Quality Lead

About the Company
Our client is a well-established New Zealand food manufacturer of much-loved baked products. This is a hands-on manufacturing environment where quality, consistency and operational performance matter every day.
  
The Opportunity
This is a newly shaped Quality Lead position for someone who wants to be genuinely involved in manufacturing, rather than sitting behind a desk managing paperwork.
  
You’ll be highly visible on the production floor, working closely with Production, Engineering, Supply Chain and New Product Innovation to identify problems, understand what is causing them and make sure they don’t keep happening.
  
The wider Food Safety and Quality Management System, certification and compliance programmes are owned by the Group Compliance Lead. Your focus will be operational quality: improving product consistency, solving problems, reducing variation and waste, and making sure quality standards are translated into practical day-to-day manufacturing.
  
You’ll be responsible for:

• Leading investigations, root cause analysis and corrective actions
• Driving improvements in product consistency and process capability
• Supporting production trials, validations, launches and first production runs
• Identifying and reducing quality defects, waste and rework
• Coaching production teams on quality, food safety and process controls
• Using data and trends to identify risks and improvement opportunities
• Working across Production, Engineering, Supply Chain and NPI
• Building accountability and making sure agreed actions are actually completed
• Supporting a strong quality and food safety culture on the factory floor

This is a role where you’ll need to get involved, ask questions and challenge the status quo. The position description specifically calls for someone who can identify problems, analyse data, determine root causes and implement practical, sustainable solutions.
  
  
About You
We’re looking for a quality or technical professional who has moved beyond simply identifying problems and is comfortable taking ownership of fixing them.
  
Be prepared to show some grit and be someone who sees a problem and thinks, “What is causing this, and how do we stop it happening again?” rather than simply asking who is responsible for fixing it.
  
You’ll ideally bring:

• 7+ years’ experience in food manufacturing quality, technical or CI roles
• Experience in bakery, snack food, confectionery or FMCG manufacturing
• Strong HACCP, GMP and FSSC 22000/GFSI knowledge
• Experience leading investigations and corrective action programmes
• A practical understanding of manufacturing processes and equipment
• Experience supporting trials, validations, NPI or product launches
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• A tertiary qualification in Food Science, Food Technology, Food Engineering or similar
• Full confidence in decision making
• Excellent communication and ability to influence

Apply
If you’re a hands-on quality professional who enjoys being close to manufacturing and wants to make a tangible difference to how a site operates, we’d like to hear from you.
  
Apply now or contact Olivia Lawrence at [email protected] or [04 916 0536](tel:04 916 0536) for a confidential discussion.