Head of Food Safety and Quality Assurance

**About us**: Vow is a food company - a very different one. We're creating real meat products from animal cells instead of the animal itself. We're bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineering, culinary and design to make sustainable food that's both irresistible and available to billions of people worldwide.**‍** **The role**: Vow is looking for an experienced Food Safety/Quality professional with strong mission alignment and a 'get s*#t done' attitude to design and implement a safety and quality assurance system in a new manufacturing environment. With an upcoming product launch, it will be critical to the success of Vow to maintain the highest levels of product quality and food safety. **The experience you bring**: - Tertiary Qualifications in food science, dairy technology, microbiology or a related discipline - Have 7+ years of experience in Food Safety and Quality Assurance roles **You will**: - You will be responsible for Quality and Food Safety of Vow's first factory and provide support for all food safety, quality, technical and compliance issues and queries. - Be comfortable creating and owning high integrity, yet flexible processes that can be scaled fast. - Be comfortable working on open-ended problems and creating order from ambiguous situations. - Deliver continuous improvements to our manufacturing to drive food safety and quality assurance. - Own and be accountable for implementing HACCP throughout all workflows. - Have clear communication skills and the ability to implement positive changes to processes and systems. - Organise internal and external audits. - Ensure all staff are compliant with the food safety program. - Close out any non-conformances - ensure corrective and preventative actions are effective. - Investigate and resolve any customer complaints. - Ensure all traceability programs are in effect. - Oversee daily production quality control and document all compliance. - Report on all quality issues to management. - Maintain the weekly production data sheet. - Ensure that high quality standards are maintained at all times. **What success looks like**: During your first month you will have successfully scoped out a plan and begun to implement elements of Vow's Food Safety and Quality system. Within three months you will have completed the initial implementation of Vow's Food Safety and Quality system. You will have developed key processes and workflows that serve to ensure the necessary level of Food Safety and Quality standards are maintained at Vow. By the end of your first year at Vow you will have helped ensure our first product has been brought to market and that Vow's Food Safety and Quality system has matured and evolved with feedback and support from the team. External audits will have been given feedback as being 'exemplary' and you will have directly contributed to Vow's reputation as a high integrity food manufacturer. **Vow, more than just a job.**: **Who we are and why join**: - **We are building a diverse, mission-driven dream team of "Vowzers."** Our mission is to make food products for everyone. To do that well we need a workforce that's representative of the people we serve. We celebrate multiple approaches and points of view - so we're building a culture to match. Be yourself and come as you are. - **Work on cutting-edge technology.** We're bringing together cutting-edge innovations in science, engineering, and food, to recreate the world's most tantalising and unique culinary experiences. All without compromising on ethics or our planet along the way. Since our inception in 2019, we have held the title of being the first startup to cultivate meat from the cells of an undomesticated animal, and have served up our exotic meats ranging from kangaroo dumplings to alpaca sliders in tastings with world-renowned chefs. - **Work with and learn from the best.** Our team includes some of the world's leading scientists, innovators, operators, and creatives with decades of industry experience. Despite our experiences though, we all strive to build, break, learn, and repeat. We see the impossible as temporary and strive to learn and support our company and fellow Vowzers' growth as much as possible. - **We're fully funded and ready to go.** We are a growing Aussie biotech start-up backed by Square Peg Capital, Blackbird Ventures, Grok Ventures and Tenacious Ventures. *Read more about why our investors are so excited about the future of Vow here.*‍ **Vow perks and benefits**: - **Everyone is an owner.** In addition to competitive base salaries, each and every 'Vowzer' owns equity in the company so we can all benefit from our hard work and future success. - **Generous paid parental leave.** We offer 12 weeks for primary carers and 4 weeks for secondary carers. - **Generous relocation budget & support.** Support for interstate or overseas individuals and their families (including pets) - **Flexible working hours and location.** We value