Quality Assurance Technician

Quality Assurance Technician

Job Title:         Quality Assurance Technician

Reporting to: Quality Systems Manager

Shift:                Rotating shifts; 6am-2pm- 2pm- 10pm Monday to Friday

Department:   Technical

Salary:            £13.70 per hour

Location:        Nantwich, CW5 6DN

Ornua (meaning “new gold”) is Ireland’s largest exporter of Irish dairy products, proudly bringing the unique taste of Irish dairy to the world for over 55 years.

Are you a QA Tech with experience in a food manufacturing background looking for the challenge of taking a mission driven organisation to its next level of success? Do you have a strong attention to detail with a passion for quality?

Ornua is actively seeking a Quality Assurance Technician to join our Technicial Department as we continue our growth trajectory. As our next QA Technician, you will play a key role in managing the site technical agenda, driving technical excellence, to assure product quality and food safety, meeting customer expectations in line with all relevant quality, service, legal and regulatory standards and obligations.

Why Ornua?

• Ornua operates from 10 business units worldwide, including 16 production facilities, and has sales and marketing teams working in-market across all four corners of the globe.
• The Group is structured across two divisions: Ornua Foods and Ornua Ingredients.
• Ornua Ingredients is responsible for the procurement of Irish and non-Irish dairy products and for the sale of dairy ingredients to food manufactures and foodservice customer across the world.
• Our co-operative ethos lies at the heart of how we do business as a purpose and values-led organisation, creating value for Irish dairy farming families.
• Our Values lie at the core of everything we do. Our five values encourage us to Seek and Embrace New Ideas, Make It Happen, Be Our True Selves, Show You Care, and Achieve Great Things Together.
• We invest in our people and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Career Progression including Global Mobility opportunities.
• Comprehensive Benefits with regional specific offerings.

Why This Role Is Valuable:

The QA Technician is responsible for leading on;

• Engage in the development of improvements in the effectiveness of the Technical Team through contribution to cross-functional working, performance improvement initiatives and development of the operational process. 
• Investigate deviations and internal rejections, liaising with colleagues and team members to undertake root cause analysis, implement corrective actions and preventative measures in a timely manner that meets with customer expectations and prevents reoccurrence.
• Monitor, educate and audit the production process to ensure CCPs, QCPs, QAS documentation is completed against the standards (e.g. daily CCPs/QCPs checks, daily GMP audits, daily temperature checks).
• Ensure all non-conformances are properly investigated, utilising the internal audit team and cross functional expertise to undertake root cause analysis, and identify/implement corrective and preventative actions to stop reoccurrence.
• Manage supplier deviations on site, liaising with the supplier to undertake root cause analysis, implement corrective actions and preventative measures in a timely manner that meets with customer expectations and prevents reoccurrence.
• Audit the cleaning process and take all the required environmental swabs.
• Ensure that all the required environmental testing is completed as per agreed schedule.
• Design any new bag prints and box labels and complete any required label amendments to ensure the label database is always up to date.
• Collect, conduct and submit samples for testing
• Assist with pilot trials and main plant trials / launches as necessary.
• Provide technical subject matter expertise to advise, educate and support internal factory personnel in food safety and quality management systems.
• Manage the on-site taste panel team, including but not limited to: sign off taste panel members, manage taste panel procedures, re-assess team members at defined frequency & order taste panel solutions when required.
• Complete any required traceability exercises (internal and requested by customers).
• Ensure all the relevant equipment is calibrated – i.e. temperature probes.

What You Bring To The Role:

• In-depth understanding of Food Safety – Level 2 (preferably Level 3)
• Intermediate level HACCP
• Internal auditing qualification/certificate and experience of internal auditing and compliance monitoring in a food manufacturing environment
• Detailed knowledge of quality and food safety systems and processes
• Demonstrable experience of data analysis, trend monitoring/identification and investigation non-conformance
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, attention to detail and the ability to influence others

Ornua has ambitious growth plans and we’re building a team to help enable and accelerate that growth. We are looking for people who share our values, are curious, forward-looking, take ownership and work together to build a future for themselves and Ornua.

Would you like to make an impact?

To learn more, please visit Ornua at www.ornua.com

Ornua values diversity and inclusion and welcomes applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds. We also strongly encourage women and other underrepresented groups in the manufacturing industry to apply. Your unique perspectives and experiences are highly valued and will be instrumental in driving our company’s continued success. Join us in shaping a more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable future.