Quality Assurance Manager

Role title

Quality Assurance Manager (QA Manager)

Department

Quality Assurance and Food Safety / Operations

Location

Field-based; regular work across farms, aggregation points, fulfilment centres, packhouses, warehouses and shipment locations

Grade

Manager level; final internal grade/band subject to the approved job-grading framework

Reports to

Chief Operations Officer

Direct reports

None initially; leads through quality standards, audit authority, corrective-action governance and shipment release decisions

PRIMARY MANDATE: Ensure at least 98% of released crop deliveries meet the agreed buyer specification and applicable food standards, while maintaining a non-negotiable control that 100% of shipments receive documented QA release before departure.

Detailed responsibilities

Quality-management system, SOPs and control architecture

• Design, maintain and enforce the end-to-end quality-assurance framework for every crop and trade lane, covering farms, growers, agents, suppliers, aggregation points, fulfilment centres, packhouses, warehouses, transport, ports and delivery interfaces.
• Convert applicable buyer, legal, certification and internal requirements into controlled SOPs, SLAs, work instructions, inspection checklists, acceptance criteria, sampling plans, forms and evidence standards.
• Define critical-to-quality attributes, food-safety hazards, preventive controls, operational prerequisites and critical control points where applicable; ensure monitoring and escalation are practical for field execution.
• Maintain a controlled document register, revision history and distribution process so teams use the current approved specification and procedure.
• Establish the quality RACI for Agronomy, Field Operations, Crop Sourcing, Procurement, Production, Inventory, Logistics, Sales and Customer Success, with clear handoffs and escalation ownership.
• Review the quality system after buyer complaints, audit findings, new crops, new markets, new suppliers, new locations, process changes or material changes in buyer requirements.

Trade-specific quality planning and buyer-specification control

• Obtain the final approved buyer specification, contract quality terms, destination-market requirements, test methods, tolerances, packaging and labelling requirements before production or sourcing commitments are operationalized.
• Prepare a quality plan for each material trade that identifies specification parameters, risks, inspection points, sampling frequency, required laboratories, records, release criteria and accountable process owners.
• Run pre-trade quality-readiness reviews with Commercial, Agronomy, Crop Sourcing, Supply Chain, Production and Logistics and document gaps, owners and go/no-go conditions.
• Control specification changes and ensure any buyer-approved concession or deviation is documented before release; prevent verbal or retrospective changes from being treated as approval.
• Maintain a crop and buyer specification library that is searchable, version-controlled and linked to the relevant purchase, production, inventory and shipment records.

Production, grower and supplier quality assurance

• Work with Agronomy to verify that production protocols, approved inputs, application records, pre-harvest intervals, harvest-maturity criteria and crop-specific food-safety controls are defined and evidenced.
• Conduct risk-based farm, grower, cooperative, agent and supplier audits and verify corrective actions before high-risk supply is accepted.
• Establish supplier and grower approval, probation, suspension and requalification criteria using quality history, audit performance, traceability, complaints and corrective-action responsiveness.
• Verify harvest readiness against buyer specification, crop maturity, expected defects, residue or contamination risk, weather exposure, handling capacity and packaging readiness.
• Coordinate representative field or pre-harvest sampling and approved laboratory testing where required; preserve sample identity, chain of custody and result integrity.
• Train and coach growers, agents and operating teams on quality standards without taking over Agronomy's technical ownership or Operations' execution accountability.

Receiving, aggregation, inventory and processing controls

• Ensure every incoming lot is uniquely identified, weighed, sampled, inspected and graded against the approved crop and trade criteria before acceptance into controlled inventory.
• Verify crop-specific parameters such as variety, maturity, size, appearance, defects, foreign matter, moisture, temperature, Brix, pungency, aflatoxin, residue, microbiological or other attributes where relevant to the order.
• Enforce segregation, status labelling and system blocking for released, quarantined, rejected, rework, returned and expired inventory; prevent commingling that destroys traceability or certification status.
• Audit sanitation, hygiene, pest control, water quality, equipment condition, calibration, environmental conditions, cold chain, storage life and stock-rotation controls as applicable.
• Verify that sorting, cleaning, processing, grading, packing, labelling and rework follow approved instructions and do not introduce contamination, substitution or specification drift.
• Review yield, shrinkage, downgrade, waste and reconciliation data for anomalies that may indicate process failure, record error, theft, substitution or concealed nonconformance.

Final inspection, hold and shipment-release authority

• Complete or oversee final lot and shipment inspection using the approved sampling plan, test method, calibrated equipment and acceptance criteria.
• Verify packaging integrity, labelling, lot codes, quantity, palletization, container or vehicle hygiene, temperature controls, loading method, seals, documentation and destination requirements before release.
• Compile and approve the shipment quality dossier, including the current buyer specification, inspection results, certificates of analysis where required, traceability, concessions, photographs and corrective-action evidence.
• Issue a documented QA release only when all mandatory criteria are met; maintain an auditable link between the release, inventory lot, vehicle or container, dispatch and buyer order.
• Place any crop, lot, facility process, vehicle or shipment on hold when safety, legality, certification, traceability, specification or evidence requirements are not met, and communicate the hold immediately to accountable leaders.
• Authorize re-inspection after documented correction and recommend rework, downgrade, alternative compliant use, return or destruction; no disposition may compromise food safety, law, certification or an agreed buyer requirement.
• Escalate any attempt to bypass, backdate, alter or pressure a quality decision and retain an unedited record of the original evidence and decision.

