Head of Quality

Come find your purpose at Future Fields; Edmonton; On-site; CAD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biotechnology firm in Edmonton is seeking a Head of Quality to architect a quality culture that supports growth. The role involves leading the quality program, scaling the QMS, and mentoring teams. The ideal candidate possesses a scientific degree, extensive quality experience, and strong leadership skills. Join a dynamic company keen on innovation and quality in life sciences.

Benefits

Comprehensive health, dental, and vision benefits

Flexible paid time off policy

Office stocked with snacks and coffee

Qualifications

• 8 years of experience in quality-focused roles with increasing responsibility.
• Experience providing quality oversight for new manufacturing facilities.
• Demonstrated experience maturing and scaling a QMS.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop quality program aligned with strategic goals.
• Mentor and develop QC team in manufacturing.
• Ensure compliance with quality standards.

Skills

Leadership

Quality Management Systems (QMS)

Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Communication

Education

Degree in a relevant scientific or engineering field

Job description

About the role

Reporting directly to the COO the Head of Quality will be the architect of a quality culture that serves as a core strategic advantage for our growth. You will lead the continued growth of our quality program, evolving our established systems to enable commercial success at scale. You will build upon our existing QMS, maturing it to support our new manufacturing facility and expansion into diverse markets like food innovation, crop sciences and life sciences. You will be responsible for unifying our established QA and QC functions under a single strategic vision, mentoring the teams to foster a culture of partnership and continuous improvement. This is a dynamic role that will begin with a hands-on approach, shifting over time to more strategic leadership. Your work will be the foundation that ensures we meet our commitments to key clients, turning successful projects into long-term manufacturing contracts that fuel our growth.

This role will own :

• Evolving and scaling our established QMS ensuring it empowers the team and is optimized for our next phase of growth.
• Championing a Quality as an Enabler culture where quality is understood as a shared responsibility and a direct contributor to our business advantage.
• Providing quality expertise across teams to ensure our standards and capabilities align with client needs and future market opportunities.
• Developing the long-term strategic roadmap for the quality function including designing the future team structure and mentoring future team members as the company scales.
• Serving as a key collaborative partner and mentor to the Manufacturing and Regulatory / QA leads.
• Mentoring and further developing our QC team by fostering a culture of pragmatic collaboration and continuous improvement with Manufacturing.
• Acting as the ultimate guardian of client trust by ensuring our products consistently meet the highest standards required by key accounts.
• Driving the achievement and maintenance of our company-wide quality metrics translating quality theory into tangible operational results.

This role will assist by :

• Supporting the successful operation of our manufacturing facility with a focus on ensuring robust quality processes for its clean room environments.
• Owning the quality aspects of tech transfer to ensure new processes are robust, scalable and compliant.
• Working across functions to seamlessly integrate quality principles and practices into daily production workflows.

This role requires :

A pragmatic and highly adaptable leader with a proven track record of scaling quality systems in dynamic environments. The ideal candidate is a hands-on builder who balances today’s needs with a long-term vision. We are looking for an individual with broad experience across quality in relevant sectors (e.g. life sciences, ag-tech, biotech) who excels at learning on the fly. Most importantly you must be a culturally-attuned high-EQ leader who can persuade, influence and communicate with clarity, making you a trusted partner to the entire team.

About you

Do you believe that quality is a strategic asset not just a box to check? You own the outcome - viewing your role as ensuring the final success of our products not just enforcing rules. You lead with curiosity asking why to build better, simpler systems and fostering a culture where everyone feels safe to contribute. You thrive in ambiguity and are energized by the need to continuously adapt, knowing that the quality foundation you build today must be flexible enough for markets we haven’t even entered yet. As a natural collaborator and communicator you default to open building trust and ensuring the entire organization understands how their work connects to our quality goals. You are a pragmatic builder ready to roll up your sleeves and create a quality function that will be a key driver of our future success.

Must haves

• A degree in a relevant scientific or engineering field.
• 8 years of experience in quality-focused roles with increasing responsibility.
• Demonstrated experience maturing and scaling a QMS in a growing company.
• Experience providing quality oversight for the commissioning, qualification or operation of new manufacturing facilities, particularly those with clean rooms.
• Broad quality experience across multiple relevant industries such as life sciences or biotechnology.
• A proven ability to lead through influence and act as a persuasive collaborative partner in a cross-functional environment.
• Exceptional communication skills with a high degree of emotional intelligence (EQ).
• Familiarity with common quality standards (e.g. ISO 9001, GMP).

