Supervisor, Quality - Hold and Release

Within our brand new state-of-the-art 600-person manufacturing facility in Lubbock TX, Leprino is seeking a Quality (Hold & Release) Supervisor to lead product hold, release, and disposition activities across the plant. This role guides critical quality decisions from incoming materials through finished product, helping ensure food safety, product integrity, and full compliance with customer and regulatory requirements. You will partner closely with plant leaders and frontline teams to resolve quality issues, strengthen traceability, and keep product moving with confidence.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead hold and release decisions across the plant, from incoming ingredients and packaging to finished dairy products. 
• Review product data, lab results, and documentation to decide whether product moves forward, is reworked, downgraded, or removed from inventory.
• Build and maintain hold and release workflows that protect product quality, food safety, and customer confidence.
• Write, update, and reinforce plant procedures tied to product grading, traceability, testing, and certificate of analysis requirements.
• Coordinate microbiological and chemistry testing by creating work requests, reviewing sampling plans, and confirming accurate reporting.
• Guide product segregation, labeling, and disposition activities when product falls outside specification.
• Partner with plant teams to complete trace exercises and strengthen lot control across materials and finished goods.
• Support root cause investigations involving food safety, product quality, or recurring process issues. Help build corrective actions that stick.
• Coach and develop hourly quality team members through training, feedback, mentoring, and day-to-day support.
• Communicate unusual product conditions, quality concerns, and significant hold events to plant leadership and corporate quality partners.
• Review staffing plans, assign daily priorities, and help the team stay organized during changing production demands.

You Have At Least (Required Qualifications):

• Bachelor’s degree in food science, food technology, dairy science, microbiology, chemistry, or a closely related field, or equivalent relevant industry experience.
• Five or more years of quality or food safety experience in a regulated food manufacturing environment.
• One or more years of experience leading, training, mentoring, or coordinating the work of others.
• Working knowledge of HACCP, SQF, sanitation programs, and food safety compliance systems used in plant operations.
• Working knowledge of food safety systems, product disposition processes, and product release documentation.
• Experience supporting product investigations, non-conformance reviews, or corrective action efforts.

We Hope You Also Have (Preferred Qualifications):

• Master’s degree in food science, dairy science, microbiology, chemistry, or a related discipline.
• Quality Execution or QC leadership experience in dairy or cheese manufacturing environments.
• Experience with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, environmental monitoring programs, food laboratory testing, and statistical process control.
• Previous leadership experience supervising hourly quality or production teams in a manufacturing setting.

At Leprino, we believe in equal employment opportunity and make employment decisions based on each individual’s unique talents, experience, skills, and knowledge; we do not discriminate on the basis of any personal characteristics. We know we are better together and are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive culture in which all employees can thrive.

Offering You In Return:

A chance to be part of a global team of individuals passionate about producing and delivering high-quality products that help feed and nourish families around the world. Leprino could not be where it is today without our incredible employees. That is why we share in our success together by rewarding you for your hard work. Hiring great people who are in it for the long run is our goal. Through competitive salaries and bonuses, life, medical/dental/vision coverage, voluntary benefits, employee assistance programs, wellness incentives, tuition assistance, vacation, ten paid holidays, sick time, paid parental leave, annual merit increases, as well as the LFC Profit-Sharing & 401(k) plan. Your impact will be noticed and rewarded, as you seek to further our company, our customers, and one another.

Our Story:

Leprino’s history dates back to the 1950s, when Jim Leprino first started making small batches of mozzarella for local markets and eateries in the Little Italy neighborhood of Denver. We’ve grown a bit since then. Today, Leprino is the world’s largest manufacturer of mozzarella and lactose, and a leading producer of whey protein. Still owned by the Leprino family, our sights are set to be the “World’s Best Dairy Food and Ingredient Company.” From a small corner grocery store we have grown to over 5,500 employees throughout the globe. Will you join us on our journey?