Quality Manager

About the role

The Quality Manager is responsible for the leadership, implementation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the site Quality Management System (QMS) and for ensuring that products and processes consistently meet customer, statutory, regulatory, and internal requirements. The position provides leadership for quality assurance, quality control, corrective action, risk management, audits, customer quality, supplier quality, and quality performance. The Quality manager resides on site and is a functional team member of the site management staff.

Responsibilities

• Lead and maintain the site QMS in accordance with applicable standards, customer requirements, and company policies.
• Ensure quality processes are documented, implemented, monitored, and continually improved.
• Maintain quality manuals, procedures, work instructions, forms, records, and related controlled documentation.
• Promote a quality-first culture and ensure quality responsibilities are understood throughout the organization.
• Interact on site with various team members to resolve quality issues and any other functional activities to improve site quality.
• Plan, coordinate, lead, and follow up on internal, customer, certification, and third-party audits.
• Maintain applicable certifications and registrations, including ISO 9001 and AS9100 where required.
• Ensure audit findings, observations, and opportunities are addressed in a timely and effective manner.
• Serve as the primary site quality representative for certification bodies, customers, and other external stakeholders.
• Manage customer complaints, returns, RMAs, and quality concerns through effective containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and verification.
• Lead or facilitate 8D, CAPA, and other structured problem-solving activities.
• Ensure timely communication and effective closure of customer quality issues.
• Monitor customer quality performance and identify recurring issues and improvement opportunities.
• Manage quality inspection and verification activities for incoming materials, purchased components, in-process operations, and finished products.
• Ensure inspection methods, acceptance criteria, sampling plans, and quality records are appropriate and effective.
• Support new product development and production launch activities from a quality perspective.
• Apply preventive quality tools including FMEA, Control Plans, SPC, MSA, APQP, PPAP, and mistake-proofing as applicable.
• Support supplier qualification, performance monitoring, supplier corrective action, and supplier audits as required.
• Work with Purchasing, Engineering, Operations, and suppliers to resolve supplier-related quality issues.
• Monitor supplier quality trends and drive improvement where performance does not meet requirements.
• Ensure an effective calibration and measurement system is maintained.
• Ensure inspection and test equipment is identified, calibrated, controlled, and suitable for intended use.
• Support measurement system analysis and investigation of measurement-related concerns.
• Develop, maintain, and report meaningful quality KPIs and trends to management.
• Analyze scrap, rework, customer complaints, RMAs, defects, corrective actions, supplier performance, and other quality data.
• Use data to identify risk, prioritize improvement activities, and support management decision-making.
• Participate in management reviews and strategic planning for quality objectives.
• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop the Quality organization.
• Establish clear expectations, accountability, and performance objectives for quality personnel.
• Provide quality awareness and problem-solving training to employees.
• Work collaboratively with Operations, Engineering, Purchasing, Sales, and other functional leaders.
• Authority to identify and escalate quality risks and to initiate appropriate containment and corrective actions.
• Authority to communicate and enforce quality requirements for processes, products, records, and inspection activities.
• Responsibility for ensuring nonconforming product is appropriately identified, controlled, documented, and dispositioned through the established process.
• Responsibility for maintaining the effectiveness of the QMS and reporting significant quality risks and performance issues to management.
• Authority to stop or recommend stopping a process when there is a significant risk of producing nonconforming product, consistent with site procedures and management authority.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Science, or a related field preferred; equivalent relevant experience may be considered.
• Several years of progressive experience in quality management within a manufacturing environment.
• Working knowledge of ISO 9001; knowledge and experience with AS9100 strongly preferred for aerospace and defense environments.
• Demonstrated experience with 8D, CAPA, root-cause analysis, FMEA, SPC, APQP, PPAP, and corrective/preventive quality methods as applicable.
• Experience leading internal, customer, and third-party audits.
• Experience managing customer complaints, supplier quality issues, nonconforming material, and corrective actions.
• Strong analytical,