National Quality Manager

Open Country Dairy Ltd; Auckland; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Open Country Dairy Ltd is seeking an experienced National Quality Manager to lead milk quality programs across the South Island and support national quality governance for the group.

Reporting to the Group Quality Manager, you will provide practical leadership, investigate quality events, and drive consistent quality practices across multiple sites. This senior role requires influence and hands-on guidance for dairy operations and senior leadership.

Qualifications

• Relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent senior experience in dairy, food technology, quality assurance or related discipline.
• Significant experience in quality assurance, milk quality, food processing or primary industry compliance.
• Experience leading quality investigations and corrective-action processes.
• Strong knowledge of product quality, food safety and quality assurance practices.
• Strong analytical, reporting and decision-making capability.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and lead without formal authority.

Responsibilities

• Own and manage the South Island milk quality programme.
• Oversee farm RMP compliance, farm dairy assessment follow-up and supplier quality performance.
• Manage milk testing, tanker acceptance and transport quality requirements.
• Act as delegate for the Group Quality Manager when required.
• Lead or support significant quality investigations and root-cause analysis.
• Support cross-site quality improvement initiatives.
• Monitor quality performance, identify trends and recommend practical improvements.
• Work closely with sites, technical, operations, milk supply and senior leadership teams.

Skills

Quality assurance

Milk quality

Root-cause analysis

Analytical reporting

Stakeholder leadership

Education

Tertiary qualification in dairy or food safety

Job description

Open Country is looking for an experienced National Quality Manager to join our Quality team.

Reporting to the Group Quality Manager, this role will provide milk quality leadership across our South Island operations and support national quality governance and improvement across the wider group.

As second-in-charge to the Group Quality Manager, you will provide practical leadership and technical advice across our sites, support major quality investigations and help deliver consistent quality practices across the business.

In this role, you will:

• Own and manage the South Island milk quality programme
• Oversee farm RMP compliance, farm dairy assessment follow-up and supplier quality performance
• Manage milk testing, tanker acceptance and transport quality requirements
• Act as delegate for the Group Quality Manager when required
• Lead or support significant quality investigations and root-cause analysis
• Support cross-site quality improvement initiatives
• Monitor quality performance, identify trends and recommend practical improvements
• Work closely with sites, technical, operations, milk supply and senior leadership teams

About You

You will bring:

• A relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent senior experience in dairy, food technology, quality assurance, food safety or a related discipline
• Significant experience in quality assurance, milk quality, food processing or primary industry compliance
• Experience leading quality investigations and corrective-action processes
• Strong knowledge of product quality, food safety and quality assurance practices
• Strong analytical, reporting and decision‑making capability
• The confidence to influence stakeholders and provide leadership without always relying on formal authority

Experience in multi‑site operations, milk quality programmes, audits or acting as a delegate for a senior quality leader would be an advantage.

This is an opportunity to take on a broad, influential quality role supporting both our South Island operations and the wider Open Country business.