Position: Assistant Manager – Quality & R&D
Department: Quality Assurance, Food Safety & Research and Development
Location: New Delhi / Production Facility
Industry: Fresh Fruits & Vegetables, Kombucha, Condiments & Food Manufacturing
Reports To: AVP Operations
Role Overview
We are looking for an experienced and proactive Assistant Manager – Quality & R&D to build and lead our Quality and Research & Development function from the ground up. This role will be responsible for establishing robust quality systems, food safety standards, documentation processes, product innovation pipelines, shelf-life studies, and manufacturing SOPs across our Fresh Fruits & Vegetables (F&V), Kombucha, and Condiments verticals.The ideal candidate should have strong expertise in food quality, regulatory compliance, audits, process standardization, and new product development, with the ability to work in a fast-paced startup manufacturing environment.
Key Responsibilities
1) Quality Systems & Food Safety
- Set up the entire Quality Assurance department from scratch
- Develop and implement SOPs, GMP, GHP, HACCP and food safety protocols
- Ensure compliance with FSSAI, FOSTAC, audit, and internal quality standards
- Create quality check points across procurement, production, packaging, dispatch and storage
- Design and monitor CCPs (Critical Control Points) for manufacturing
- Establish batch traceability and product recall systems
- Build documentation for:
- incoming material inspection
- in-process checks
- finished goods release
- rejection / hold process
- CAPA / RCA
- deviation reports
- Conduct internal audits and support external audits
2) R&D / Product Development
- Lead new product development for kombucha, condiments, and processed F&V products
- Work on new flavour development, product trials, and recipe standardization
- Optimize taste, shelf life, stability, texture and packaging compatibility
- Conduct trial batches and pilot runs
- Develop BOMs, recipes, process sheets and manufacturing instructions
- Lead product improvement based on customer and market feedback
- Work on cost optimization without compromising quality
3) Shelf Life & Stability Studies
- Design and execute shelf-life studies
- Monitor microbial, sensory and physical parameters
- Maintain stability reports for each SKU
- Recommend storage and transport conditions
- Validate expiry and best-before timelines
4) Vendor & Raw Material Quality
- Create vendor qualification and approval standards
- Set specifications for:
- fruits and vegetables
- cultures / SCOBY
- sugar / tea / flavour ingredients
- packaging material
- Conduct vendor audits and rejection analysis
- Define acceptance criteria for incoming raw materials
5) Team Building & Department Setup
- Build the Quality and R&D team structure
- Hire and train executives / QA officers
- Create training modules for production staff and warehouse teams
- Establish daily quality reporting dashboards
- Work cross-functionally with production, procurement and operations teams
Candidate Requirements
- Bachelor's / Master's degree in Food Technology, Food Science, Microbiology, Biotechnology or related field
- 4–7 years of experience in food manufacturing quality and R&D
- Prior experience in beverages, fermented products, condiments, sauces, or fresh produce processing
- Strong understanding of:
- FSSAI
- GMP / GHP
- HACCP
- CAPA / RCA
- shelf-life studies
- microbial standards
- Experience in startup / scale-up manufacturing preferred
Preferred Experience
- Experience with kombucha / fermented beverage manufacturing
- Fresh produce quality systems
- Cold chain and shelf-life management
- Experience in setting up departments from scratch
- Audit readiness and documentation excellence
