About the Role:
Reporting to the Quality Assurance Manager, Quality Assurance Technicians perform standardized quality control checks to ensure they meet the required legal and company standards for safety and quality. This role is required to maintain calibrations, monitor equipment, check product integrity, and identify areas for quality control improvement.
This is a unique opportunity to be part of the earlier team at Thistle’s brand new East Coast facility, located in Burlington, NJ, responsible for launching and growing Thistle East operations to bring delicious, plant-forward, and planet-friendly meals to customers on the East Coast.
This position is 100% onsite at our Burlington facility.
How you'll make a difference
- Follow and implement Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs).
- Work closely with production line QCs to assure complete and accurate record keeping.
- Support production QCs in day-to-day quality checks and in adherence to preventive controls.
- Train production teams on food safety and quality control procedures.
- Conduct pre-operational line inspections and residual swabs.
- Conduct in house testing- pH, weight checks, temperature checks, label verifications, microbial testing, ATP, allergen testing, and organoleptic evaluations.
- Calibrate critical equipment- thermometers, pH meters, scales etc.
- Monitor sanitation chemical concentration.
- Evaluate line samples at predetermined intervals and/or random line checks.
- Monitor environmental testing program.
- Ensure employee practices, goods, and products comply with company standards as well as Federal and State law.
- Check that the assembly and production lines adhere to standards and procedures and comply with legal requirements.
- Identify possible areas for improvement in quality control processes.
Who you are
- AA degree (Bachelor's preferred) in quality management or a related field
- 2-3 years of experience as an Inspector or Quality Technician
- Valid Food Handlers Certification for state working in
- Desire to grow into leadership positions and develop leadership skills
- Strong communication skills that put people first and the ability to balance empathy and direct feedback to both support and advocate for the team and also maintain consistent standards of performance
- Ability to form effective working relationships with cross-functional teams
- Ability to adhere to company SOPs and implement new initiatives as needed
- Strong analytical and mathematical skills
- Solid understanding of HACCP requirements and food safety standards
- Experience with writing and enforcing standard operating procedures (SOPs)
- Advanced organizational skills and excellent attention to detail
- Experience drafting reports and collating data
- Documentation and reporting skills
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Good communication skills, convey clear and concise instructions
- Ability to work cross-functionally with minimal supervision
- Willingness to work in noisy and/or cold environments
- Comfortable standing or walking for long periods
- Up-to-date knowledge of federal and industry standards and best practices
- Advance computer and math skills to calibrate and measure specifications
Get to Know Thistle
Thistle was founded in 2013 with a mission to make it easy to get and stay healthy while improving the sustainability of our food system. We deliver delicious, ready-to-eat plant-forward meals, snacks, and cold press juices to our customers’ doorsteps to empower our customers to improve personal and planetary health by eating more plants. To date we’ve delivered over 20 million nourishing meals to customers across the West and East Coast and we’re just getting started! The San Francisco Business Times named us one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in the Bay Area in 2023.Inc. awarded us Best in Business in 2022 among companies that “go above and beyond” in both food and sustainability sectors, and recognized us in the 2024 Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in America by region.
We are mission-driven and share a growth mindset. Our values guide our approach to crafting our healthy products, solving problems, and working collaboratively. As a Thistler, you'll help transform the health of people and the planet by living our core values every day.
Be Human: We’re always willing to learn and aim to empower the people around us.
Think Bigger: We’re here to do more today than we did yesterday, and we figure it out together.
Build the Future: We tackle every day with the positive attitude of someone who can see the future and knows how bright it is.
Make a Lot with a Little: We get creative and look for ways our resources can take us as far as possible.
Lead with Purpose: Our mission guides our decisions and gives our work meaning.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential values at Thistle. We know we do our best and most impactful work when we feel we are represented and belong. We're proud to actively recruit and hire talented people from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
