Quality & Food Safety Inbound / Lab Lead

About the role

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, 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, 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 ensure maximum nutrition from all of our recipes while advancing dog health at large.

The Laboratory Lead - PCQI manages the internal laboratory for analytical data and works with R&D/SQA for ongoing compliance management of Supplier COA Verifications and MRA Testing compliance protocols. This role involves hold and release processes for testing ingredients until results are confirmed within specification. The position requires initial startup of the lab and all instrumentation, partnerships with lab vendors to ensure proper setup and calibration, and design of a system to ensure compliance with testing protocols per Mars requirements.

Responsibilities

• Set up lab instrumentation (CEM Oracle and Sprint), including verification and validation of results
• Manage equipment calibration program
• Proactively communicate holidays to external lab contacts
• Own lab audit and corrective actions
• Manage retain samples (finished product and raw materials)
• Audit receiver capabilities and sample protocols for compliance
• Ensure adherence to all transport rules, including wash certs, CoA, and seals
• Provide training, validations, and new method implementation
• Coordinate with SQA on rejections and root cause analysis (RCA) for internal method issues
• Implement new equipment and manage raw material derogations with proper approval processes
• Manage all sampling plans, finished good monitoring plans, and samples sent to MGS or other laboratories
• Ensure factory receiving lab compliance to standards
• Create a LIMS-like database for incident management and raw material customer complaint analysis
• Review all sampling plans, rejections, and LIMS analysis
• Maintain GMP in the lab
• Investigate raw material analysis non-conformances (NC)
• Ensure traceability of raw material lab results data
• Manage lab safety, schedules, admin, vacations, and professional development plans (PDP)
• Ensure adherence to sampling plans per lot
• Organize and ship all microbiological samples with proper shipping techniques
• Ensure swab lists are generated and completed as scheduled
• Other duties as assigned

Requirements

• College diploma or university degree in science or equivalent level of experience
• Knowledge of quality and food safety systems, along with analytical and problem-solving skills
• 3–5 years of work experience in a food manufacturing environment
• Experience in auditing, quality systems, and laboratory techniques
• Proficiency in computers, MS Office, Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite, Power BI, and spreadsheet tools

Skills

• Analytical
• Responsible
• Curious
• Efficient
• Results-driven
• Team player
• High interpersonal and communication skills to build trust and rapport with employees at all levels

Benefits

• Competitive pay
• Associate discount
• Medical, dental, vision, and prescription coverage
• Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• 401K with a match up to 4%
• 100% company-paid short-term and long-term disability
• Life insurance
• Paid holidays and vacation
• Formal training and opportunities for career progression