Senior Manager, Quality

Lead quality activities for complex aerospace development programs from prototype to production. Build and manage a quality team, implement risk management and quality systems, ensure compliance with AS9100, and partner with engineering and manufacturing to achieve reliability and mission success. Requires 10+ years aerospace experience and 5+ years leading quality organizations.

About the job

What you'll do

Development Quality Leadership

Serve as the quality leader for XBAT development.
Establish quality strategy, objectives, and metrics aligned with program milestones.
Integrate quality requirements into the product development lifecycle.
Ensure quality considerations are incorporated during system architecture, design reviews, verification, validation, and qualification activities.
Partner with Engineering leadership to identify and mitigate technical and programmatic risks.
Drive a culture of proactive quality and continuous improvement throughout the program.

Design & Configuration Quality

Ensure quality requirements are appropriately captured in product definitions, specifications, and design documentation.
Participate in design reviews, change control boards, and configuration management activities.
Ensure full configuration and traceability for all material installed into prototype aircraft.
Evaluate engineering changes for quality and production readiness impacts.
Support requirements verification and validation planning.
Drive design-for-manufacturing, design-for-quality, and design-for-reliability initiatives.

Risk Management & Reliability

Lead quality participation in program risk management activities.
Establish and maintain FRACAS processes for development and flight test phases of the program.
Facilitate root cause and corrective action investigations for design, manufacturing, supplier, and field failures.
Support reliability growth planning and execution.
Monitor defect trends, failure modes, and reliability metrics to identify systemic risks.

Verification, Validation & Test Quality

Develop quality oversight strategies for laboratory, ground, and flight test activities.
Ensure test results, anomalies, and nonconformances are appropriately documented and dispositioned.
Support qualification and certification efforts.
Establish processes for managing test escapes, failures, and corrective actions.

Nonconformance & Corrective Action Management

Lead Material Review Board activities for development hardware.
Establish scalable processes for nonconformance management.
Drive root cause analysis using structured problem-solving methodologies.
Ensure timely and effective corrective and preventive actions.
Track effectiveness of corrective actions through closure.

Production Readiness & Industrialization

Partner with Manufacturing and Supply Chain teams to transition products from prototype to production.
Define quality requirements for production readiness reviews.
Support development of inspection plans, acceptance criteria, and control strategies.
Ensure lessons learned from development are incorporated into production processes.
Lead quality planning activities supporting low-rate initial production and rate increases.

Quality Management System

Develop and implement quality processes supporting aerospace development programs.
Ensure compliance with AS9100, customer requirements, and internal procedures.
Drive continuous improvement of development quality processes.
Support internal and external audits as required.
Establish scalable systems that support future production growth.

Leadership & Team Development

Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing quality organization.
Recruit and develop quality engineers, inspectors, and technicians.
Establish clear objectives, priorities, and performance expectations.
Promote a culture of accountability, technical excellence, and collaboration.
Develop organizational capabilities to support future company growth.

Required qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Aerospace Engineering, or related technical discipline.
10+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, aviation, space, or other highly regulated industries.
5+ years of leadership experience managing technical quality organizations.
Experience supporting complex product development programs from concept through production transition.
Strong knowledge of quality systems, engineering development processes, and aerospace manufacturing.
Experience leading root cause investigations and corrective action programs.
Experience with risk management, reliability engineering, and failure analysis.
Working knowledge of AS9100 quality management systems.
Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional teams and senior leadership.

Preferred qualifications

Experience supporting UAV, aerospace, defense, aviation, autonomous systems, or advanced technology programs.
Experience leading quality organizations during rapid company growth.
Background in systems engineering, reliability engineering, or development engineering.
Experience with flight test programs and qualification testing.
ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), or equivalent certification.
Familiarity with government defense programs and customer quality requirements.

Skills

Quality Management, Root Cause Analysis, Risk Management, Reliability Engineering, As9100, Fracas, Aerospace Development, Configuration Management, Failure Analysis, Corrective Action, Design For Quality, Production Readiness