Nonconformity, complaints, CAPA and crisis readiness

• Operate one nonconformity and corrective-action register covering field failures, rejected lots, audit findings, process deviations, buyer complaints, returns, claims and certification findings.
• Ensure immediate containment of critical food-safety and specification risks, including lot isolation, shipment stop, notification, evidence preservation and risk assessment.
• Lead or facilitate structured root-cause analysis using evidence and distinguish the occurrence cause, escape cause and system cause rather than blaming individual operators without proof.
• Assign corrective and preventive actions with owners, deadlines and verification criteria; reject closure that documents activity without demonstrating effectiveness.
• Coordinate quality investigations with Commercial and Customer Success, provide fact-based buyer responses and separate valid claims from commercial disputes or post-release changes.
• Maintain withdrawal and recall procedures, current contact lists, decision thresholds, mock recall schedule and escalation protocols; participate in incident command when activated.
• Trend defects, complaints, holds and repeat failures by crop, location, supplier, process, buyer and root cause and sponsor prevention priorities with the COO.

Certification, audit and regulatory readiness

• Lead certification readiness, initial certification, surveillance, renewal and scope-extension efforts assigned to the function, coordinating evidence and implementation across accountable teams.
• Maintain a live obligations register for applicable food-safety, agricultural production, export, buyer, certification and laboratory requirements across each trade lane.
• Conduct internal audits and readiness reviews against current applicable requirements, record objective evidence and escalate critical or repeated gaps promptly.
• Coordinate external certification bodies, laboratories, inspectors and customer auditors through approved channels and ensure records provided are authentic, controlled and complete.
• Own the audit-action plan and verify sustainable closure; report overdue, disputed or recurring findings to the COO and relevant executive owner.
• Monitor changes to applicable standards and buyer requirements and translate them into timely updates to SOPs, training, systems, supplier controls and investment plans.

Real-time field quality visibility and digital controls

• Build a risk-based coverage model that prioritizes high-risk crops, suppliers, locations, processes and shipments while maintaining routine assurance across the wider network.
• Implement digital inspection, sampling, hold, release and CAPA workflows with mandatory timestamps, user identity, lot reference and supporting evidence; use geolocation or photo evidence where proportionate and authorized.
• Define when remote verification is acceptable and when physical attendance, independent sampling or laboratory confirmation is mandatory.
• Maintain live visibility of inspections due, lots on hold, pending test results, release readiness, expiring certificates, unresolved complaints and overdue corrective actions.
• Establish contingency procedures for low-connectivity locations, including offline forms, controlled synchronization, record reconciliation and prevention of duplicate or backdated decisions.
• Validate data quality and investigate anomalies such as impossible timestamps, repeated images, unusual pass rates, missing samples, altered results or repeated overrides.

Quality capability, reporting and continuous improvement

• Define role-based quality competencies for Agronomy, Field Operations, Production, Warehouse, Inventory, Procurement and Logistics personnel and verify effectiveness after training.
• Coach process owners to conduct first-line quality checks correctly while preserving QA's independent verification role.
• Publish a weekly quality operations report and monthly management dashboard showing conformance, holds, release status, inspection coverage, complaints, CAPA, audit status, traceability, supplier performance and cost of poor quality.
• Present material risks, trend analysis, root causes, decisions required and recovery plans in S&OP, D2D, operations and executive cadences.
• Partner with Product, Data and Engineering to digitize quality controls, integrate records with trade and inventory workflows, and remove manual gaps without weakening segregation of duties.
• Use Pareto analysis, control charts or other appropriate methods to prioritize prevention, validate improvement and reduce variation by crop, supplier, site and process.
• Model integrity and impartiality: report inconvenient quality evidence early, avoid conflicts of interest and protect employees or partners who raise genuine food-safety or quality concerns.

Required experience, qualifications and technical capabilities

Required experience and non-negotiables

• At least five years of progressive quality assurance, quality control or food-safety experience in food, fresh produce, agricultural commodities, agribusiness, export supply chains or a closely related environment.
• Demonstrated responsibility for quality across multiple field, supplier, aggregation, warehouse, packhouse, production or logistics locations rather than experience limited to a single laboratory or office.
• Proven experience leading certification implementation, audit readiness, certification renewal or scope expansion and closing findings through cross-functional owners.
• Hands-on experience translating buyer specifications into sampling, inspection, grading, testing, acceptance, hold, release and traceability controls.
• Evidence of reducing buyer rejection, complaints, rework, quality loss or recurring defects through structured root-cause analysis and verified corrective action.
• Experience with perishable and/or export-bound agricultural products, including time-sensitive release decisions and quality control under field and commercial pressure.
• Demonstrated courage and integrity to stop or hold a shipment, challenge unreliable evidence and report a material risk despite delivery or revenue pressure.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively and work in farms, rural communities, aggregation sites, warehouses, packhouses, ports and other operating environments with variable infrastructure and connectivity.

Qualifications and professional requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Food Science or Technology, Agriculture, Agronomy, Crop Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Quality Management, Biological Sciences or a closely related discipline.
• Recognized training or certification in HACCP and food-safety management is required; lead-auditor or internal-auditor qualification for an applicable food-safety or quality standard is strongly preferred.
• Practical working knowledge of current applicable Codex good hygiene and HACCP principles, ISO 22000 or an equivalent food-safety management system, GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance or other company-required certification schemes, as relevant to the crop and market.
• Knowledge of applicable national food, plant-health, export, laboratory and importing-market requirements and the ability to determine when specialist regulatory or laboratory advice is needed.
• Strong written and spoken English; French and relevant local language capability are advantageous for multi-country field operations.
• Valid driving eligibility and safe field-travel capability where required by the operating model.