Innovation QA Lead: Food Safety & Launch

High Liner Foods Incorporated.; Portsmouth (NH); On-site; USD 110,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pay for performance incentives

Employee & Family assistance programs

Wellness Programs

Retirement Planning

Disability Support

Family friendly Flex policies & Summer

Learning and mentorship opportunities

Safety focused work environment

Job summary

Portsmouth NH is hosting a Quality Assurance Manager – Innovation at High Liner Foods Incorporated. This role partners with Innovation, R&D, Regulatory, FSQA, Purchasing/Procurement and Operations to ensure food safety and quality from concept to commercialization, driving readiness for trials, scale-up and launch.

The ideal candidate has a bachelor’s degree in a related field and 5–7 years in food manufacturing QA/food safety, with HACCP/GMP/GFSI/FSMA knowledge and proven cross-functional

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Nutrition, or related field preferred; equivalent experience considered.
• Minimum 5–7 years of progressive food manufacturing quality assurance and food safety experience.
• Strong working knowledge of HACCP, GMPs, prerequisite programs, GFSI standards, FSMA, and applicable regulatory and customer requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and cross-functionally in a fast-paced environment with practical decision-making.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority, build trusted relationships, navigate competing priorities, and secure alignment and commitment to shared goals.
• Experience collaborating with internal cross-functional teams and external co-manufacturers and supply partners, domestically and internationally, to align food safety and quality requirements and support successful commercialization.
• Practical application of specifications, non-conformance management, quality review, corrective actions, customer complaints, operational quality metrics, and R&D/first production support.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, prioritization, and communication skills with the ability to act with urgency while maintaining compliance and product integrity.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and familiarity with quality, production, database, and specification management systems.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) partner for innovation projects, guiding teams from concept through commercialization.
• Translate food safety, quality, supplier, and regulatory requirements into clear project deliverables, decisions, and approval pathways.
• Lead cross-functional risk assessments and coordinate technical reviews and approvals for breakthrough and breakout innovations.
• Drive FSQA readiness for trials, scale-up, first production, and launch, ensuring specifications, validations, quality criteria, and functional approvals are complete.
• Support internal and external production trials, document launch risks and actions, and elevate unresolved issues to accountable owners.
• Coordinate the transfer of specifications, controls, technical knowledge, and open actions to R&D, FSQA, Operations, Regulatory, and other receiving teams.
• Partner with Innovation, Procurement, Supplier Quality, and R&D to assess external manufacturers and new material or packaging suppliers, and coordinate their launch readiness.
• Support material investigations, substitutions, and corrective actions while providing innovation-specific input into supplier qualification and performance processes.
• Embed food safety and regulatory requirements into innovation projects, partnering with Regulatory, Corporate Food Safety, and Legal on labeling, claims, allergens, product integrity, and compliance.
• Provide technical guidance, monitor launch performance and lessons learned, improve innovation processes, and communicate project status, risks, and escalations to leadership.

Skills

Analytical skills

Problem solving

Communication

Cross-functional influence

Regulatory knowledge

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Microbiology, Nutrition, or related field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

Portsmouth NH is hosting a Quality Assurance Manager – Innovation at High Liner Foods Incorporated. This role partners with Innovation, R&D, Regulatory, FSQA, Purchasing/Procurement and Operations to ensure food safety and quality from concept to commercialization, driving readiness for trials, scale-up and launch.

The ideal candidate has a bachelor’s degree in a related field and 5–7 years in food manufacturing QA/food safety, with HACCP/GMP/GFSI/FSMA knowledge and proven cross-functional