Research & Developement cum QA Manager

R&D CUM QA MANAGER - JOB SCOPE

Key Responsibilities

1. R&D & Product Development

. Leads the formulation and development of new food products particularly in sauces and pastes.

. Improve existing products in terms of quality, stability, cost and consumer acceptance.

. Lead shelf-life studies, product validation and process validation.

. Ensure successful scale-up of laboratory formulations to commercial production.

2. Process Development & Optimisation

. Develop and optimise manufacturing processes and processing parameters.

. Troubleshoot production and formulation problems.

. Improve product consistency, production yield and manufacturing efficiency.

. Establish robust and reproducible manufacturing parameters.

. Work closely with Production during new product trials and commercial production.

3. Quality Assurance & Food Safety

. Lead and maintain the Company's Quality and Food Safety Management Systems.

. Ensure compliance with FSSC 22000 and customer requirements.

. Lead HACCP activities, food safety risk assessments and verification programmes.

. Establish and maintain raw material, packaging, in-process and finished product specifications.

. Monitor product quality and food safety performance.

. Drive preventive measures to minimise quality and food safety failures.

4. Regulatory & Certification Compliance

. Ensure compliance with applicable food regulations and customer requirements.

. Maintain product specifications and technical documentation.

. Coordinate regulatory submissions and liaison with relevant authorities.

. Monitor changes in legislation, standards and certification requirements.

5. Customer Complaints & Quality Issues

. Lead investigations into customer complaints and product quality issues.

. Conduct root cause analysis and establish effective corrective and preventive actions.

. Coordinate investigations with Production, Purchasing, Warehouse and other departments.

. Monitor recurring complaints and implement measures to prevent recurrence.

. Prepare technical investigation reports and customer responses.

6. Supplier Quality Management

. Establish and maintain raw material and packaging specifications.

. Participate in supplier approval and evaluation.

. Review supplier technical documents, COAs and food safety certifications.

. Monitor supplier quality performance.

. Lead investigation and resolution of supplier-related quality issues.

. Evaluate and approve alternative ingredients and suppliers from a technical and food safety perspective.

7. Audit & Quality System Management

. Lead preparation for FSSC 22000, Halal, customer audit and other regulatory audits.

. Manage internal audits and follow-up actions.

. Ensure timely and effective closure of audit non-conformities.

. Maintain continuous audit readiness.

. Review quality and food safety trends and drive system improvements.

8. Laboratory & Technical Management

. Manage R&D and QA laboratory activities.

. Ensure appropriate testing programmes and methods are established.

. Manage calibration and verification of laboratory and measuring equipment.

. Review laboratory and external test results.

. Ensure proper control of laboratory chemicals and materials.

. Recommend new equipment, testing capabilities and technical resources where required.

9. Team Leadership & People Development

. Lead, supervise and develop the R&D and QA teams.

. Allocate resources and prioritise R&D and QA activities.

. Provide mentorship and capability development of staff.

. Conduct performance evaluations of staffs.

. Build a strong culture of quality, food safety, accountability and continuous improvement.

10. Cross-Functional & Management Support

. Work closely with Production, Purchasing, Sales & Marketing, Warehouse and other departments.

. Provide technical advice to Management for business and product decisions.

. Assess technical feasibility of customer requirements.

11. Continuous Improvement

. Lead initiatives to improve product quality and food safety

. Reduce customer complaints and product non-conformities.

. Improve process consistency and production yield.

. Strengthen the Company's R&D, QA and food safety capabilities.