if employees aren't given the training and follow-up needed to perform their jobs well. This person will work closely with Operations and Human Resources to improve how we onboard, train, coach, and develop employees across our production and packaging operations.

This is a strong opportunity for someone with a solid food safety and QA foundation who is ready to take the next step and truly own a department.

What You'll OwnFood Safety & Quality Assurance

• Own and manage the company's food safety and quality assurance programs, ensuring compliance with USDA/FSIS requirements and applicable regulations.
• Maintain, verify, and continuously improve HACCP plans, SSOPs, GMPs, prerequisite programs, and related food safety procedures.
• Ensure required food safety and quality records are completed accurately, reviewed on time, properly organized, and readily available.
• Oversee daily pre-operational, operational, sanitation, and product quality inspections.
• Manage product testing, environmental monitoring, food-contact surface testing, water activity testing, and equipment calibration and verification programs.
• Review production and food safety records and identify missing information, deviations, recurring problems, and opportunities for improvement.
• Investigate nonconformances and quality concerns, determine root causes, and implement appropriate corrective and preventive actions.
• Lead product holds, food safety investigations, mock recalls, recalls, and HACCP reassessments when necessary.
• Build stronger systems for evaluating finished-product quality, including sensory characteristics, consistency, appearance, texture, and other product standards.
• Identify unusual product conditions or trends and work with Production to understand and correct the underlying cause.
• Maintain an active presence on the production and packaging floors to ensure programs are working in practice, not just on paper.

USDA & Regulatory Compliance

• Serve as the primary day-to-day contact for USDA/FSIS inspection personnel.
• Respond to regulatory questions, documentation requests, NRs, and other compliance matters in a timely and professional manner.
• Maintain organized regulatory records and ensure required documentation is current and accessible.
• Partner with the Director of Operations on significant regulatory or food safety matters.
• Support third-party inspections, customer audits, and other regulatory activities.
• Maintain applicable documentation and compliance requirements for Canadian exports.
• Exercise authority to place product on hold or stop production when food safety, product integrity, or regulatory compliance may be at risk.

Labeling, Product Development & Technical Documentation

• Own the technical and regulatory side of product labeling and help ensure packaging remains compliant with applicable USDA/FSIS requirements.
• Prepare and maintain nutrition facts panels, ingredient statements, product specifications, formulations, and supporting documentation.
• Maintain organized and current specifications for finished products, ingredients, packaging, and related quality requirements.
• Support new product development by helping move products from formulation and testing into compliant, repeatable production.
• Coordinate product samples, testing, shelf-life work, and other technical requirements for new and existing products.
• Respond efficiently to customer and internal requests for specifications, nutrition information, ingredient statements, and other quality documentation.
• Develop systems that make regulatory and product information easier to maintain, find, and update.

Quality Team Leadership

• Directly supervise, coach, and develop Quality Control Technicians and other assigned QA personnel.
• Establish clear daily priorities and ensure required QC activities are completed correctly and on time.
• Develop the technical skills and judgment of QC team members so they can operate with increasing independence.
• Establish clear expectations and hold team members accountable for following procedures and completing accurate documentation.
• Step into daily QC activities when needed, including inspections, pre-operational activities, record review, sampling, testing, and other hands-on responsibilities.
• Identify future staffing, training, equipment, and resource needs for the department.

We are a small team. The right person will be comfortable both leading the work and doing the work.

Training & Employee Development

• Take ownership of the company's operational employee training program in partnership with Human Resources and department leaders.
• Develop structured training and onboarding procedures for new production and packaging employees.
• Create and maintain clear SOPs, work instructions, training materials, visual aids, and other tools employees can actually use on the floor.
• Train employees on food safety, sanitation, quality standards, production procedures, equipment procedures, and job-specific responsibilities.
• Establish methods for verifying that employees can correctly perform the work after being trained.
• Observe employees on the floor and provide coaching and retraining when needed.
• Use quality issues, production errors, inspection findings, and employee feedback to identify training gaps.
• Maintain accurate training records and ensure documentation is available for regulatory inspections and audits.
• Work closely with supervisors to ensure procedures are being taught and performed consistently across shifts and departments.
• Help create an environment where new employees feel prepared and supported rather than simply being expected to learn by watching someone else.

Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Look for practical ways to simplify food safety documentation, record review, training, and other QA processes without compromising compliance.
• Develop and monitor useful quality metrics such as record accuracy, recurring deviations, corrective actions, quality complaints, regulatory findings, and training completion.
• Analyze quality data to identify recurring problems and address their underlying causes.
• Provide the Director of Operations with regular updates on food safety, quality, regulatory issues, training progress, and department priorities.
• Work closely with Production, Packaging, Warehouse, and Human Resources to solve problems that cross departmental lines.
• Use technology, spreadsheets, digital tools, and AI where appropriate to reduce repetitive administrative work, improve organization, and make information easier to use.
• Continuously look for ways to make our food safety, quality, and training programs simpler, stronger, and easier for employees to execute correctly.

