{"id":4196946,"url":"https://alion.io/job/mezzetta-quality-lab-specialist","title":"Quality & Lab Specialist","company":{"id":679253,"name":"Mezzetta","domain":"mezzetta.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/mezzetta","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":6,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-11-12T10:38:37Z"}},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["American Canyon, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"GMP","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-14T21:54:33Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-04","last_verified_at":"2026-11-12T20:50:34Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":59,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":59},"description":"About Us:\n Since 1935, we’ve been on a mission to bring a little extra happiness to everyday life and inspire connections over food. We select the finest ingredients the world has to offer, craft premium products made with love, and never settle for shortcuts. We believe that when we share our food, we share a part of ourselves - and that’s the only way we’d put our name on it. \nToday, our small family company has grown into a national leader in specialty olives, peppers, and sauces under the leadership of CEO Jeff Mezzetta, and our commitment to quality has never wavered. With an 80-year legacy behind us and a bright future ahead, we’re seeking passionate, driven candidates to help us bring our cherished family traditions to a new generation.\nThe ideal candidate will have an immediate connection to our Core Ingredients: \nCrunchy Crunchy: We are hungry for excellence.\nOwn It: We think and act as an owner - with appetite, initiative, and responsibility.\nConnection: We build authentic relationships that foster trust and open communications.\nVibrance: We come to work eager and passionate about fulfilling our vision. When we share our work, we share a part of who we are.\nThe Quality & Lab Specialist is a hands-on role responsible for the day-to-day technical integrity of the lab and supporting quality assurance activities on the plant floor. This position supports the QA Manager by conducting lab operations, State Release coordination, and instrumentation oversight, including calibration schedules, preventive maintenance, and test method review. The role applies strong technical lab expertise to resolve routine issues before they require escalation, helping ensure that company quality standards and applicable food safety regulations, including GMP, SQF, and HACCP requirements, are consistently met. This position is intended as the future Quality & Lab Manager, with future responsibility for managing direct and/or cross-functional resources as the role and department needs evolve. This role may require working on a Saturday and/or other non-regular hours, based on business needs.\nResponsibilities\nConduct day-to-day lab operations and State Release coordination, including review of analytical test results, sample handling, lab documentation, and release decisions, resolving routine issues before they require escalation.\nCoordinate product release from State positive release, ensuring all required lab results and documentation are reviewed and verified prior to release; support the product Hold program, including tracking, dispositioning, and timely resolution of held product.\nAssess lab instrumentation performance and maintain the calibration schedule for all lab equipment, ensuring instruments are qualified, calibrated, and maintained to specification and that records are audit-ready.\nReview test methods and lab procedures on a regular cadence for accuracy, regulatory alignment, and consistency with current GMP, SQF, and HACCP requirements; update documentation as methods or standards change.\nSupport process control and thermal processing compliance for low-acid and acidified food products, ensuring critical factors and scheduled processes are monitored and documented in line with 21 CFR 113/114 requirements.\nAssist in delivering training for lab and QA staff on test methods, instrumentation, and quality procedures, and help maintain training records to ensure staff remain current and qualified.\nTriage and route quality issues in real time.\nConsolidate shift-level quality and lab data into a unified daily and weekly summary for the QA Manager to support KPI reporting and trend analysis, using plant systems such as RedZone and the ERP (IFS) and AI-based tools where useful to streamline reporting.\nEnsure consistent application of QA procedures, specifications, and critical control points across all shifts and the lab, in compliance with GMP, SQF, and HACCP standards.\nSupport the QA Manager in monitoring compliance with company quality standards, food safety standards, and government regulations across the facility.\nAssist in the evaluation of processes, specifications, and critical control points for finished goods as directed by the QA Manager.\nPerform other quality, lab, or food safety-related duties as assigned by the QA Manager to support departmental and plant needs.\nRequirements\nBachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemistry, Microbiology, or a related scientific field.\n5+ years of hands-on lab experience in food manufacturing, including analytical testing, instrumentation, sample handling, and lab documentation practices.\nDemonstrated experience with lab instrumentation calibration and preventive maintenance, and the ability to assess instrument performance and troubleshoot issues.\nExperience reviewing or authoring test methods and lab SOPs, with an eye for accuracy and regulatory alignment.\nExperience training or mentoring lab and QA staff on test methods, instrumentation, and quality procedures.\nWorking familiarity with quality systems (e.g., GMP, GFSI, HACCP) and how lab data and release decisions connect to broader quality assurance programs.\nWorking knowledge of State Release procedures and standard lab release testing protocols.\nDemonstrated ability to triage and prioritize competing lab and quality issues in real time.\nStrong communication skills to coordinate consistently across three shifts and the lab.\nComfortable working with plant technology systems such as RedZone and ERP platforms (IFS preferred), and open to using AI-based tools to support data analysis and reporting as needed.\nExperience with Lab ISO 17025 standards highly preferred.\nBetter Process Control School (BPCS) certification, or working familiarity with low-acid and acidified food regulations (21 CFR 113/114) and process control requirements for thermally processed foods highly preferred\nMust be flexible to work on a Saturday and/or other non-regular hours, based on business needs.\nWork Environment Information\nCombination food-manufacturing plant and laboratory setting, with regular movement between a climate-controlled lab and an active production floor.\nExposure to varying temperatures, including cold storage/processing areas and hot thermal-processing zones, as well as elevated noise levels from plant equipment.\nRequired use of PPE (hairnet/beard net, safety glasses, closed-toe non-slip shoes, and lab coat where applicable) and adherence to GMP food-safety gowning and hygiene protocols.\nOccasional exposure to lab reagents, cleaning/sanitation chemicals, and food allergens present in the facility.\nExtended periods of standing, walking, and light lifting (e.g., sample handling, lab equipment) throughout a shift.\nSchedule flexibility required to support lab and quality needs across shifts, including occasional early morning, evening, or weekend support for urgent quality/hold issues.\nPay Range\n$38.50—$43.30 USD\nOur Commitment to an Inclusive Workplace:\nAt Mezzetta, we embrace diversity and strive to create an inclusive environment where you know you belong. Part of that commitment includes a zero-tolerance policy and being an Equal Opportunity Employer that prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions at Mezzetta are solely based on merit, qualifications, abilities and business needs, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, age, marital status, national origin, disability, military or veteran status, family or parental status, pregnancy, or any other status protected by law. 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