Q&FS Inbound / Lab Lead

Nom Nom•Nashville, TN

About The Position

Nom Nom delivers delight to your dog’s day. We’re driven by a deep love for dogs and a commitment to their well-being, and are guided by a simple yet powerful philosophy: to provide pups with meals that mirror the devotion, attention, and care that they give us. Our variety of real good, feel good meals burst with vibrant ingredients and tasty textures. They’re prepared, portioned, and packaged in our very own kitchens, and personalized all the way down to the calorie to meet the unique needs of every dog we serve. Board-certified veterinary nutritionists and world-class scientists have made sure of that, by ensuring maximum nutrition from all of our recipes while advancing dog health at large. Join us on our journey to push boundaries and innovate relentlessly, in order to create the most exciting dog food ever. You’ll be part of a world where passion meets nutrition, and every tail wag is a testament to our dedication to dogs—and the people that love them. Q&FS Laboratory Lead – PCQI – Nom Nom Nom Nom is improving the lives of dogs everywhere. One meal at a time. We deliver real, good food for dogs — real, beautiful, droolworthy food, crafted by our on-staff Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists, and prepped, mixed and portioned in our very own kitchens. Personalized all the way down to the calorie, each meal is formulated to meet the unique needs of every pet we serve. Our Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists and staff of world-class scientists make sure of it, researching, studying and innovating nonstop to ensure maximum nutrition from all of our recipes while advancing pet health at large. We’re a team of pet lovers (duh), complacency crushers (you bet) and doggedly-determined experts (woof) that pride ourselves on serving up the best food possible for our four-legged family. We take absolute ownership over everything we do, persistently pushing one another toward creative solutions to complex problems. With a healthy serving of fun when time permits. (Time always permits.)  The Laboratory Lead -PCQI manages the internal Laboratory for analytical data as well as working with R&D/ SQA for ongoing compliance management of Supplier COA Verifications and MRA Testing compliance protocols. Hold and Release processes involving testing of ingredients until results are back and confirmed within specification. This role will require initial start up of the lab and all instrumentation. Partnerships with lab vendors to ensure instrumentation is set up properly and calibrated per the standards. This role will also include the design of a system to ensure compliance to testing protocols per the Mars requirements.

Requirements

College Diploma /University degree in science or equivalent level of experience.
Knowledge of Quality & Food Safety Systems, along with Analytical and problem- Solving Skills.
3–5 years of work experience in a Food manufacturing environment.
Experienced in auditing, quality systems, and laboratory techniques.
Knowledge of computers and MS office along with knowledge of Quality and Food Safety Systems.
High interpersonal and communication skills foster the ability to build trust and rapport with employees at all levels.
Proficiency in Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite, power BI, and spreadsheet tools

Responsibilities

Set up Lab instrumentation (CEM Oracle and Sprint) including verification, validation of results
Management Equipment Calibration Program
Proactively Communicate Holidays to External Lab contact
Own Lab Audit and Corrective Actions
Mange retain samples
Finished Product
Raw Materials
Audit Receiver Capabilities
Sample protocols and compliance
Ensure all transport rules are adhered to, wash certs, CoA, seals, etc.
Training
Validations
New method implementation
Coordinate with SQA
Rejections
RCA (internal method issues)
New equipment implementation
Manage Raw Material Derogations and proper approval process
Manage all sampling plans, finished good monitoring plans and samples to MGS or other laboratories as needed.
Manage factory receiving lab ensure compliance to standard
Create LIMs like Database incident management for raw material customer complaint analysis
Review all sampling plans, rejections and LIMs analysis
GMP in Lab
Investigate Raw Material Analysis NC
Traceability Raw Material (lab results data)
Manage Lab Safety
Manage schedule, admin, vacations, PDP
Ensure adherence to sampling plans lot
Organize and ship all microbiological samples to appropriate lab with proper shipping technique
Ensure swab list is generated and completed as scheduled.
Other duties as assigned