FSQA Assistant Manager - Bellingham Plant

Trident Seafoods Corporation•Bellingham, WA

10d•$92,200 - $100,000•Onsite

About The Position

The FSQA Assistant Manager supports site food safety, quality, regulatory compliance, and audit readiness. Working with the FSQA Manager, this role helps ensure finished products meet company, customer, regulatory, and food safety requirements; supports execution and continuous improvement of Quality Assurance programs; guides Quality Assurance team members; and maintains an active operational presence to verify controls are effective and consistently followed. The position supports daily FSQA program execution, production-floor engagement, audit readiness, corrective actions, quality-data review, risk-based communication, and cross-functional coordination. The work takes place in office and manufacturing facility environments that may be loud, wet, or cold and may require personal protective equipment. Regular interaction with production areas, sanitation activities, warehousing, and processing equipment is required, while following safety, GMP, and PPE requirements. The role is based at the Bellingham Plant as stated in the title. The description’s summary refers to the Anacortes operation.

Requirements

At least 4 years of supervisory experience in Quality Assurance; food production or seafood industry experience is preferred.
High school diploma or equivalent.
Intermediate proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, especially Excel.
Working knowledge of HACCP regulations, food safety requirements, audit procedures, and quality systems.
Ability to communicate clearly, professionally, and factually across levels and functions.
Ability to lead, coach, and develop QA team members; set priorities; support coverage; and reinforce consistent standards.
Working knowledge of government, customer, and industry FSQA codes and standards, including HACCP, GFSI-recognized programs, BRC/BAP, FDA, and USDC requirements.
Ability to maintain audit-ready records and program execution and identify gaps before they become findings.
Ability to recognize high-risk trends, repeated deviations, product holds, specification failures, and product incident notification triggers, and escalate them promptly and objectively.
Ability to use quality and food safety data to identify trends, prioritize follow-up, and support measurable improvements.
Ability to communicate in a timely, solution-oriented, factual, and non-accusatory manner with FSQA, Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, and Support Center partners.
Ability to sit, stand, walk, and use hands for extended periods; climb stairs and ladders; and walk long distances in plant environments.
Ability to work in production environments requiring PPE.
Ability to occasionally lift up to 25 pounds.
Vision abilities including distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and distinguishing shades of color to identify abnormalities or defects in food products.
Employment requires maintaining valid immigration status and work authorization throughout employment. The position is not eligible for immigration sponsorship, including F-1 STEM-OPT authorization.
Must comply with the company’s drug-free workplace policy.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree in food science, biological sciences, or a related field.
HACCP certification.
SAP experience.
Experience supporting regulatory, customer, third-party, or GFSI-recognized audits, such as BRC, BAP, SQF, USDC, FDA, or state health authority audits.
Supervisory Quality Assurance experience in food production or the seafood industry.

Responsibilities

Supervise, coach, and support Quality Assurance team members with the FSQA Manager, including daily direction, priority setting, training reinforcement, and coverage support.
Help ensure shipped products meet product specifications, food safety requirements, customer expectations, regulatory requirements, and company standards.
Perform and document audits monitoring GMPs, food safety procedures, sanitation standards, pest control expectations, labeling requirements, and internal FSQA programs.
Verify critical control points, prerequisite programs, process controls, finished-product quality, and other food safety or quality indicators; escalate deviations and repeated issues through established protocols.
Maintain a working understanding of plant operations and integrate FSQA requirements with production, sanitation, maintenance, warehousing, and shipping activities.
Monitor and report site quality performance, service performance, complaint trends, Cost of Poor Quality, First Pass Quality, and other assigned risk indicators.
Support Product Incident Notification awareness, containment, documentation, and cross-functional coordination when food safety, legality, authenticity, or quality risks are identified.
Participate in internal, regulatory, third-party, and customer audits; document findings, gather objective evidence, support root cause analysis, and verify completion of corrective and preventive actions.
Train and oversee site personnel to promote adherence to department protocols, company standards, HACCP plans, food safety plans, sanitation requirements, and audit-readiness expectations.
Motivate employees, reinforce food safety culture, recognize team contributions, and drive continuous improvement through factual and professional communication.
Support daily execution of FSQA programs and verify controls, records, corrections, shift coverage, and follow-up are effective and audit-ready.
Maintain production-floor engagement across shifts and coach employees promptly when deviations occur.
Communicate risks, constraints, corrective and preventive actions, product incident notifications, audit readiness, and assigned deliverables to the FSQA Manager, Plant Manager, and Support Center FSQA as appropriate.
Support complete corrective action reports with objective evidence, root cause, preventive actions, and effectiveness checks; close actions and escalate recurring issues.
Use site data and dashboards to monitor trends and support issue-specific action plans and measurable improvement activity.
Partner with Operations, Sanitation, Maintenance, Warehouse, and Support Center FSQA to integrate FSQA requirements into daily decisions and follow through on dependencies.
Perform other similar or related duties as requested or assigned.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans for eligible full-time employees.
Optional HRA/HSA.
Telemedicine.
Employee assistance and wellness programs.
Long-term disability.
Basic life and AD&D insurance.
401(k) with company match.
Paid time off; the initial full-time benefit starts at 20 days per year and is adjusted based on relevant experience.
10 paid holidays each year.
Paid parental leave.
Commuter and transit programs.
Full-time employees may be eligible for discretionary or performance-based incentives.