Food Safety Quality Intern at Jack Link's Protein Snacks

Running with Sasquatch is more than just a clever marketing campaign. As a Jack Link’s team member, Running with Sasquatch means we roll up our buffalo plaid sleeves and do the hard work first. We don’t shy away from challenges. In fact, we push hard and take risks. True to our North Woods roots, we're a bunch of ordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things by driving results with innovation, creativity and a clear sense of urgency. Like our awesome protein products, we have an unwavering passion for quality, and you won’t find anything artificial here. What you see is what you get…authentic, humble and fun people who Run with Sasquatch!

Running with Sasquatch takes a team. We invite you to run with us, succeed with us, and celebrate with us. Most importantly, Feed Your Wild Side® with us on our journey to be the dominant global leader of branded protein snacks!

Jack Link's Protein Snacks is a global leader in snacking and the No. 1 meat snack manufacturer worldwide. Still family-owned and operated with headquarters in Minong, Wisconsin, Jack Link’s also has a large corporate hub in Downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, and operates a total of 11 manufacturing and distribution facilities in four countries. Jack Link’s produces high-quality, great-tasting protein snacks that feed the wild sides of consumers around the world. Jack Link's Protein Snacks family of brands includes Jack Link's, LK, World Kitchens Jerky, Bifi and Peperami.

Join us in Summer 2026 as a Food Safety & Quality (FSQ) intern in Minneapolis, MN! The FSQ Intern will support our Food Safety and Quality initiatives in training, shelf-life, and reporting initiatives. This role is ideal for students pursuing careers applicable to food and/or sensory science, animal/meat science, microbiology, or chemistry. The intern will gain hands-on experience in a professional setting, working on real-world projects that span a variety of areas of food safety and quality. To gain hands-on experience this intern will have the opportunity to travel to one or more of our plants and/or distribution centers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and/or Iowa during the summer internship. 

FSQ Intern Responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities of this position shall consist of, but not be limited to, the following:

• Develop training content and facilitate training to build the behaviors, actions, and awareness needed to meet the high standards of our food safety and quality system
  • Use existing internal procedures and external research to develop training content
  • Create training content which could include presentations, procedures, hands-on activities, videos, and visual graphics
  • Film and facilitate training, upload to training platform for future use
• Establish and maintain processes to trend progress in food safety and quality performance against benchmarks
  • Support electronic data reporting initiatives by developing and/or improving dashboards and reports for monitoring FSQ metrics
  • Dive into specific metrics to provide insight and analysis for continuous improvement
  • Work on projects to simplify administrative time in collecting, sharing, and analyzing data
• Lead programs to measure and report sensory quality performance
  • Test and evaluate products over shelf-life
  • Analyze shelf-life study results, develop reports, and provide shelf-life recommendations
  • Assist in organization of shelf-life study reports and strategy for future shelf-life study improvements in process and design
• Complete additional projects and participate in activities related to the intern experience at Jack Links
  • Collaborate with FSQ on other projects in progress- this could include continuous improvement work, product testing, specification development, or electronic FSQ systems maintenance
  • Support FSQ team resource intranet site
  • Participate in intern events such onboarding, training, plant tours, and fun events

Education and Experience

Required Education:

• Pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Food/Sensory Science, Meat/Animal Science, Microbiology or Chemistry.
• Will have completed at least Junior year indegree program by start of Summer 2026.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience in food manufacturing, food safety, and/or quality assurance
• Experience in training, sensory testing, or reporting
• Education Focused in Food Science, Microbiology, Meat Science, or Animal Science

Required Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Must work effectively, respectfully, and collaboratively with all levels of management and Team Members
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English
• Proficient in Internet navigation; Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook

JACK LINK’S CORE VALUES:

Company values: Be Real, Speed Matters, Stewardship, Relationship Driven, Self-Discipline, and Show Awesome Character.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a Team Member to be successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job the Team Member is regularly required to sit, use hands to finger, handle, or feel and talk or hear. The Team Member is occasionally required to stand, walk and reach with hands and arms. The Team Member must occasionally lift and/or more up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those a Team Member encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. The work environment is a plant/office setting with varying degrees of temperatures and noise levels. Exposure to manufacturing equipment movement and wet/slippery floors. However, the vast amount of work is conducted in a climate-controlled office. Travel may be required.

Additional Information:

The salary range for this role is $22 to $24 per hour for a Bachelor's degree candidate and $30 per hour for a Master's degree candidate. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors, including but not limited to external market data, internal equity, location, and candidate skill set and experience. 

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER:
Jack Link’s provides equal employment opportunity (EEO) to all persons regardless of age, color, national origin, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, genetic information, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, veteran status, or any other characteristic that is protected by federal, state or local law.

E-VERIFY:
Jack Link’s is participant in the federal E-Verify program to confirm the identity and employment authorization of all newly hired employees.  For information about the E-Verify program, please visit:  http://www.uscis.gov/e-verify/employees

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.