New Product Development

• Partner with the Product and Marketing teams to support the development and launch of new products, flavors, and customer projects.
• Coordinate and run small-scale test batches, working with Production to translate new formulations into actual manufacturing processes.
• Document test-batch formulations, processes, observations, yields, results, and product feedback in a clear and organized manner.
• Evaluate new products for quality, consistency, food safety, manufacturability, and compliance, and provide practical feedback before moving into full production.
• Coordinate product testing and shelf-life validation as needed.
• Generate and maintain the technical information required for new products, including ingredient statements, nutrition facts panels, product specifications, formulations, and other supporting documentation.
• Review new product labels and packaging for applicable USDA/FSIS regulatory requirements.
• Once a product is approved, ensure it is properly incorporated into the company's production and food safety systems, including formulations, specifications, SOPs, HACCP documentation, production records, testing requirements, and applicable digital and physical files.
• Help establish a consistent process for moving products from development and testing into full-scale production so that the information used by Product, Marketing, Production, and Quality remains accurate and aligned.
• Maintain organized records of product development work so formulations, test results, decisions, and final specifications can be easily referenced in the future.

What We're Looking For

• Minimum of 3 years of progressive experience in Quality Assurance, Quality Control, Food Safety, or a related role within food manufacturing.
• Hands-on experience working with HACCP, GMPs, SSOPs, food safety documentation, corrective actions, and quality systems.
• Experience working in a USDA-regulated food manufacturing facility strongly preferred.
• Experience supervising, leading, or training employees.
• Strong understanding of how food safety programs work in an actual manufacturing environment—not simply on paper.
• Experience preparing, revising, or maintaining SOPs, food safety programs, work instructions, or similar documentation.
• Ability to review records carefully, identify problems, investigate root causes, and follow issues through to resolution.
• Experience with regulatory inspections, audits, or direct interaction with regulatory personnel strongly preferred.
• Experience with food labeling, nutrition facts, ingredient statements, specifications, formulations, or product development is strongly preferred.
• Comfortable working directly on a production floor and stepping into hands-on QC responsibilities when necessary.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to explain procedures clearly to employees with different levels of experience.
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and priorities without losing track of details.
• Comfortable making decisions and taking ownership while knowing when an issue should be escalated.
• Strong computer skills, including Google Workspace and/or Microsoft Office, particularly spreadsheets, shared documents, and electronic recordkeeping.
• Comfortable learning and using new technology. Experience using AI or other modern tools to improve research, documentation, training, analysis, or administrative work is a plus.
• Bilingual English/Spanish required.

The Person Who Will Do Well Here

You don't need to come from a huge company or have managed a large QA department.

You do need a strong foundation in food safety and quality and enough experience to take ownership of the fundamentals without needing someone to teach you what HACCP, SSOPs, GMPs, or corrective actions are.

We're open to someone who has already managed a quality function as well as someone who has built a strong foundation as a QA Supervisor, QA Lead, Senior QA Specialist, or similar position and is ready for greater responsibility.

This role is a particularly good fit for someone who likes being close to the work. You should be equally comfortable reviewing documentation at your computer, talking with a USDA inspector, walking the production floor, troubleshooting an issue with a supervisor, and showing an employee the correct way to perform a procedure.

We're looking for someone who sees quality as part of the operation, not a department that operates separately from it. Protecting food safety and regulatory compliance is non-negotiable, but the job also requires working collaboratively with Production to solve problems and keep the operation running well.

Most importantly, we're looking for someone who wants ownership. We'll provide support, resources, and an experienced Operations team to work with. We want this person to become the internal expert who makes our quality and training programs better over time.

Benefits

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) with company match
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Bonus opportunities
• Professional development and tuition reimbursement
• Employee discount

Equal Employment Opportunity

People's Choice Beef Jerky is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to any characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Reasonable Accommodation

Reasonable accommodations may be provided to qualified individuals with disabilities or medical conditions in accordance with applicable law.

Pay: $85,000.00 - $95,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Professional development assistance
• Vision insurance

Application Question(s):

• This position requires developing, validating, and maintaining the HACCP program to drive continuous improvement. Describe a time you were directly responsible for the creation of a HACCP program. What was the general flow of the process? What were the CCPs? How did you monitor the program to identify improvements? If you haven’t created a HACCP program, give us an overview of the program you monitored.
• Tell us about a time Production challenged a quality requirement or said a procedure was making their work unnecessarily difficult. How did you determine what needed to stay in place and where you could adapt? What solution did you reach, and what was the outcome?
• Tell us about a time employees continued making the same mistake after being trained. How did you figure out why it was happening, what did you change, and how did you verify that the change worked?
• Describe a quality or food safety process you inherited that was disorganized, inefficient, or difficult for employees to follow. What did you personally do to improve it, and how did you know it was working?

Work Location: In person