Job Description
Job Title: Quality Assurance & Process Improvement Manager
Location: Cincinnati, OH (On-Site)
Position Type: Full-time, Permanent | First Shift
Compensation: Competitive Base Salary + Comprehensive Benefits Package + Corporate Profit-Sharing
About Our Client
Our client is a highly established, multi-site manufacturer specializing in premium, regulated ingredients and components utilized across the global pharmaceutical, personal care, and specialty food industries. Operating under strict FDA compliance, this enterprise organization is currently executing a major modernization of its core operational systems. This search is strictly confidential due to a stellar internal promotion, offering a rare opportunity to step into a stable, well-supported plant culture.
Position Summary
We are seeking a relationship-driven, frontline-focused
Quality Manager to run the comprehensive quality assurance, product release, and investigation matrix for a premier, high-volume production facility in Cincinnati. This role has become open because the previous manager was successfully promoted to a Plant Manager seat.
This is
not a passive, desk-bound laboratory role; the laboratory functions are managed under a separate division. Instead, this position is a dynamic blend of
QA Compliance, Floor Troubleshooting, and Continuous Improvement Change Management . Acting as the "eyes and ears" on the production floor, you will lead a dedicated team of 2 Quality Coordinators (focused on product release) and 2 QA Engineers (focused on customer investigations). You will partner directly with manufacturing leadership to ensure that four advanced production lines—spanning bulk, drumming, and specialized excipient processing—operate with maximum right-first-time efficiency under FDA, SQF, and ISO frameworks.
Key Performance Responsibilities & Sourcing Drivers
- Frontline Root-Cause Investigations: Serve as the chief troubleshooting expert on the production floor. Move beyond simple defect detection to deploy advanced investigation tools, uncover true root causes, and build robust preventative systems right on the manufacturing lines.
- QMS Modernization Blueprint: Act as a critical contributor and change agent during the facility's active rollout and implementation of a next-generation, cloud-based Quality Management System (QMS), transitioning the site away from legacy tracking software.
- Elite Stakeholder & Customer Relations: Maintain and elevate flawless communication lines with corporate clients, regulatory bodies, and internal cross-functional teams. This role requires an emotionally intelligent leader with a strong collaborative profile who builds high-trust relationships effortlessly.
- Regulatory & Audit Integrity: Maintain total audit readiness for facility-specific compliance structures, including ISO 9001, ISO 17025, and SQF programs . Execute localized facility audits while collaborating with a centralized corporate compliance team.
- Product Release Safeguards: Provide final, definitive oversight for all material releases, ensuring every batch seamlessly satisfies stringent regulatory, industrial, and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) requirements.
Requirements & Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Food Science, Biology, Quality Management, or a related scientific/technical discipline.
- Experience: 5+ years of progressive Quality Assurance (QA) or manufacturing leadership experience. We are highly open to an elite Production or Operations Supervisor ready to step into a Manager title, provided they possess a strong, formal foundation in quality systems.
- Regulated Vertical Fluency: Direct background working inside an FDA-regulated manufacturing facility—ideally spanning pharmaceutical excipients, health & beauty care blending, cosmetics, or highly regulated food processing .
- Compliance Frameworks: Practical knowledge of GMP, ISO systems, and SQF programs. Possession of a PCQI (Preventive Controls Qualified Individual) certification is highly valued; candidates without it must be willing to acquire it immediately upon hire through company-sponsored training.
- The "Investigation" Mindset: Demonstrated capability utilizing structured problem-solving methodologies (such as 5-Why, Fishbone, 8D, Kaizen, or Lean Six Sigma) to resolve operational errors.
- Personality & Communication Fit: Exceptional verbal and written agility. This role demands a high-empathy leader who supports their team, communicates transparently with customers, and actively coaches peers across the manufacturing organization.
Exceptional Career Trajectory & Support
The chosen candidate will inherit a remarkably robust support ecosystem, including a custom, structured corporate training program explicitly mapped around your existing technical baselines. For an ambitious leader looking at the "next career step," this position is strategically groomed for expanded ownership, with a clear corporate track to inherit multi-departmental and laboratory oversight as you master the plant floor footprint.
Benefits & Perks
- Full healthcare, dental, and vision insurance options starting on Day 1.
- Premium employer 401(k) matching program.
- Lucrative corporate profit-sharing plan tailored to reward site performance metrics.
- Complete company-paid training, certifications, and career development tracking.
Job Tags
Permanent employment, Full time, Immediate start, Day shift