Job Details
Quality Assurance & Quality Control Director
2025-04-28 Plant Grow Harvest all cities,AZ
Description:
Quality Assurance & Quality Control Director
About PGH:
Plant Grow Harvest (PGH) is a vertically integrated, multi-geography potato business that cultivates and delivers the highest-quality seed, fresh, and specialty potatoes. At PGH, we are driven by our core cultural pillars: Accountability, Growth Mindset, and working as an "A-Team." We aim to achieve industry-leading benchmarks and set the standard for excellence across the supply chain.
Position Overview:
The QA/QC Director will lead PGH's quality assurance and quality control strategy, transforming the company into a world-class organization recognized for exceptional quality and efficiency. This role will have high-level influence and collaboration across departments to ensure quality is embedded at every point in the supply chain, from pre-planting through final delivery. By fostering continuous improvement, optimizing systems, and building a culture of compliance, the QA/QC Director will elevate PGH's reputation for quality and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Change Management:
- Lead the organization in adopting a mindset of quality-driven operations, ensuring that compliance and GMP standards are a daily practice.
- Influence cross-departmental collaboration to embed quality practices across the supply chain, creating a unified approach to achieving quality goals.
Innovation & Continuous Improvement:
- Develop and implement a system to track and improve packouts, achieving 70%+ for fresh products and 88%+ for seed by year-end.
- Drive quality-related initiatives within all departments, establishing at least 1-3 measurable improvement projects in the first six months.
QA/QC Expertise:
- Oversee the development and documentation of QA/QC guidelines for US1 and A+ standards, ensuring customer-specific specifications are integrated within 18 months.
- Master potato storage practices, refining and optimizing storage SOPs to minimize losses and enhance product quality.
- Develop Quality and Sales Information Systems in combination with new inventory management system by instituting FEFO management of raw and WIP inventories, and FIFO on FG inventories.
Customer Focus:
- Build strong relationships with customers by aligning QA/QC processes with their specifications, maintaining a 95%+ satisfaction rate.
- Integrate customer feedback into quality improvement plans and operational adjustments.
Team Development:
- Mentor and lead a high-performing QA/QC team, fostering accountability and clarity in roles and responsibilities.
- Deliver ongoing training on QA/QC guidelines, compliance standards, and continuous improvement practices.
Critical Thinking:
- Develop comprehensive feedback loops to track quality metrics and integrate these systems into operational dashboards, OKRs, and meetings.
- Analyze root causes of quality issues and implement sustainable corrective and preventive actions.
Culture Enhancement:
- Embrace PGH's cultural pillars: accountability, growth mindset, and a team mentality.
- Foster an environment of psychological safety and open communication to encourage innovation and problem-solving.
Candidate Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in food science, agriculture, or a related field; a Master's degree or higher is preferred.
- 5+ years of experience in a senior leadership role in quality assurance and control, with a focus on the agriculture or food production industry.
- Deep expertise in Quality Management Systems (e.g., ISO 9001, HACCP) and advanced quality methodologies (e.g., Six Sigma, Lean, Continuous Improvement).
- Strategic thinker with strong business acumen, able to align quality initiatives with overall business objectives. Experience in cost of quality analysis and KPI development.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation, and leadership skills, with a track record of successfully leading and developing companywide initiatives.
- Proactive passion for problem-solving, embraces innovation, and takes full ownership of responsibilities to drive impactful results.
- Experience working with senior management and external stakeholders, including customers, consumers, and regulatory bodies.
- Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and make data-driven decisions.
- Proven ability to drive large-scale quality improvement initiatives and foster a culture of quality excellence.
- Extensive experience in the agriculture or food production industry.
Relevant Information:
- Location: Onsite - Cochise, AZ (with up to 25% travel).
- Compensation: $110,000 - $140,000 base salary & up to 15% bonus.
- Reports to: VP of Operations.
- Direct Reports: Yes (4 team members).
- Competitive healthcare, dental care, vision insurance.
- 3 weeks of paid time off & 9 company holidays.