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.