Food Safety & Quality Assurance Team Lead
Location: Lockhart, Texas (On-site)
About the Role
The Ziegenfelder Company is a family-owned frozen novelty manufacturer and the producer of Budget Saver® frozen treats. Our teams focus on producing high-quality frozen treats while maintaining strong food safety, sanitation, and quality standards.
We are looking for a Food Safety & Quality Assurance Team Lead to support our food safety, quality, sanitation, and SQF programs. This is a hands-on leadership role that works closely with production and sanitation teams to help ensure our products and processes consistently meet company and regulatory requirements.
What You’ll Do
- Help ensure finished products are ready for customers by monitoring raw materials, production processes, product quality, and finished goods.
- Coordinate the implementation, maintenance, review, and continuous improvement of SQF programs, policies, procedures, records, and supporting documentation.
- Support food safety plans, prerequisite programs, GMPs, sanitation, allergen controls, traceability, recall readiness, document control, corrective actions, food defense, and food fraud prevention.
- Conduct or coordinate internal audits, inspections, mock recalls, traceability exercises, and verification activities.
- Provide hands-on production support, including mix making, equipment cleaning, product quality testing and sampling, and master sanitation schedule activities.
- Review and communicate food safety and quality data to identify risks, trends, recurring issues, and opportunities for corrective or preventive action.
- Supervise sanitation activities and help ensure production equipment and surrounding areas are cleaned safely and thoroughly.
- Verify sanitation effectiveness using ATP testing before equipment is released back to production.
- Support HACCP, SQF, GMP, SOP, and SSOP programs and maintain documentation required for compliance. Serve as the backup SQF practitioner.
- Perform microbiological and chemistry testing and assist with internal laboratory functions, including sample management, documentation, outside lab comparisons, and product release/hold management.
- Receive sugar deliveries, verify Certificates of Analysis against company specifications, and maintain sugar ordering processes.
- Develop, deliver, and document employee training related to SQF, HACCP, GMPs, SOPs, sanitation, allergen control, food defense, and other food safety topics.
- Partner with plant management, quality, production, sanitation, maintenance, warehouse, purchasing, and HR to promote consistent food safety practices.
- Assist the QA Manager with third-party audits and train new employees on applicable FSQA responsibilities.
What You’ll Need
- HACCP and PCQI certifications.
- Experience or training in food safety, SQF, sanitation, SSOPs, GMPs, quality assurance, or process improvement.
- Strong computer skills, including Microsoft Office.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- A degree in Food Science, Food Technology, or a related field is preferred, but relevant experience will also be considered.
- SQF Practitioner certification and food sanitation coursework are preferred.
Physical & Work Environment Requirements
- Ability to stand for up to 12 hours per day.
- Ability to frequently climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, bend, twist, reach, grasp, push, and pull.
- Ability to occasionally exert up to 50 pounds of force, frequently up to 30 pounds, and continuously up to 10 pounds.
- Spatial awareness and visual acuity necessary to work safely around manufacturing equipment and perform assigned tasks.
- Willingness to travel to other facilities when necessary.
- Ability to work in cold, hot, and wet environments and around manufacturing noise. Appropriate protective equipment is provided when required.
Benefits
- Bi-weekly pay
- Schedule: 40 hours per week with consecutive days off
- Benefits: Begin on the first day after 60 days of employment
- 401(k) with company matching
- Paid holidays
- Employee discounts
Who We Are
The Armstrong Group is a family owned and operated collection of diverse companies. What began in 1946 as Armstrong County Line Construction, founded by Jud L. Sedwick in Kittanning, PA, has now grown into an organization that encompasses multiple industries and employs over 2,400 individuals nationwide. Our brands include Armstrong Utilities, Guardian Protection, Armstrong Development, 4Front Solutions, Twin Pops, and Armstrong Comfort Solutions.
Armstrong is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
