Senior QA Manager

Who We Are

The Farmer’s Dog was born from a mission to change the landscape of pet health, providing dogs and their humans with honest, smart, and simple care. We’re starting by radically improving the $90 billion pet food industry, replacing bags of highly-processed pellets with a personalized subscription service that sends complete and balanced, freshly-made dog food directly to customers’ doors. Our ultimate goal is to create innovative, delightful and personalized experiences across all aspects of pet care, and we believe our direct-to-consumer business model, holistic approach to growth, and dynamic culture uniquely position us to shepherd this backwards industry into the future.

To date, The Farmer’s Dog has delivered over 1 billion meals nationwide and raised over $150M in funding to help us build a company as healthy as the dogs who are eating those meals. Join us as we continue to develop ways of bringing peace of mind to customers, health to their companions, and much-needed change to the way people feed and care for their pets.

#LongLiveDogs

What We Stand For and Where You’ll Come In

We’re looking for a Senior QA Manager, FSQR who will play a critical role in upholding the trust our customers place in our brand by ensuring the highest quality standards across our products. This role is responsible for developing and implementing processes and procedures that support both internal and external Quality Management Systems. Acting as a subject matter expert, you’ll provide technical guidance in your area of expertise and effectively communicate quality risks, opportunities, and strategies to cross-functional teams. You’ll collaborate closely with our manufacturing partners, product development teams (internal and external), and suppliers to build and refine processes that ensure all ingredients and finished products meet specifications and are handled properly from sourcing to delivery. This role will report directly to the Director of Food Safety, Quality, and Regulatory (FSQR).

Location Requirement: Must be based in or willing to relocate to the New York City metropolitan area.

One Team: We don’t think of ourselves as “Acquisition Marketers”, “Engineers”, “Data Analysts”, or “Product Managers”. Beyond denoting skill sets and areas of expertise, we don’t think departments matter. We’d rather align ourselves to the goals we’re working to achieve and make sure we have necessary subject matter expertise to drive meaningful impact. We strive to orient ourselves around customer problems TOGETHER – getting the right people, with the right context, in the right rooms/Zooms to solve problems holistically.

We are skeptical about everything and precious about nothing: Ideas can and should come from anywhere, and we aren’t tied to our own. We proactively source input. We talk to our customers and leads regularly and are quick to change course if we know there’s a better or more impactful way to solve problems.

We consider the customer journey in all of our decisions: We know that no interaction exists in a silo and therefore understand how important every single one is. We ensure our strategy sets prospective and new customers up for success and drives long-term retention. We answer questions and address problems early and proactively. We understand the value of different channels, initiatives, and messages and know how to articulate impact and advocate for prioritization holistically.

We Execute For Impact: We don’t subscribe to “best practices” or “industry KPIs”. We’re uninterested in how we compare to “benchmarks”; instead we orient ourselves around being the best we can possibly be. Similarly, we don’t subscribe to rigid or classical expectations of roles – i.e. acquisition is hyper-focused on improving customer retention and experience.

We Are Focused and Work Without Assumption : We are not beholden to ideas. We have goals and believe everything beyond that is a series of hypotheses to validate. To that end, we seek to work in sequence and not in parallel. We constantly ask ourselves, “what’s the most important hypothesis I should be working on right now? How do I confirm or reject that hypothesis as fast as possible?”. We rarely have timelines/deadlines and are constantly taking in new information and adjusting our priorities accordingly. We don’t expect to be perfect the first time.

How You'll Make An Impact

Own the execution of Food Safety and Quality programs at third-party manufacturing partners

Lead Root Cause Analysis and implement Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) in response to quality or food safety issues

Provide practical food safety expertise and guidance to support manufacturing site operations

Oversee the implementation and ongoing optimization of The Farmer’s Dog microbiological program, including risk assessments and compliance monitoring

Support investigations and resolution of escalated complaints involving key regulatory agencies (e.g., USDA, FDA, AAFCO)

Make complex, risk-based food safety decisions that ensure compliance with regulatory and internal standards while enabling reliable product delivery

Conduct food safety, quality, and regulatory risk assessments and audits for new manufacturing partners, suppliers, and fulfillment centers

Analyze data to identify trends and issues, using insights to guide food safety and quality improvements and cross-functional education

Monitor and evaluate contract manufacturers to ensure alignment with The Farmer’s Dog food safety and quality standards

Demonstrate a proactive approach to identifying and solving complex food safety and quality challenges

Apply strong communication and influencing skills to implement effective problem resolution

Lead cross-functional teams to drive adherence to food safety initiatives, CAPA execution, and process improvements at contract manufacturers

Direct day-to-day food safety and quality activities within assigned areas of responsibility

Engage and coordinate with subject matter experts to ensure ongoing regulatory compliance and high food safety standards

Exhibit strong project management capabilities across multiple concurrent initiatives

Display confidence and sound judgment in making and defending tough decisions

Collaborate effectively with co-manufacturers, supplier QA teams, product development partners, and third-party service providers

Provide technical data and decision-making support on issues related to food safety and product quality

Partner with the Sr. Manager, Quality Engineer and cross-functional teams to apply early management tools to all new product launches

We're Excited About You Because

10+ years of experience in Food Safety & Quality within the human food industry and manufacturing environments

Deep knowledge of FDA, USDA, and GFSI compliance standards

3+ years of direct experience managing food safety programs at third-party manufacturing sites

Strong background in food product development, production processes, and core food safety principles

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Microbiology, Food Safety, Quality Management, or a related field

Expert understanding of FDA and USDA regulations and documentation requirement

Certified in PCQI and HACCP (including Seafood HACCP); ASQ certification preferred

Experienced in conducting food safety audits and applying Lean Manufacturing tools for root cause analysis

Excellent communication skills, including presenting, report writing, and training across all organizational levels

Willing and able to travel 30–50%

Proficient in Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access) and Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms)

Skilled in using statistical and analytical tools to support quality and safety initiatives

You are able to thrive in a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, naturally curious and proactive self-starter, constantly on the lookout for new opportuni