Quality Manager, Village Dairy | Traralgon, Victoria

Village Dairy is a growing, multi-site dairy manufacturing business backed by Apta Group, an Australian private investment group building a portfolio of high-quality food and beverage businesses.

We are seeking a hands-on Quality Manager to lead quality and food safety across our Traralgon and Dandenong manufacturing sites. This is a Leadership Team role reporting to the General Manager, with a clear mandate to build a proactive, disciplined quality culture.

You will take ownership of the quality agenda: understand where we are today, close the gaps, and build the systems, standards and habits that make quality part of everyday manufacturing, not a separate compliance activity.

We are looking for someone who is passionate about food safety, takes pride in getting the detail right, and is just as comfortable investigating an issue on the factory floor as presenting an improvement plan to the General Manager.

The Role

Reporting to the General Manager, the Quality Manager will lead the quality and food safety function across both sites and lead two Quality Controllers. You will have the authority to place product on hold and prevent its release when requirements have not been met.

Key responsibilities will include:

- Developing and delivering a quality strategy and improvement roadmap across both sites
- Owning the Food Safety Management System, including HACCP plans, prerequisite programs, traceability and recall readiness
- Leading regulatory inspections, external audits and customer audits, and making sure corrective actions are closed
- Reviewing current quality systems, closing the gaps and building consistent standards, procedures and document control across both sites
- Leading investigations into quality failures and customer complaints, getting to the root cause on the floor
- Working with Production, Maintenance,



Supply Chain and New Product Development so quality is considered in process changes, equipment and new products
- Leading, coaching and developing the two Quality Controllers
- Reporting on quality KPIs, risks and audit outcomes to the General Manager

About You

- You will be an experienced quality leader within food manufacturing, ready to take on a hands-on role
- with real authority. Ideally, you will bring:
- A tertiary qualification in Food Science, Food Technology, Microbiology, Food Engineering or a related discipline
- Significant experience in a quality leadership role in food manufacturing, with dairy or other high-care experience highly regarded
- Strong knowledge of food safety management systems, HACCP and quality assurance methods, with BRCGS or SQF experience highly regarded
- Experience managing regulatory compliance, external audits and customer audits
- A track record of leading improvement and lasting change, ideally building or rebuilding a quality function
- A practical approach, with the ability to turn technical requirements into workable factory-floor processes
- Robust communication and influencing skills, and the courage to challenge practices that are not good enough
- Willingness to travel to our Dandenong site roughly fortnightly, and to attend site at short notice when needed

Why Join Village Dairy?

This is a genuine opportunity to build the quality function at Village Dairy and shape how both sites approach food safety and quality as the business continues to grow. The role offers real autonomy, a place on the Leadership Team and the chance to make a visible, lasting impact.

To Apply

Apply through SEEK or contact IMPACT People & Culture, Apta’s retained recruitment partner for this appointment, for a confidential discussion. To elevate your application, please include a cover letter outlining why you are the ideal candidate for this role.

📌 Quality Manager - Village Dairy (Traralgon)
🏢 IMPACT People u0026 Culture
📍 Traralgon