Quality Manager - Industry

Festo inspires people and organizations around the world with innovative solutions for industrial automation. We are an independent family business and offer employees the opportunity to take bold steps, realize their ideas, and take on responsibility.

About the role

The Quality Manager Industry is responsible for developing and continuously improving customer experiences with Festo while contributing to strengthening global quality standards. This role ensures the implementation of all quality-related topics, guidelines, and procedures to fully comply with customer requirements, applicable standards, and legal regulations within various industrial sectors. The Quality Manager Industry ensures the maintenance and ongoing improvement of product and process quality, integrating industry-specific requirements to guarantee preventive quality measures. Learnings from complaints are used to derive insights that support proactive quality management for customer benefit. The role is based in the USA, executing local quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and continuous improvement activities, while being managed both disciplinarily and professionally by headquarters. The position acts as the primary quality liaison between customers, local operations, and headquarters.

Responsibilities

• Ensure the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of quality standards in the industrial sector, focusing on Semicon and life science industries, while considering customer requirements, applicable standards, and legal regulations.
• Proactively identify, analyze, and sustainably resolve quality issues, considering cost-effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
• Implement and manage quality management measures and standards in the industrial sector.
• Represent customer requirements within the company and ensure their implementation.
• Translate HQ quality objectives into local targets and annual plans.
• Act as the local champion for global quality initiatives, ensuring timely adoption and local adaptation where necessary.
• Control and report quality KPIs and customer satisfaction in the industrial sector and defined SKA.
• Represent the needs of SKAs internally, primarily process-oriented.
• Engage in direct customer contact for quality escalations after coordination with the GKAM.
• Review quality-specific customer requirements that cannot be ensured by the standard and drive internal implementation to meet these requirements.
• Lead project management for major quality issues, including direct customer contact where necessary.
• Lead global improvement projects to increase customer satisfaction, improve quality, and optimize processes, including process definition.
• Promote improvement processes (CIP, Six Sigma) to sustainably enhance efficiency and quality (process, customer satisfaction, errors).
• Ensure the quality and completeness of audit-relevant documentation and its database.
• Identify and sustainably resolve customer issues in the quality area.

Qualifications

• Successfully completed degree in Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a comparable advanced technical qualification.
• Solid knowledge in quality management, e.g., through advanced studies in quality management, training as a quality manager, or similar.
• Experience with common quality techniques (Six Sigma, CAPA, 7 Tools, 8D, etc.).
• Minimum of 2 years of experience in quality management and/or direct customer contact in sales or consulting of complex products and systems in automation technology, including managing key accounts.
• Knowledge of quality management systems and their application in an industrial environment (focus on Semicon, AMI, or Lifetech).

Skills

• Ability to optimize processes as well as conduct audits and root cause analyses using methods such as Six Sigma, SPC, and FMEA.
• Project management skills for planning and implementing quality initiatives.
• Industry and production technology expertise for thorough analysis and evaluation of production processes and technologies.
• Strong communication skills to conduct training, provide feedback, and communicate effectively with customers and internal stakeholders.

Benefits

Festo Corporation offers a robust benefits package designed to help employees and their dependents stay healthy, feel secure, and maintain a work/life balance.

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance.
• Flexible Spending Programs.
• Short-term and Long-term disability.
• 401k retirement plan.
• Pet Insurance.
• Paid Holidays and Paid Time Off.
• Educational assistance.
• Additional diverse opportunities for development.
• A strong team environment.
• Freedom to drive ideas forward and develop innovative solutions with real impact.
• Global network within a family-owned company.
• Attractive compensation and additional benefits.