Ref 02317
Description Quality Manager Department: Operations
Location: Head Office – Lewes, East Sussex (Full-time, On-site)
Reporting To: Technical Director About us We are a mission-driven, fast-growing wellness brand offering an award-winning range of collagen, supplements, and functional blends. Rooted in traditional wisdom and validated by science, our daily rituals support our community in nurturing whole-body health.
Recognised in The Sunday Times 100 fastest-growing private companies for three consecutive years and highly ranked in the Oresa Retail Growth Index, our growth reflects the exceptional quality of our products, our community focus, and our operational discipline.
Social and environmental responsibility is central to everything we do. As a certified B Corp and a member of 1% for the Planet, we direct a portion of all revenue to environmental and social causes.
The Role As Quality Manager, you will lead the day-to-day quality operations at the core of our Quality Management System (QMS), encompassing product, packaging, manufacturing, and distribution.
This role delivers hands-on quality control (QC), verification, and supplier assurance to ensure our products remain safe, compliant, and consistently high quality—from raw ingredient arrival through to finished goods release.
Working closely with the Technical Director, Operations team, third-party manufacturers (3PMs), and suppliers, you will maintain robust quality controls, records, and processes that safeguard our brand, protect consumers, and drive our certification roadmap and international expansion.
Key Responsibilities 1. Quality Control & Verification Goods-In & Raw Materials: Perform rigorous incoming checks on ingredients and packaging, including specification compliance, Certificate of Analysis (CoA) verification, and test result reviews.
Finished Goods Release: Apply strict brand release criteria, ensuring thorough verification of labels, pack copy artwork, coding, storage conditions, and shelf-life compliance.
Testing & Trend Analysis: Execute routine QMS testing and monitoring plans. Perform trend analysis (e.g., microbiological and heavy-metal testing) and promptly escalate out-of-trend results with corrective recommendations.
Horizon Scanning: Monitor industry developments, regulatory changes, and emerging risks to update ingredient and product risk assessments.
CAPA Execution: Drive Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) plans arising from complaints, deviations, and audits, ensuring timely closure across internal teams, suppliers, and 3PMs.
Traceability & Mock Recalls: Support incident response and batch traceability checks, leading annual mock recall exercises aligned with our traceability standard.
KPI & Quality Reporting: Track, analyze, and report quality metrics (complaints, deviations, audit findings, test results) to provide leadership visibility.
Auditing: Participate in and prepare for risk-based audits of 3PMs and key suppliers, tracking non-conformances through to resolution.
Supplier Performance: Maintain supplier scorecards integrating quality test results, delivery accuracy, and complaint metrics into structured performance reviews.
Certification Standards: Support supplier and co-manufacturer qualification against Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI)-recognised standards in line with commercial strategy.
Quality Registers: Keep controlled quality registers up to date, including Approved Supplier Lists (ASL), Approved Co-Manufacturer Lists, and Audit Schedules.
Traceability Documentation: Partner with Production Planning to maintain clear, audit-ready documentation for end-to-end batch traceability.
Standards Compliance: Support ongoing compliance and audit readiness across SALSA, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Soil Association / Organic, and related accreditation schemes.
Regulatory & Labelling: Collaboratively review artwork and packaging with marketing and design teams to guarantee pack copy accuracy and regulatory compliance.
Training: Help design and deliver quality and food safety training initiatives across relevant internal roles.
B Corp Support: Support B Corp re-certification by capturing evidence for responsible sourcing, supplier standards, product traceability, and continuous improvement projects.
Who You Are Experience & Skills: Industry Background: Proven experience in a Quality Assurance or Quality Management role within the food, wellness, nutraceutical, or FMCG sectors (experience with third-party manufacturers preferred).
Technical Standards: Strong knowledge of HACCP, food safety regulations, and labelling standards. A formal food safety qualification is highly desirable.
Hands-on QC Expertise: Solid experience managing goods-in checks, CoA verification, finished goods release, sampling/testing plans, and trend analysis.
Problem-Solving & CAPA: Direct experience leading root-cause investigations and running CAPA workflows with internal teams and external supply chain partners.
Audit Familiarity: Hands-on exposure to certification schemes (e.g., SALSA, BRCGS, ISO, Organic/Soil Association, MSC).
Detail-Oriented & Organized: Exceptional record-keeping ability with a methodical approach to documentation and version control.
Communication & Collaboration: Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, capable of building positive working relationships across functions and with external partners.
Our Core Values To thrive in our team, you’ll naturally align with our shared beliefs:
BRAVERY — Courageous, Bold, Experimental INTEGRITY — Honest, Accountable, Ethical CONNECTION — Collaborative, Inclusive, Open INTENTION — Purposeful, Proactive, Focused Ways of Working As a fast-paced scale-up, in-person collaboration drives our culture and momentum. We operate from a beautiful riverside head office in Lewes, East Sussex. This position is offered as a full-time, on-site role.
We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to building an inclusive workplace. While advertised as full-time, we are open to discussing part-time or flexible arrangements where feasible. Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process.
Why Join Us? We offer an engaging, supportive environment where your contributions directly shape our business growth:
Competitive Pay: Discretionary annual bonus and annual compensation reviews.
Health & Wellbeing: Private Medical Insurance, plus Medicash (24/7 Virtual GP, specialist consultations, dental, optical, complementary therapies, and EAP).
Time Off: 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, plus 1 additional dedicated Wellbeing Day per year.
Ethical Pension: ESG-invested pension fund (excluding weapons, pharmaceuticals, and ethically questionable sectors).
Perks & Discounts: Access to the Mintago platform (financial advice, retail discounts, cycle-to-work, EV schemes), fully stocked office kitchen with product access, and generous employee discounts.
Culture & Development: Regular training opportunities, complimentary in-office nutrition and meditation sessions, and bi-annual company social events.
Workspace: Modern office tech provided (laptop, headphones) along with ergonomic desk setups (sit-stand desks, ergonomic chairs, dual monitors).