Global Director of Quality

About the role

The Global Director of Quality provides enterprise-wide leadership, governance, and strategic direction for the organization's global Quality Management System (QMS), ensuring standardized, scalable, and effective quality processes across all maintenance, repair, overhaul, inspection, supplier quality, training, technical data, records management, audit, corrective action, and regulatory compliance functions. This role establishes and drives a globally integrated quality framework that ensures all quality and airworthiness activities are executed in compliance with applicable aviation regulations, including 14 CFR Part 145 and other international regulatory requirements, company policies and manuals, customer expectations, OEM standards, manufacturer data, and internal procedures. The Global Director of Quality is responsible for promoting a consistent culture of quality, safety, compliance, and operational excellence across all regions, facilities, and business units.

Serving as the organization's highest authority for quality governance, this position provides independent oversight of maintenance, inspection, and quality assurance activities worldwide to ensure continued airworthiness, regulatory compliance, risk mitigation, operational effectiveness, and the consistent application of quality standards throughout the global enterprise. The Global Director of Quality acts as a senior corporate representative and principal liaison with the FAA, EASA, CAAC, UK CAA, and other international civil aviation authorities on matters related to quality, airworthiness, certification, audits, and regulatory compliance. This role partners closely with executive leadership, accountable managers, regional leaders, maintenance and inspection management, engineering, supply chain, production planning, tooling, training, and other key stakeholders to drive strategic quality initiatives, strengthen organizational accountability, reduce enterprise risk, and foster a culture of continuous improvement across the global network. Through leadership, influence, and governance, the Global Director of Quality ensures alignment of quality objectives with corporate strategy, enabling sustainable growth, regulatory confidence, customer trust, and world-class operational performance across the organization's global footprint.

Global Quality Leadership and Governance

• Provide enterprise-wide leadership and strategic direction for the global Quality organization, including quality assurance, inspection oversight, audit and surveillance programs, corrective action management, technical data control, records management, supplier quality, training compliance, and regulatory affairs across all operating regions and business units.
• Establish, harmonize, and continuously improve global quality standards, policies, processes, and performance metrics to ensure consistent execution, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence throughout the organization's worldwide network.
• Champion a global culture of quality, safety, compliance, accountability, and continuous improvement by fostering alignment, collaboration, and best practice sharing across international locations, functions, and leadership teams.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership, partnering on quality strategy, organizational growth initiatives, workforce capability development, enterprise risk management, resource planning, and long-term operational excellence objectives.
• Monitor, benchmark, and communicate global quality performance through key performance indicators (KPIs), audit outcomes, regulatory developments, customer feedback, corrective action effectiveness, emerging risks, and quality trends, providing actionable insights to senior leadership and stakeholders.
• Drive global quality governance by ensuring consistency in decision-making, policy deployment, regulatory interpretations, and quality management practices across all facilities, repair stations, and support functions.
• Lead enterprise-wide initiatives that strengthen compliance, enhance customer confidence, improve operational performance, and reinforce the organization's reputation as a world-class aviation maintenance and support provider.

Regulatory Compliance and Authority Interface

• Serve as the organization's principal quality representative and strategic liaison with the FAA, EASA, UK CAA, CAAC, and other applicable civil aviation authorities, leading regulatory interactions related to audits, inspections, surveillance activities, certifications, approvals, findings, enforcement matters, and official correspondence across the global enterprise.
• Direct and maintain enterprise-wide oversight of compliance with applicable aviation regulations, regulatory approvals, company policies and manuals, customer requirements, OEM standards, manufacturer data, and Quality Management System requirements, ensuring consistent implementation across all locations and operational functions.
• Establish governance and control of quality-related documentation, including quality manuals, procedures, Operations Specifications, Capabilities Lists, Key Personnel Rosters, regulatory approvals, and compliance records, ensuring accuracy, standardization, and alignment with global regulatory requirements and business objectives.
• Ensure effective quality and airworthiness controls are implemented throughout the organization so that all maintenance, preventive maintenance, alterations, inspections, and return-to-service activities are performed by authorized personnel and fully comply with applicable regulatory and customer requirements.
• Provide leadership and technical guidance on quality, compliance, airworthiness, and regulatory matters to accountable managers, regional leaders, maintenance and inspection organizations, engineering, production planning, supply chain, training, and other key stakeholders across the global network.
• Lead the development and execution of strategies that proactively address regulatory risk, strengthen compliance performance, maintain regulatory confidence, and support the organization's growth, certifications, and international operating approvals.
• Foster collaborative relationships with regulatory authorities, customers, OEMs, and industry organizations to promote transparency, operational excellence, regulatory alignment, and the continuous advancement of quality and airworthiness standards worldwide.

