Quality & Food Safety Inbound / Lab Lead

Nom Nom; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive pay

Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription

401K with match

Paid holidays and vacation

Formal training and career progression

Associate discount

Job summary

Nom Nom seeks a Laboratory Lead – PCQI to manage the internal lab and ensure ongoing compliance with quality and safety standards. The role collaborates with R&D and SQA to verify ingredients and testing protocols, and to maintain calibration, documentation, and lab operations.

The candidate should bring 3–5 years in a food manufacturing setting, strong analytical skills, auditing experience, and proficiency with MS Office, Google Workspace, and Power BI.

Qualifications

• College degree in science or equivalent.
• Knowledge of Quality & Food Safety Systems with analytical and problem-solving skills.
• 3–5 years in a food manufacturing environment.
• Experience auditing, quality systems, and laboratory techniques.
• Computers proficiency with MS Office and quality systems.
• Strong interpersonal and communication abilities; ability to build trust.

Responsibilities

• Set up Lab instrumentation and verify results; manage calibration.
• Own Lab Audit processes and corrective actions.
• Coordinate with SQA/R&D for compliance and testing.
• Organize and ship microbiological samples with proper technique.
• Ensure GMP in Lab and traceability of materials.
• Maintain lab safety and manage scheduling.
• Review sampling plans, rejections and LIMs analysis.
• Coordinate with lab vendors for equipment calibration and setup.

Skills

Lab QC/QA expertise

Audit experience

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Interpersonal & communication skills

3–5 years experience in food manuf.

Technical documentation

Education

College degree in science

Tools

Google Workspace

Microsoft Office

Power BI

Spreadsheet tools

Job description

Nom Nom delivers delight to your dog’s day. We’re driven by a deep love for dogs and a commitment to their well-being, and are guided by a simple yet powerful philosophy: to provide pups with meals that mirror the devotion, attention, and care that they give us.

Our variety of real good, feel good meals burst with vibrant ingredients and tasty textures. They’re prepared, portioned, and packaged in our very own kitchens, and personalized all the way down to the calorie to meet the unique needs of every dog we serve. Board-certified veterinary nutritionists and world-class scientists have made sure of that, by ensuring maximum nutrition from all of our recipes while advancing dog health at large.

Join us on our journey to push boundaries and innovate relentlessly, in order to create the most exciting dog food ever. You’ll be part of a world where passion meets nutrition, and every tail wag is a testament to our dedication to dogs—and the people that love them.

Q&FS Laboratory Lead – PCQI – Nom Nom

Nom Nom is improving the lives of dogs everywhere. One meal at a time. We deliver real, good food for dogs — real, beautiful, droolworthy food, crafted by our on-staff Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists, and prepped, mixed and portioned in our very own kitchens. Personalized all the way down to the calorie, each meal is formulated to meet the unique needs of every pet we serve. Our Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists and staff of world-class scientists make sure of it, researching, studying and innovating nonstop to ensure maximum nutrition from all of our recipes while advancing pet health at large. We’re a team of pet lovers (duh), complacency crushers (you bet) and doggedly-determined experts (woof) that pride ourselves on serving up the best food possible for our four-legged family. We take absolute ownership over everything we do, persistently pushing one another toward creative solutions to complex problems. With a healthy serving of fun when time permits. (Time always permits.)

The Laboratory Lead -PCQI manages the internal Laboratory for analytical data as well as working with R&D/ SQA for ongoing compliance management of Supplier COA Verifications and MRA Testing compliance protocols. Hold and Release processes involving testing of ingredients until results are back and confirmed within specification. This role will require initial start up of the lab and all instrumentation. Partnerships with lab vendors to ensure instrumentation is set up properly and calibrated per the standards. This role will also include the design of a system to ensure compliance to testing protocols per the Mars requirements.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Set up Lab instrumentation (CEM Oracle and Sprint) including verification,
• validation of results
• Management Equipment Calibration Program
• Proactively Communicate Holidays to External Lab contact
• Own Lab Audit and Corrective Actions
• Mange retain samples
• Finished Product
• Raw Materials
• Audit Receiver Capabilities
• Sample protocols and compliance
• Ensure all transport rules are adhered to, wash certs, CoA, seals, etc.
• Training
• Validations
• New method implementation
• Coordinate with SQA
• Rejections
• RCA (internal method issues)
• New equipment implementation
• Manage Raw Material Derogations and proper approval process
• Manage all sampling plans, finished good monitoring plans and samples to MGS or other laboratories as needed.
• Manage factory receiving lab ensure compliance to standard
• Create LIMs like Database incident management for raw material customer complaint analysis
• Review all sampling plans, rejections and LIMs analysis
• GMP in Lab
• Investigate Raw Material Analysis NC
• Traceability Raw Material (lab results data)
• Manage Lab Safety
• Manage schedule, admin, vacations, PDP
• Ensure adherence to sampling plans lot
• Organize and ship all microbiological samples to appropriate lab with proper shipping technique
• Ensure swab list is generated and completed as scheduled.
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

• College Diploma /University degree in science or equivalent level of experience.
• Knowledge of Quality & Food Safety Systems, along with Analytical and problem-Solving Skills.
• 3–5 years of work experience in a Food manufacturing environment.
• Experienced in auditing, quality systems, and laboratory techniques.
• Knowledge of computers and MS office along with knowledge of Quality and Food Safety Systems.
• High interpersonal and communication skills foster the ability to build trust and rapport with employees at all levels.
• Proficiency in Google Workspace, Microsoft Office Suite, power BI, and spreadsheet tools
• Competency
• Analytical

Core Qualities:

• Responsible
• Curious
• Efficient
• Results Driven
• Team Player

BENEFITS:

• Competitive pay
• Associate Discount
• Medical, Dental, Vision, Prescription and much more
• Health Savings Account and FSA
• 401K with a match to 4%
• We pay 100% of Short Term and Long-Term disability
• Life Insurance
• Paid holidays and vacation
• Formal training and opportunities for career progression

Nom Nom embraces inclusion, diversity and equal opportunity. We're committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Nom Nom is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.

Nom Nom embraces inclusion, diversity, and equal opportunity. We're committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. Nom Nom is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.