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 thre