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Salary: USD 140,000 - 170,000 / annual
David is a high-growth consumer food brand focused on high-protein, low-calorie, blood-sugar-friendly foods. Founded by Peter Rahal (Cofounder and Former CEO of RXBAR), the company is scaling rapidly and seeking a hands-on manufacturing and quality leader.
As Manager of On-site Quality, Engineering and Manufacturing, you will serve as David's primary technical representative at key co-manufacturing partners, spending significant time on the production floor. You will own day-to-day manufacturing quality performance, ensuring products consistently meet David's specifications and standards.
Key responsibilities include:
- Serve as the on-site quality and technical representative at co-manufacturing partners, with substantial production floor presence
- Own manufacturing quality performance and ensure products meet David's specifications
- Develop deep technical understanding of manufacturing processes, equipment, raw materials, product attributes, and sources of variation
- Identify quality and manufacturing issues early; drive rapid containment, root cause analysis, corrective action, and sustained resolution
- Lead structured investigations into deviations, defects, consumer complaints, process failures, and recurring issues
- Apply engineering problem-solving to equipment performance, process conditions, material handling, formulation, packaging, and production methods
- Design and execute plant trials and experiments to validate solutions and improve manufacturing performance
- Establish process controls, operating parameters, and standards that improve consistency and reduce variation
- Drive continuous improvement across quality, yield, scrap, throughput, reliability, and process capability
- Partner with co-manufacturer Quality, Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering teams to implement improvements
- Collaborate internally with Quality, R&D, Manufacturing, Procurement, Commercialization, and Planning to solve problems and scale products
- Support commercialization and scale-up of new products, processes, ingredients, equipment, and manufacturing lines
- Use manufacturing and quality data to identify trends, prioritize opportunities, and measure improvement effectiveness
- Build systems and standards that scale learnings across the manufacturing network
- Respond quickly to manufacturing problems and provide support wherever needed
Requirements:
- 5+ years of experience in manufacturing quality, manufacturing engineering, process engineering, food manufacturing, or similarly hands-on technical environment
- Strong quality mindset with exceptionally high bar for product consistency and attention to detail
- Demonstrated experience leading root cause analysis, corrective actions, process improvement, and technical investigations
- Ability to use data and experimentation to separate symptoms from root causes and make sound technical decisions
- Strong engineering and structured problem-solving instincts; demonstrated ability to diagnose complex manufacturing problems and drive to root cause
- Experience working directly in manufacturing facilities; comfort spending significant time on production floor
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, process controls, equipment, and sources of variation; food or CPG manufacturing experience strongly preferred
- High motor and strong ownership mentality; identify problems early and stay with them until measurably resolved
- Ability to build strong relationships with external manufacturing partners while challenging assumptions and holding teams accountable
- Clear, direct communicator who can translate technical manufacturing issues into clear risks, decisions, and actions
- Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments where solutions require hands-on problem-solving
