Job Summary
We are looking for an experienced Quality & Operations Lead to oversee food safety, quality assurance, production, and end-to-end operations at a large-scale food production facility. The role involves ensuring compliance with FSSAI regulations and applicable food safety standards while driving operational efficiency, productivity, cost optimization, and timely meal production and distribution.
The ideal candidate will have extensive leadership experience in centralized food production, institutional catering, large central kitchens, or high-volume food processing and manufacturing operations.
Key Responsibilities1. Quality Assurance and Food Safety
- Lead and oversee the overall Quality Assurance and Food Safety functions across the facility.
- Ensure compliance with FSSAI regulations, ISO standards, and applicable food safety requirements.
- Establish quality control systems covering raw material receipt, storage, preparation, production, packaging, dispatch, and distribution.
- Implement and monitor Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygiene Practices (GHP), sanitation, cleaning, and pest-control programs.
- Develop and maintain SOPs, work instructions, quality protocols, and compliance documentation.
- Conduct internal audits, hygiene inspections, process audits, and compliance reviews.
- Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), traceability, and non-conformance management.
- Investigate customer and beneficiary complaints and implement corrective actions.
2. Training and Quality Culture
- Conduct food safety, hygiene, GMP, GHP, and SOP compliance training for employees and supervisors.
- Build a strong quality and food safety culture across production and support teams.
- Monitor adherence to established safety and quality standards.
3. Operations and Production Management
- Manage end-to-end operations, including production planning, manufacturing, manpower deployment, packaging, dispatch, and distribution coordination.
- Achieve daily production targets while maintaining food safety, quality, cost, and delivery standards.
- Optimize manpower, machinery, production capacity, raw materials, and infrastructure utilization.
- Improve production layouts, workflows, line balancing, and shift management.
- Identify operational bottlenecks and implement solutions to improve throughput and productivity.
- Coordinate with Production, Quality, Maintenance, Procurement, Stores, and Distribution teams.
4. Operational Excellence and Cost Optimization
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives using Lean Manufacturing, Kaizen, 5S, and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).
- Identify opportunities to reduce costs, minimize waste, improve productivity, and optimize processes.
- Establish and monitor operational KPIs and performance metrics.
5. Maintenance and Equipment Management
- Coordinate with Maintenance and Engineering teams to ensure equipment availability and reliability.
- Monitor preventive and predictive maintenance activities.
- Reduce equipment breakdowns, downtime, and production disruptions.
- Support equipment upgrades, automation, capacity expansion, and capital expenditure initiatives.
6. Leadership and Team Management
- Lead cross-functional teams across Quality, Production, Maintenance, Procurement, Stores, and Distribution.
- Establish KRAs, KPIs, accountability systems, and performance management processes.
- Coach and mentor managers, supervisors, and operational teams.
- Ensure effective coordination across shifts and departments.
- Lead responses to operational emergencies, quality incidents, and business-critical situations.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- Bachelor's degree in Food Technology, Food Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Production Engineering, Operations Management, or a related discipline.
- 15–20 years of progressive operations leadership experience.
- At least 8–10 years in senior leadership roles managing multiple functions.
- Proven experience overseeing Production, Quality, Maintenance, Procurement, Stores, and Distribution operations.
- Experience managing a high-volume facility producing 100,000 or more meals/units per day.
- Experience managing a workforce of 100 or more employees.
- Strong knowledge of food safety systems, quality assurance, production planning, cost control, and distribution operations.
- Demonstrated ability to improve productivity, operational efficiency, and quality performance.
Preferred Industry Experience
- Large-scale centralized food production and central kitchens.
- Institutional and industrial catering.
- Mid-day meal programs.
- Airline catering and hospital catering.
- High-volume food processing and manufacturing.
Preferred Certifications
- HACCP and ISO 22000.
- Lean Six Sigma.
- Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).
- Supply Chain Management.
Key Competencies
- Operations and Production Management.
- Food Safety and Quality Assurance.
- Preventive and Predictive Maintenance.
- Procurement and Vendor Management.
- Stores and Inventory Control.
- Distribution and Field Operations.
- Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement.
- Cost Control and Budget Management.
- People Leadership and Team Development.
- KPI and Performance Management.
Pay: ₹70,000.00 - ₹80,000.00 per year
Work Location: In person
