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Quality and Laboratory
Officer
Val-Dieu Abbey Brewery

The Val-Dieu Abbey Brewery brews at the heart of the Aubel abbey site, in the province of Liège.

We produce a renowned range of abbey beers—Blonde, Brune, Triple, Grand Cru, Christmas Beer, and seasonal creations—distributed in Belgium and for export, in 33 and 75 cl bottles as well as in kegs.

Our production facility covers the entire brewing process: brewhouse, fermentation and storage cellars, centrifugation, storage tanks, and packaging lines.

We combine ancient brewing tradition with today's industrial requirements for quality, hygiene, food safety, traceability, and product consistency.

To strengthen our Quality & Laboratory department, we are looking for a Quality & Laboratory Officer who wishes to invest themselves in a human-scale production environment and contribute directly to the quality of our products.
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Your Mission

You will join a team within the Quality & Laboratory department and actively contribute to the development and continuous improvement of its activities.

Your role combines quality system management, laboratory analysis, and field presence, in close collaboration with the production teams.

Quality System and Food Safety

  • Manage and maintain the HACCP plan: hazard analysis, monitoring of critical control points, and periodic reviews;
  • Maintain and improve the quality management system and associated documentation: procedures, instructions, and records;
  • Prepare for and support internal and external audits, customer audits, and AFSCA inspections;
  • Ensure regulatory control regarding food products, labeling, and food-contact materials;
  • Participate in the evolution of internal procedures and standards for quality and food safety.

Product Control and Laboratory

  • Define, implement, and monitor the control plan: raw materials, wort, fermentation, storage, and finished product;
  • Perform and interpret physicochemical and microbiological analyses;
  • Monitor analyses performed by external laboratories;
  • Organize tastings and sensory monitoring to contribute to the consistency of our beers from one production batch to another;
  • Monitor shelf life, aging tests, and product stability;
  • Contribute to the development and improvement of laboratory activities.

Continuous Improvement and Field Presence

  • Handle non-conformities and customer complaints: root cause analysis, definition of corrective actions, and monitoring of their effectiveness;
  • Validate cleaning procedures (CIP) and monitor their effectiveness;
  • Ensure upstream and downstream traceability and regularly test the reliability of the system;
  • Train and sensitize production teams to good hygiene practices and quality requirements;
  • Collaborate daily with production teams in a spirit of continuous improvement;
  • Participate in process improvement projects and the development of new recipes from a quality perspective.
Profile

Education and Skills

  • You have a higher education degree, at Bachelor’s or Master’s level, with a scientific or food-related focus: agronomy, biochemistry, biology, food science, brewing, or equivalent training. Relevant professional experience demonstrating equivalent skills may also be considered;
  • You have a perfect command of French;
  • You are comfortable with standard IT tools and document management;
  • You demonstrate rigor, methodology, and excellent observation skills;
  • You have good analytical skills and are able to interpret results and derive concrete actions from them;
  • You are autonomous, organized, and able to define your priorities;
  • You enjoy field work and collaboration with production teams;
  • You demonstrate interpersonal skills and a pedagogical approach: quality is built with the production teams.
  • You are proficient in laboratory work: microbiology, physicochemical, or sensory analysis;

The following are considered assets

  • Experience in a quality department within the food sector, ideally in a brewery, fermentation industry, or food production environment;
  • Practical knowledge of HACCP and a food safety standard such as BRCGS, IFS, or FSSC 22000;
  • Experience in laboratory work: microbiology, physicochemical, or sensory analysis;
  • Knowledge or a good understanding of brewing processes and yeast microbiology;
  • Knowledge of Dutch, English, or German for exchanges with our customers, suppliers, and partners.

Driving License B: the role involves occasional business travel as planned by the Brewery.

Offer
  • A full-time permanent contract;
  • Remuneration in line with your training and experience, along with the fringe benefits in force within the company;
  • A varied and responsible role, combining laboratory, quality, and field presence;
  • The possibility to intervene across the entire brewing process, from raw material to finished product;
  • Real proximity to production teams and the ability to directly see the impact of your work on the quality of our beers;
  • The opportunity to contribute to the development of the laboratory and the continuous improvement of our quality system;
  • A human-scale work environment with short decision-making paths and concrete responsibilities;
  • An exceptional work setting within a historic 12th-century site, in the heart of the Pays de Herve.
Contact

Do you want to put your skills to work for a Belgian brewery that combines brewing tradition with modern industrial requirements?

Send your CV accompanied by a cover letter to: [email protected] with “Application – Quality & Laboratory” in the subject line.

Applications will be treated confidentially.

We thank all candidates for their interest. Those whose profiles best match the criteria for the position will be contacted for the next stage of the selection process.

 

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