Director of Quality Assurance

About the role

The Director of Quality Assurance is a senior leadership role responsible for building, scaling, and leading Comfrt's global quality function across both apparel and home textile categories. This position sets the strategic direction for quality across all product categories and global markets, ensuring our vendor base — particularly overseas manufacturing partners — meets and exceeds compliance and quality standards across the U.S., EU, Canada, Australia, and all emerging international markets.

Key Responsibilities

• Own and drive the global QA strategy, frameworks, SOPs, and compliance standards across all vendors, categories, and countries of production — spanning both apparel and home textile product lines
• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing QA team — both internal staff and external partners — to support Comfrt's rapid global expansion
• Establish scalable QA infrastructure and systems capable of supporting significant growth across new product categories and international markets
• Influence senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to maintain quality as a core pillar of Comfrt's brand promise
• Define and track KPIs for quality performance across the global supply chain, with regular executive reporting
• Proactively monitor and interpret evolving regulatory landscapes across international markets, assessing impact on product development, sourcing, and labeling strategies
• Partner with Legal, Sourcing, and Product Development to ensure compliance is built into every product from inception, not retrofitted at the point of shipment
• Lead international labeling strategy — including care labels, fiber content disclosure, country of origin, flammability warnings, and multilingual requirements — ensuring accuracy and compliance across all target markets for both apparel and home textile products
• Develop and enforce compliance programs aligned with the requirements of major retail partners, including big-box, department store, specialty, and international retail channels
• Own vendor compliance requirements for retail accounts, including routing guides, packaging standards, ticketing and labeling specs, and social compliance requirements
• Partner with Merchandising teams to prepare for retail audits and compliance reviews, ensuring Comfrt consistently meets or exceeds retailer expectations across both apparel and home textile assortments
• Oversee compliance for direct-to-consumer (DTC) and e-commerce channels, ensuring packaging, labeling, and product presentation meet platform and regulatory requirements
• Establish and maintain documentation and reporting structures to support retail partners' vendor compliance programs
• Develop category-specific quality standards that address the unique performance requirements of home textiles — including pilling resistance, wash durability, shrinkage, fiber shedding, colorfastness, seam strength, and fill power for down/alternative fill products
• Develop and maintain comprehensive quality assurance, testing, and inspection protocols aligned with both brand standards and market-specific regulatory requirements for each product category
• Develop QA standards and protocols for new categories
• Implement a Sealed Sample program and centralized approved sample library to ensure consistent inspection standards across all third-party and in-house inspections
• Lead rapid root cause analysis for quality issues and drive corrective action plan management with vendors and internal teams
• Champion a continuous improvement culture across the global supply chain, leveraging data and field insights to proactively prevent quality failures
• Develop escalation protocols and crisis response frameworks for critical quality events, including potential recalls or market withdrawals
• Analyze defect trends across product categories — including home textile-specific issues such as fiber shedding, delamination, fill migration, and thermal performance failures — and drive systemic fixes
• Own global vendor performance management, including quality scorecards, audits, corrective action plans, and ongoing factory evaluations across both apparel and home textile supply chains
• Enforce adherence to quality standards across overseas vendors and factories in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other sourcing regions
• Lead vendor training programs to build quality capability and compliance knowledge across the supply base, including specialized training for home textile manufacturers on fiber standards, filling materials, and construction requirements
• Evaluate and onboard third-party inspection firms and accredited testing laboratories; define scope, manage relationships, and hold partners accountable to performance standards
• Establish and maintain robust testing protocols ensuring all products meet performance, durability, safety, and regulatory standards across all applicable markets
• Manage relationships with accredited testing laboratories and third-party inspection firms globally
• Ensure all testing is conducted at accredited laboratories compliant with applicable market standards (OEKO-TEX, bluesign, or equivalent certifications where relevant)
• Manage the expectations and schedule of 3rd party Asia QA team
• Manage the end-to-end inspection lifecycle: pre-production meetings, in-line inspections, size set approvals, and final inspections across all product categories
• Ensure all third-party final inspections are conducted with properly established Sealed Samples and approved tech packs present
• Define inspection criteria, AQL standards, and hold/release protocols appropriate to each product category — with specific criteria for home textile construction, filling, finishing, and packaging requirements
• Oversee inspection of packaging compliance for home textile products, including labeling, care instructions, fiber content declarations, and country of origin accuracy
• Develop and maintain QA SOPs, inspection reports, compliance documentation, and quality dashboards across all product categories
• Provide cross-functional teams — including Merchandising, Sourcing, Finance, and executive leadership — with timely, actionable quality visibility
• Maintain comprehensive records to support retailer compliance audits, regulatory inquiries, and internal reviews
• Partner with Product Development, Technical Design, Sourcing, and Operations to ensure quality is built in from concept through production to final inspection — for both apparel and home textile development pipelines
• Collaborate with the Design and PD teams during the home textile development process to ensure fiber selection, construction methods, and finishing treatments meet both aesthetic intent and quality/compliance standards
• Lead quality training programs for internal teams and vendor partners to continuously elevate standards and build organizational capability
• Collaborate with international business development and retail teams to ensure QA readiness for new market entries and retail account launches

Experience

• 10+ years of experience in quality assurance/quality control within apparel and/or home textile manufacturing
• Experience across both soft goods categories strongly preferred — apparel AND home textiles (blankets, bedding, pillows, throws, towels, robes, or similar)
• 10+ years of people management experience, with a demonstrated track record of building and scaling QA teams
• Extensive experience working with overseas vendors across China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and other global sourcing regions
• Proven experience managing quality across multiple international markets simultaneously (US, EU, Canada, Australia, UK)
• Experience supporting major retail accounts and navigating retailer compliance programs
• Background in both DTC/e-commerce and wholesale/retail channels strongly preferred