Qa Specialist - Sensory

There’s Always a Seat at Our Bar

The Lagunitas Brewing Company began on a kitchen stove in Northern California in 1993 and has always looked to the future – whether supporting local communities by turning beer into money for the cause, or fueling stories, songs, and experiences with our IPA. Wherever you go: Beer Speaks, People Mumble.

What You’ll Get

• Opportunities – Expand your horizons in CA, Chicago . . . the world!
• Gym Membership - $50 monthly reimbursement for that beer belly (or at least to prevent it)
• Schwag – 50% off food and merch
• Time off - Approx 33 days off in your first year (combo of vacay, holidays and personal days)
• BEER – and non-alcoholic Lagunitas beverages
• It’s Friday, Ya’ll – Get Paid every other Friday, starting at: $27.19/hr
• Skills to Pay the Bills – professional development, 24/7 operation
• Pet Insurance – keep your fur babies covered with pet insurance options
• Retirement – up to 5% contribution on 401K plan
• Benefits – Awesome coverage for: Medical, Dental & Vision

The Gist

The Quality Assurance Specialist will work to prevent food safety and quality issues by validating and verifying the effectiveness of the quality assurance and control mechanisms. Assist production and it’s supporting functions to maintain a stable process by actively participating and driving process capability deployments.

What you'll do

Safety, Food Safety, and Sustainability

• Adhere to all safety standards set by Lagunitas and OSHA. Actively participate in safety meetings, audits, and good catch program.

• Reviews and supports the integration of SHE and food safety standards into operational workflows

• Reviews food safety standards at suppliers

Quality of the Process & Product

• Monitors process data and verifies the elimination of all quality non-conformances

• Delivers operational and procedural support necessary for the transition from process control to condition management

• Supports identification, validation, and verification of Q-points

• Delivers operational support to evaluate supplier performance: monitoring, trials, documentation

• Manage sensory evaluation by training and monitoring the taste test panel, execution of the taste test activities (Panel Leader)

TPM & Continuous Improvement

• Drives implementation of advanced UPS techniques (Unified problem solving)

• Promotes and shares best practices with internal and external peers

• Identifies process non-conformances and assures implementation of preventative action and verification

Quality Process Management

• Supports transfer of quality control tasks to operations and integration into systems, checklists, and standards

• Review the control plan and specifications to adapt to evolving requirements

• Actively supports the periodic review of all quality assurance standards and procedures in the supply chain

• Educates group on quality issues and defects, brewing and packaging processes, quality procedures and/or sensory procedures.

New Product Introduction (NPI) Support

• Supports the operational approval of auxiliary materials

• Ensure food safety, conformance, quality, and delivery of NPI on time in full

Management of Information & Reporting

• Improve the Quality Information System to meet evolving requirements

• Interprets process quality data and identifies trends

• Audits quality data for completeness against sampling program

• Audits quarantined raw materials or product.

• Documents, interprets trial data, and help make recommendations to address situations

• Other tasks as required by manager

What we’re lookin’ for

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree. Higher education in Brewing and Malting Technology, Packaging Technology or Chemical Engineering

• Minimum 3 years technological experience (preferable in food industry).

• Quality and Food Safety Management Systems

• Brewing / Packaging / Utilities / NPI

• Continuous improvement methodologies like TPM / Lean / 6 Sigma

Functional Competencies

• The ability to act in a way that contributes to maintaining a safe environment for employees, contractors, and visitors according to Lagunitas, OSHA and local regulations, policies, and procedures.

• The ability to work in accordance with the quality systems in place, thus contributing to the excellence of the finished product.

• The ability to maintain a safe optimal laboratory environment and to safely operate and maintain laboratory equipment, ensuring that the basic conditions are in place to facilitate the generation of consistently reliable results.

• The ability to work in accordance with laboratory standards and operate laboratory equipment to the desired level of control to ensure the generation of consistently reliable analytical results.

• The ability to provide technical and analytical support for the Production process in accordance with the Lagunitas standards and local procedures, thus contributing to the optimization of process control.

• The ability to collect and report reliable data in a timely way and to effectively communicate with the relevant stakeholders to facilitate optimal decision making.

• Proficient with aseptic microbiological techniques and bacterial / yeast identification

• Proven team player with strong leadership capabilities.

• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, self-management and problem-solving skills.

• Working knowledge of GMP, TTB legislation, sanitation, and safety needs in a brewing environment.

• Proficient with Microsoft Office suite.

Key Relationships:

• Reports directly to the Quality Manager

• Internal: Quality team, Packaging, Brewing, Maintenance, Warehousing/Logistic, Sales & Distribution, Safety, HR, Purchasing, Customer Service, IT and TPM.

• External: GSC, OpCo, Suppliers of raw materials, auxiliaries and packaging materials, service providers

Physical Stuff:

• Must be able to lift to 55 lbs. and move 165 lb. kegs of beer.

• Must be able to stand, walk, lift and bend repeatedly throughout shift.

• Ability to use a computer keyboard and calculator.

• Must be able to work flexible shifts, overtime as necessary, & holidays.

• Occasional travel may be required.

Come as You Are

At Lagunitas, we welcome people (and dogs) from all walks of life. Anyone, regardless of their race, creed, nation of origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, veteran status, marital status, or age, has a home here. Love, progress, and acceptance will always have a seat at our bar.