Quality Engineering Manager

About the role

Key Technology in Walla Walla, WA is a worldwide leader in food processing technology. As a global industrial manufacturing company, our ongoing innovations provide increased control, continuous processing, sorting, automated inspection, specialized conveying, and grading and sizing, in processed fruits and vegetables, nuts, dried fruit, fresh-cut produce and more.

The Quality Engineering Manager is responsible for leading the organization's quality assurance and quality/reliability engineering functions to ensure products, processes, and systems consistently meet customer requirements, regulatory standards, and company objectives. This role drives continuous improvement initiatives, oversees quality management systems, manages quality engineering resources, and collaborates cross-functionally to improve product quality, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Responsibilities

• Quality Management: Develop, implement, and own the effectiveness of the company's Quality Management System (QMS). Ensure compliance with applicable industry standards, customer requirements, and regulatory requirements. Establish quality objectives, metrics, and reporting processes to monitor performance. Lead internal and external quality audits and support certification activities.
• Quality Engineering: Lead the engineering team in product and process quality improvement initiatives. Develop inspection, testing, validation, and acceptance criteria for products and processes. Utilize quality tools and methodologies including: Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Control Plans and Process Control, Six Sigma and Lean methodologies. Review engineering changes and assess quality impacts.
• Field Performance & Warranty Management: Monitor product performance in the field. Develop systems to collect and analyze warranty and service data. Build maturity through establishing a closed loop process connecting field failures and warranty claims to RCA, CAPA and Process Controls/Improvement tools. Identify systemic failures and lead corrective action initiatives. Work with Service and Customer Support teams to improve product uptime and customer satisfaction. Reduce warranty expenditures through proactive reliability improvements.
• Customer Quality: Serve as the primary escalation point for major customer quality concerns. Lead investigations