Quality Controller

Recruit Digital is now part of Salt, a global, award-winning digital recruitment agency, connecting people and businesses within Creative, Marketing, Sales, and Technology. Over 250 consultants are "Creating Futures" around the world and change the lives of 1000s of people each year by helping them to start new roles in some of the most exciting start-ups, scale-ups, agencies or large global powerhouses. We cover permanent as well as contract roles and have offices in Auckland, Cape Town, Dubai, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore, and Sydney. Our services range from single hires to covering complete outsourcing solutions involving business change. We partner with our clients to find and place not only the best individual talent but also produce the most impressive and exciting digital teams across the globe. In New Zealand, our market coverage extends to Accounting & Finance, Business Support & Operations, and Supply Chain & Logistics. Salt also recently acquired APAC-based specialist digital, tech, media, and sales firm, Xpand to further increase our global talent services. Together with the new teams, we will have a stronger presence in the market as they join our vision in "Creating Futures" for our customers globally that will positively impact the digital economy. Our client is looking for an experienced Quality Controller to manage quality assurance across a wide range of promotional products, manufactured in factories across various regions. This is a hands-on, factory-facing role for someone who's comfortable travelling on-site to inspect production runs and hold suppliers accountable to spec, across the full mix of promotional product categories. What You'll Be Doing Product Testing & Certification (Promotional Products) Work with 3rd party laboratories to determine the required test plan for each promotional product - covering safety, regulatory, performance, and local country importation/certification requirements Review test plans with internal teams and Client Supplier Quality Assurance (SQA) for sign-off, balancing product compliance against cost across the various promotional product categories Review lab test reports from 3rd parties and manufacturers to confirm tested items match the required test plan and Bill of Materials (BOM) Conduct label reviews on promotional items, checking symbols, instructions, and language requirements for accuracy Manage pre-purchase, production, and intervention testing to keep results on track with project timelines - and guide corrective action when a test fails Factory-Based Inspection & Auditing Conduct on-site QC checks, in-line inspections, and final AQL inspections at factories manufacturing promotional products, ensuring items conform to agreed specifications and quality standards Develop product inspection checklists and protocols tailored to different promotional product categories, for use by internal QC teams and appointed 3rd party inspection providers Lead and conduct on-site factory audits to assess capability and capacity Coach and support suppliers/factories on audit requirements and corrective actions Review inspection reports and follow up on findings with vendors and manufacturers Compliance & Documentation Provide technical support on Chain of Custody (CoC) and Declaration of Conformity (DoC) requirements to suppliers, factories, and procurement/merchandising teams, down to raw materials level Generate and review product specifications, including test plans and inspection protocols Conduct preliminary failure analysis on field-reported issues and track these through to resolution Stay current on global product recall databases to proactively build recall-prevention checks into test plans and inspections What You'll Need At least 8 years' experience with 3rd party labs in a customer support/service capacity, plus 2-3 years in sourcing offices covering hard goods and softlines promotional product categories Previous experience as a QC Manager or QC Supervisor across hard goods and softlines promotional products is an advantage Practical experience managing projects into markets with local importation/certification requirements (e.g. Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia) is a plus Solid knowledge of product safety, regulatory, and performance requirements against international and market-specific standards A methodical, detail-driven approach - able to apply quality tools and methodologies consistently Strong organisational skills and the ability to manage multiple projects and timelines at once Comfortable travelling to factories/production sites as part of the role