Technical, Quality & NPD Manager: Food Supplement (Nutraceuticals) - Part Time

📋 Description

• • As the Part-Time Technical, Quality & NPD Manager for Inspiriko, you will be instrumental in shaping and elevating the company's quality assurance, food safety, regulatory compliance, and new product development (NPD) processes across its entire outsourced supply chain.
• • This is a pivotal, high-ownership leadership role designed for a seasoned technical professional with a deep understanding of the nutraceutical and food supplement industry.
• • You will be tasked with the critical responsibility of building, refining, and implementing robust systems and processes that ensure the highest standards of quality and safety, while also driving innovation and product excellence.
• • Your expertise will be crucial in managing technical risks inherent in an outsourced manufacturing model, ensuring that every product meets stringent quality benchmarks from ingredient sourcing to final delivery.
• • This role transcends routine factory-level quality control; it demands a strategic mindset focused on systemic improvements and proactive risk mitigation.
• • You will be the primary technical liaison, working directly with company leadership and external partners to uphold the integrity of our products and operations.
• • Key areas of focus include establishing and enhancing a comprehensive Quality Management System (QMS), developing practical policies, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and control mechanisms that are scalable and proportionate to the company's rapid growth trajectory.
• • You will be responsible for building and maturing systems for deviation management, Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), change control, customer complaint handling, supplier qualification, document control, and thorough technical reviews.
• • The goal is to elevate the company's quality systems towards a BRC-level structure, incorporating a HACCP-aligned approach to ensure a proactive and systematic management of food safety hazards.
• • A significant part of your role will involve developing and maintaining a rigorous food safety plan that encompasses all facets of the supply chain, including ingredient suppliers, packaging vendors, contract manufacturers, and logistics partners.
• • You will proactively identify technical and food safety risks, defining clear controls, monitoring strategies, and escalation pathways to address potential issues before they impact product quality or consumer safety.
• • This includes meticulously reviewing certifications, audit reports, quality documentation, and questionnaires from all supply chain partners, ensuring timely follow-up on any adverse findings.
• • You will establish and manage an approved supplier and manufacturer program, defining clear qualification and requalification criteria for all raw material, packaging, manufacturing, and warehousing partners.
• • Your responsibilities will extend to leading or coordinating annual review and audit planning for these critical partners, ensuring ongoing compliance and performance.
• • Special attention will be given to reviewing documentation for China-sourced packaging, verifying food-contact compliance, specifications, and pre-shipment controls to mitigate risks associated with international sourcing.
• • Developing risk-based testing plans for raw materials, packaging, and finished goods will be essential, alongside coordinating and critically reviewing laboratory analyses for key parameters like microbiological contamination, heavy metals, and water activity.
• • You will define precise technical specifications for all components and finished products, ensuring consistency and quality.
• • A core function will be building and operating a robust finished-goods batch release process, which involves the thorough review of Certificates of Analysis (CoAs), test results, batch records, and all necessary release documentation.
• • You will be empowered to escalate and investigate any non-conformances, out-of-specification results, or adverse quality trends, driving root cause analysis and resolution.
• • Designing and maintaining comprehensive recall and traceability systems across the entire supply chain is paramount, including conducting regular mock recalls and traceability exercises to ensure readiness.
• • Ensuring product technical files are complete, current, and audit-ready will be a continuous responsibility, supported by systems that enable rapid retrieval of all relevant product, batch, supplier, and testing records.
• • You will play a crucial role in reviewing product formulations, labels, pack copy, mandatory statements, warnings, and claims to ensure full technical and regulatory compliance, coordinating independent reviews for complex cases.
• • Support will be provided for compliance with UK supplement, food information, and related product-labelling regulations, maintaining a clear product approval process for all launches and changes.
• • In NPD, you will provide essential technical, quality, and regulatory support, translating product briefs into actionable technical requirements.
• • You will coordinate closely with manufacturers on formulation development, trial planning, feasibility assessments, and commercial readiness, evaluating ingredient and packaging suitability, risks, and quality requirements.
• • Defining technical launch requirements, including specifications, testing plans, shelf-life data, and label readiness, will be key to successful product introductions.
• • You will also contribute to competitor and market benchmarking from a technical and product-compliance perspective.
• • Furthermore, you will support the drafting and maintenance of technical and manufacturing agreements with co-manufacturers and key suppliers, clearly defining quality and release responsibilities, testing obligations, and escalation protocols.
• • Finally, you will help design and implement a robust customer transparency program, ensuring customers can access validated Certificate of Analysis information at the product and batch level, underpinned by reliable and defensible technical and document control processes.