Quality Management System Oversight

• Provide strategic oversight for the effectiveness, integrity, and continuous improvement of the global Quality Management System (QMS), ensuring compliance with applicable FAA regulations, international aviation authority requirements, company manuals, customer obligations, manufacturer recommendations, and corporate policies across all operating locations.
• Lead the global audit and surveillance program, establishing audit strategies, annual plans, risk-based priorities, execution standards, corrective action requirements, and effectiveness verification processes to ensure sustained regulatory compliance and operational excellence throughout the organization.
• Serve as the owner of the Audit, Corrective Action, and Continuous Improvement programs, ensuring quality, compliance, and operational issues are accurately identified, documented, investigated, resolved, trended, and effectively prevented from recurring across the enterprise.
• Establish and maintain a robust root cause analysis and corrective action framework to address maintenance discrepancies, audit findings, regulatory observations, supplier performance issues, customer concerns, safety-related events, and systemic quality risks.
• Ensure audit findings, corrective actions, quality indicators, and emerging risks are effectively communicated to executive leadership, enabling informed decision-making, accountability, and continuous enhancement of organizational performance.

Inspection, Airworthiness, and Release Oversight

• Ensure the Inspection Department is adequately staffed, trained, qualified, and supported to perform required inspection and airworthiness functions.
• Monitor inspection effectiveness to ensure airworthiness requirements are met and that inspection decisions remain independent, consistent, and compliant.
• Provide oversight of inspection stamp control, including issuance, recall, accountability, and misuse investigation.
• Ensure inspection personnel have access to current and approved technical data, applicable procedures, calibrated tools, and required records.
• Provide quality oversight for maintenance, repair, overhaul, and inspection activities to verify compliance with regulatory, customer, manufacturer, and company requirements.

Technical Data, Records, Tools, Materials, and Supplier Quality

• Serve as the global authority for technical data governance, ensuring approved, current, and regulatory-compliant technical data, engineering information, maintenance instructions, and manufacturer documentation are effectively controlled, distributed, and utilized across all maintenance, inspection, and support activities worldwide.
• Establish and oversee enterprise-wide records management programs to ensure maintenance, inspection, training, personnel, and airworthiness records are accurate, complete, secure, and retained in accordance with applicable regulatory, contractual, customer, and corporate requirements.
• Provide strategic oversight of tool calibration, measuring and test equipment control, shelf-life management, material handling, storage, and preservation programs to ensure the integrity of maintenance processes and prevent the use of unapproved, expired, counterfeit, nonconforming, or unsuitable tools, equipment, and materials throughout the global organization.
• Direct global supplier quality and oversight programs, including the approval, monitoring, auditing, and performance management of suppliers, vendors, subcontractors, and service providers to ensure continued compliance with regulatory, customer, OEM, and company requirements.
• Maintain governance of the Approved Vendor List (AVL) and associated supplier qualification processes, ensuring suppliers consistently meet quality, airworthiness, delivery, safety, and compliance expectations across all operating regions.
• Partner with Supply Chain, Engineering, Tooling, Maintenance, Inspection, and Operations leadership to proactively identify, assess, and mitigate supplier, tooling, material, technical data, and airworthiness risks that may impact safety, compliance, operational performance, or customer satisfaction.
• Drive the implementation of globally standardized processes and controls for technical data management, record retention, supplier quality assurance, tooling compliance, and material control to promote consistency, reliability, and operational excellence across the enterprise.
• Monitor supplier quality performance, technical data integrity, records compliance, and operational control effectiveness through audits, performance metrics, trend analysis, and risk assessments, providing executive leadership with timely insights and recommendations for continuous improvement.

Training, Safety, SMS, and Risk Management

• Oversee the Repair Station training program to ensure personnel remain qualified, current, and compliant with FAA and company training requirements.
• Support and oversee Safety Management System processes by ensuring safety reports are reviewed and trended, risk assessments and mitigations are documented, and safety actions are tracked to closure in coordination with accountable management.
• Ensure quality-related risks are identified, assessed, mitigated, monitored, and communicated to appropriate leadership.
• Promote compliance with OSHA and company safety policies in coordination with operational leadership.
• Support leadership development, competency expectations, and cross-functional coordination across quality, inspection, maintenance, engineering, and support teams.