Principal Quality Engineer

What you'll do

Development Quality Leadership

• Serve as the lead quality engineering representative on a major aerospace development program.
• Establish quality engineering strategies and methodologies throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Ensure quality requirements are incorporated into system architecture, design, verification, validation, and production planning activities.
• Drive quality integration within cross-functional engineering teams.
• Provide technical leadership for complex quality and reliability challenges.

Design Quality & Product Development

• Participate in system requirements reviews, design reviews, and technical readiness reviews.
• Assess product designs for quality, manufacturability, inspectability, maintainability, and reliability.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with design maturity and product performance.
• Evaluate engineering changes and configuration modifications for quality impact.
• Champion Design for Quality (DFQ), Design for Manufacturability (DFM), and Design for Reliability (DFR) principles.

Failure Analysis & Root Cause Investigation

• Lead investigations of the program's most complex failures and quality escapes.
• Apply advanced root cause methodologies to identify systemic causes of defects and failures.
• Facilitate cross-functional corrective action teams.
• Drive closure and effectiveness verification of corrective actions.
• Mentor engineering teams in structured problem-solving techniques.

Reliability & Risk Management

• Develop reliability growth strategies and quality metrics for development programs.
• Support implementation and execution of FRACAS processes.
• Analyze failure trends, test results, field data, and operational performance.
• Identify emerging risks before they impact program objectives.
• Recommend design, process, or operational improvements to improve product robustness.

Verification, Validation & Test Quality

• Develop quality engineering approaches for laboratory, environmental, ground, and flight testing.
• Ensure test anomalies, failures, and nonconformances are properly evaluated and resolved.
• Support qualification and certification efforts.
• Evaluate test readiness and production readiness criteria.
• Ensure lessons learned are captured and incorporated into future designs.

Manufacturing & Production Readiness

• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop scalable production processes.
• Support development of inspection strategies, acceptance criteria, and process controls.
• Evaluate manufacturing capability and production risks during product maturation.
• Ensure development lessons learned are translated into production controls.
• Support transition from prototype builds to low-rate and full-rate production.

Supplier & Component Quality

• Support supplier quality planning for critical components and technologies.
• Evaluate supplier quality risks associated with development hardware.
• Participate in supplier investigations and corrective actions when required.
• Drive quality improvements across the supply base supporting the program.

Technical Leadership

• Serve as a mentor and technical coach to Quality Engineers and cross-functional engineering teams.
• Develop quality engineering standards, tools, and best practices.
• Influence program decisions through technical expertise and data-driven analysis.
• Lead special projects involving advanced quality engineering methodologies.
• Act as a trusted advisor to engineering and executive leadership.

Required qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, aviation, space, or similarly complex engineered products.
• Extensive experience supporting new product development programs.
• Deep understanding of quality engineering principles and development lifecycles.
• Demonstrated success leading complex technical investigations and root cause analyses.
• Experience with reliability engineering, failure analysis, and risk management.
• Strong understanding of aerospace manufacturing processes and production transitions.
• Working knowledge of AS9100 quality systems and aerospace regulatory requirements.
• Excellent communication and technical leadership skills.

Preferred qualifications

• Advanced degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or related field.
• Experience with UAVs, autonomous systems, aircraft development, or defense technologies.
• Experience supporting flight test programs and developmental testing.
• Expertise in FRACAS, FMEA, reliability growth, and statistical analysis techniques.
• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) or equivalent certification.
• Experience supporting military or government aerospace programs.