Bonus points

• Direct experience with tech transfer and process validation.
• Experience in a startup environment.
• Familiarity with working in or for GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) environments.

Your future (with Future Fields)

This roadmap outlines the impact you’ll make as you grow with us. We’ll use this as a guide for your first year, knowing that in a fast-paced environment we’ll adapt and evolve these goals together.

Within 1 month you will :

• Embed with the Manufacturing, Regulatory and CDMO teams to gain a deep understanding of our current processes, key challenges and client requirements.
• Complete an initial review of our existing quality-related practices to identify the highest-priority areas for maturation.

Within 3 months you will :

• Develop and present a pragmatic phased roadmap for maturing our QMS with specific milestones.
• Begin the hands-on rollout of key functions to further bolster our QMS in close collaboration with Manufacturing and Regulatory / QA Leads.

Within 6 months you will :

• Have key metrics like batch success rate being actively tracked and reported and be leading cross-functional reviews of quality data to drive continuous improvement.

Within 1 year you will :

• Have deepened Quality’s partnership across the organization ensuring it is universally viewed as a key enabler of our collective success.
• Have established a quality system that is robust enough for today and flexible enough for tomorrow, capable of adapting to the unforeseen standards of emerging markets.
• Present a comprehensive strategic plan for the evolution of the quality function including a proposed team structure and hiring plan for future QC / QA roles to support our long-term goals.

About our team

Our story and approach to science is anything but conventional. Matt (co-founder / CEO) was a touring punk rock musician who dropped out of University before returning to complete his PhD in cell biology. Jalene (co-founder / COO) is a social researcher by training, previously working on issues from the right to affordable housing to harm reduction. The spark of an idea for our technology came while waiting in line for tiny Canadian donuts. Our broader team of scientists, engineers, circus performers, restaurateurs, dancers, music aficionados, kid parents, pet parents, cyclists and artists hail from every corner of the world — from small town Alberta to Poland, India, Vietnam and Pakistan. We credit our diverse team and experiences as the key to our success - and we encourage candidates of all identities and backgrounds to apply.

FAQs

Where is Future Fields located

Our headquarters and production facility are located in downtown Edmonton, Alberta in a renovated historic warehouse. From the exposed brick to our summer patio, it’s not your average lab space. It is central, close to transit and bike lanes and walking distance to some of the city’s best coffee shops, restaurants and Edmonton’s incredible river valley.

I don’t live in Edmonton. Why would I want to relocate there

Because it’s great! For starters Edmonton is one of Canada’s sunniest cities with 2299 hours of bright sunshine per year. It’s consistently ranked one of Canada’s most affordable cities to live in and was recently described as Canada’s most exciting culinary city. There’s a festival almost every weekend, North America’s largest mall and the longest stretch of urban parkland on the continent (over 160km of trails!). There’s something for everyone in Edmonton and it will be even better with you in it.

Any other perks

Many! Some include : comprehensive health, dental and vision benefits; flexible paid time off policy; and the office is always stocked with snacks and all the coffee you can drink.

Will I like working for a startup

Great question. Startup life is definitely not for everyone. We move quickly. Projects and priorities shift fast. There is a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty at times and we’re not immune to the growing pains of a rapidly scaling startup. The risk is high but so is the reward. We promise you will never get bored. You will have fun and learn a lot. You will grow personally and professionally in ways you never imagined (alongside our company). You will be part of something much bigger than yourself and contribute directly to the mission of a team who cares deeply about changing the world for the better. Oh and equity!

Next steps

Apply online using our job portal.

If it seems like a good fit next steps will look somewhat like this :

• We will contact you for a casual 15-minute video call.
• We will set up an interview to dive into your technical skills and motivation.
• We will set up another interview to figure out how you fit with our team and culture and better understand your career trajectory.
• We will set up a coffee chat with you and a team member. This is your chance to dig in and find out what it’s really like to work for Future Fields. This is for you!
• We will speak with two of your references to confirm our assumption that you are in fact our next great hire.
• We offer you a job!

We welcome applications from all qualified individuals. For international candidates support for Canadian work authorization may be provided.

Required Experience :

Director

Key Skills

Marketing & Promotions,Attorney At Law,Jni,Airlines,Art

Employment Type : Full-Time

Experience : years

Vacancy : 1