QA Head – Food, Oleoresins & Essential Oils Manufacturing
Company Overview:
Northern Extracts is a rapidly growing manufacturer of premium Oleoresins, Essential Oils, Spice Extracts, and Natural Ingredients catering to the food, nutraceutical, flavors, seasonings, and fragrance industries. With a strong focus on quality, consistency, innovation, food safety, and customer satisfaction, Northern Extracts is committed to delivering globally compliant products to domestic and international markets.
Our manufacturing facility operates with stringent quality systems and international compliance standards to ensure excellence across sourcing, production, testing, documentation, and dispatch.
Position Details
- Industry: Oleoresins, Essential Oils, Spice Extracts, Food Ingredients & Nutraceuticals
- Location: Roopangarh, Rajasthan
- Work Mode: On-site (Plant-Based Role)
- Preferred Industries: Food Manufacturing, Chemical Manufacturing, Pharma, Herbal Extracts, Flavors & Fragrances
- Qualification: M.Sc / B.Tech in Food Technology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Microbiology, Chemical Engineering, or related field
About the Role
We are looking for a highly experienced, process-driven, and quality-focused QA Head to lead the complete Quality Assurance function at our manufacturing plant.
The ideal candidate will be responsible for establishing and strengthening quality systems, ensuring regulatory and customer compliance, driving process improvements, managing audits and certifications, reducing quality deviations, and building a strong quality culture across the organization.
This role requires hands-on experience in food manufacturing, oleoresins, spice extracts, essential oils, herbal extracts, nutraceuticals, pharma, or chemical manufacturing industries.
The candidate should possess strong technical understanding of food safety systems, analytical testing, regulatory compliance, audit handling, documentation systems, and customer quality requirements.
Key Responsibilities
1. Quality Management System (QMS) Leadership
- Lead the complete Quality Assurance function for the manufacturing facility.
- Develop, implement, monitor, and continuously improve the Quality Management System (QMS).
- Ensure compliance with: HACCP, GMP, HALAL, KOSHER, BRCGS, FDA, REACH, SEDEX, ECOVADIS, Other customer and export compliance standards
- Ensure implementation of quality standards across production, procurement, stores, laboratory, and dispatch functions.
- Establish systems to ensure consistency, traceability, and process reliability.
2. SOP Development & Documentation Control
Develop, review, standardize, and maintain SOPs for:
- Production processes
- Quality systems
- Cleaning & sanitation
- Allergen handling
- CCP monitoring
- Sampling procedures
- Raw material inspection
- In-process quality checks
- Final product testing
- Laboratory operations
- CAPA management
- Maintain complete quality documentation and records as per audit and regulatory requirements.
- Ensure document control systems are effectively implemented and followed.
3. Regulatory Compliance & Certification Management
- Lead and manage all internal, customer, regulatory, and third-party audits.
- Handle certification audits independently and ensure audit readiness at all times.
- Maintain and strengthen certifications and compliance systems related to:
- FSSC 22000, HACCP, HALAL, KOSHER, GMP, BRCGS, Intertek Certifications, ECOVADIS, FDA Compliance, REACH Compliance, SEDEX Compliance
- Ensure compliance with export documentation and international customer requirements.
- Coordinate with certification bodies, auditors, consultants, and customers for quality compliance activities.
4. Laboratory & Analytical Quality Management
- Oversee laboratory operations and analytical quality systems.
- Ensure accurate testing and validation of raw materials, in-process samples, and finished goods.
- Strong exposure to: GC, GC-MS, HPLC
- Analytical method development
- Instrument calibration & validation
- Ensure laboratory practices comply with food safety and customer quality requirements.
- Review Certificates of Analysis (COA), specifications, test methods, and validation reports.
5. Food Safety, Allergen & CCP Management
- Ensure effective implementation of food safety systems and HACCP plans.
- Monitor and validate Critical Control Points (CCPs).
- Develop allergen handling and contamination prevention systems.
- Ensure proper hygiene, sanitation, and GMP practices across the facility.
- Conduct risk assessments and implement preventive controls.
6. Process Improvement & Quality Excellence
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives across manufacturing and quality systems.
- Analyze quality trends, deviations, customer complaints, and process failures.
- Implement Root Cause Analysis (RCA), CAPA, Lean, Six Sigma, and process optimization initiatives.
- Monitor key quality KPIs including:
- Rejections
- Scrap
- Rework
- Customer complaints
- Non-conformances
- Process deviations
- Reduce quality losses, wastage, and non-value-added activities.
7. Team Leadership & Cross-Functional Coordination
- Lead, mentor, and manage the QA team and laboratory personnel.
- Conduct technical and quality training programs for employees.
- Coordinate closely with Production, Procurement, R&D, Maintenance, and Management teams.
- Build a strong quality culture focused on prevention, accountability, and continuous improvement.
8. Customer Quality & Complaint Management
- Handle customer complaints, investigations, and corrective actions.
- Ensure timely closure of customer quality concerns.
- Maintain strong communication with domestic and international customers regarding quality requirements.
- Support customer audits and technical quality discussions.
Required Skills & CompetenciesTechnical Skills
- Strong understanding of:
- Oleoresins
- Essential Oils
- Spice Chemistry
- Volatiles & Non-volatiles
- Herbal Extracts
- Resins & Saponins
- Food Safety Systems
- Quality Assurance Systems
- Regulatory Documentation
- Knowledge of allergen management and contamination control.
- Strong audit handling and certification management experience.
- Exposure to export-oriented manufacturing and customer quality systems.
Functional Skills
- Strong leadership and people management abilities.
- Excellent communication and documentation skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving approach.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
- Strong decision-making and process improvement mindset.
Preferred Candidate Profile
- We are specifically looking for candidates who: Have worked in Food Manufacturing, Chemical Manufacturing, Pharma, Nutraceuticals, Flavors & Fragrances, Oleoresins, Essential Oils, or Herbal Extracts industries.
- Have independently handled certification and customer audits.
- Possess strong exposure to international quality systems and export compliance.
- Can establish discipline, accountability, and quality ownership within manufacturing operations.
- Are capable of leading plant-level quality systems with minimal supervision.
Work Location: Roopangarh, Rajasthan (Plant-Based Role)
Pay: ₹40,000.00 - ₹70,000.00 per month
Benefits:
- Food provided
- Paid sick time
- Paid time off
- Provident Fund
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Ajmer, Rajasthan: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Preferred)
Application Question(s):
- 01. What types of food products or processing environments have you worked in?
- 02. Which quality systems or standards are you most familiar with (e.g., FSSAI, HACCP, ISO 22000, BRC, etc.)?
- 03. What kind of audits have you participated in — internal, regulatory, or customer?
Education:
Experience:
- Quality assurance: 7 years (Preferred)
- Pharma /Manufacturing Industry: 7 years (Required)
Language:
Location:
- Ajmer, Rajasthan (Preferred)
Work Location: In person
