Quality Assurance Manager

About the Company

Canada Royal Milk is Canada’s sole manufacturer of infant formula, operating a state-of-the-art facility in Kingston, Ontario. We produce high-quality infant and toddler nutrition using milk sourced from Canadian dairy farms and advanced manufacturing technology that meets rigorous national and international standards. Our mission is clear: to strengthen Canada’s infant nutrition supply and deliver safe, reliable formula families can trust.

We are proud to build a diverse, multicultural team driven by collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement. Backed by global expertise through our parent company, Feihe International, we combine Canadian manufacturing strength with international scale and experience.

What We Offer

The opportunity to build and grow a progressive company, competitive wages, and extended health benefits.

What We Look For

Curiosity, commitment to learning, and a winning mindset.

About the Role

The QA Manager is the site's quality and food safety leader for infant formula manufacturing, holding final authority for batch release decisions and ownership of the site's food safety and quality systems. This role ensures every batch meets safety, quality, and regulatory requirements before release, and provides strategic and technical leadership across HACCP, audits, regulatory compliance, supplier management, and continuous improvement. The QA Manager champions a culture of food safety and quality throughout the site, serves as the primary technical quality liaison for customers and regulators, and leads the quality team to maintain a constant state of audit readiness.

Infant formula is a highly regulated, safety-critical product intended for a vulnerable population; the QA Manager carries significant responsibility for protecting consumer safety and maintaining the site's licenses to operate and supply.

The ability to build and maintain positive relationships across departments and with regulatory bodies is required for success in the role. This position requires frequent interaction with R&D in Beijing as well as food safety regulatory agencies in China.

Job Requirements

Education: Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or a related scientific discipline.

Experience: 7–10 years of progressive quality assurance experience in food, infant formula, nutritional, or pharmaceutical manufacturing, including 3–5 years in a quality leadership role.

• Demonstrated expertise with HACCP, GMP, and food safety management systems (e.g., FSSC 22000, BRCGS, SQF).
• Experience serving as primary contact for regulatory inspections (FDA, CFIA or equivalent) and third-party/customer audits.
• Working knowledge of infant formula regulations (e.g., FDA 21 CFR 106/107, CFIA requirements) and pre-market notification processes.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to interface credibly with regulators, customers, and executive leadership.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and root cause investigation skills.

Preferred:

• Certifications: HACCP, PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual), FSSC 22000 Lead Auditor, Six Sigma/Lean.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Batch Release & Product Disposition

• Ensure every batch meets all safety, quality, and regulatory requirements before release by reviewing production records, test results, and deviation reports. Hold final authority to release, reject, or place product on hold.

Food Safety & HACCP

• Lead the development, validation, and maintenance of the HACCP plan, identifying biological, chemical, and physical hazards specific to infant formula.
• Champion the GMP program, ensuring personnel, facilities, and operations comply with good manufacturing practices
• Ensure good documentation practices (GDP) across the site so records are accurate, complete, legible, and traceable
• Own the sanitation program, validating cleaning procedures and verifying effectiveness through swabs and visual inspections
• Ensure robust allergen control, foreign body, and pest control programs are implemented
• Design and oversee the environmental monitoring program, including sampling sites, frequency, and targets for pathogens and indicators
• Ensure maintenance and calibration programs are in place so equipment affecting product safety and quality operates accurately

Audit & Inspection Readiness

• Coordinate internal, customer, and third-party audits (e.g., FSSC 22000, Halal, Kosher), serving as the primary point of contact.
• Lead preparation for regulatory inspections (e.g., FDA, CFIA), ensuring documentation, records, and facility conditions are always inspection ready

Regulatory & Customer Interface

• Monitor and interpret infant formula regulations, ensuring products, labels, and claims comply
• Ensure required pre-market notifications (PMN) or prior notices are submitted and maintained for infant formula products.
• Serve as the technical quality liaison for customers, addressing specifications, quality agreements, and complaint investigations

Supplier & Material Management

• Approve suppliers and specifications for ingredients and packaging, ensuring they meet safety, nutritional, and functional requirements
• Lead supplier qualification, approval, and monitoring, including audits, performance scorecards, and quality agreements

Quality Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Own the nonconformance and CAPA programs, ensuring issues are documented, investigated, and resolved
• Own the change control program, ensuring all proposed changes (processes, equipment, materials, suppliers, formulas, packaging, labels, software, facilities) are assessed for food safety, quality, regulatory, and customer impact before implementation
• Develop and maintain recall and traceability procedures, conduct mock recalls, and lead recall execution including risk assessment, communication, and effectiveness checks.
• Define and monitor quality KPIs (e.g., batch release timeliness, complaint rates, CAPA closure, audit findings) and report performance to site and corporate leadership.
• Lead complaint investigation, trending, and response, ensuring timely and thorough handling of consumer concerns
• Oversee third-party laboratory management, including methods and compliance with good laboratory practices, ensuring testing is accurate, timely, and properly documented.

People & Financial Management

• Lead and develop the quality team: coach staff, manage performance, and ensure resources and succession planning.
• Develop and manage the quality department budget: justify investments in quality systems and monitor spending to ensure resources support food safety and compliance priorities.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

We strive to build a team that reflects the diversity of the community we work in and encourage applications from traditionally underrepresented groups such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, people identifying as 2SLGBTQIA+, veterans, and people with disabilities.

If we can make this easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please contact us by visiting www.canadaroyalmilk.com