Customer Quality Engineer

Pennex Aluminum Company•Leetonia, OH

5d•Onsite

About The Position

The Customer Quality Engineer plans, coordinates, and supports the quality management system to ensure extruded and fabricated products consistently meet established quality standards and customer requirements. Serving as a key liaison between customers and internal manufacturing teams, this role leads investigation and resolution of customer quality concerns, including root cause analysis and corrective actions. The role partners with Quality, Engineering, and Operations to improve manufacturing processes, reduce defects, prevent recurrence, and strengthen customer satisfaction and confidence. The position is based at Pennex’s Leetonia, Ohio location. It requires a bachelor’s degree in a related technical field and at least five years of Quality Engineer experience in an automotive or manufacturing company, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. The role requires proficiency with automotive quality tools and methods, including APQP, FMEA-CP, SPC, and MSA. Direct customer collaboration or supplier management is a plus. Applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States without current or future employer-sponsored work authorization; OPT/CPT is not eligible. A pre-employment physical and drug screen are required, as is regular attendance. A confidentiality agreement is required. Relocation assistance may be available.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a related technical field from a four-year college or university.
Five or more years of Quality Engineer experience in an automotive or manufacturing company, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Proficiency in automotive quality tools: APQP, FMEA-CP, SPC, and MSA.
Ability to read, analyze, and interpret customer prints, GD&T, technical standards, and legal documents.
Ability to respond promptly, concisely, and diplomatically to inquiries or complaints from customers, regulatory agencies, and internal stakeholders.
Ability to analyze data, draw conclusions, and present information to management, customers, employees, or suppliers.
Ability to apply advanced mathematical concepts and statistical methods, Lean manufacturing principles, test reliability and validity, analysis of variance, correlation techniques, sampling theory, and factor analysis.
Ability to define problems, collect data, determine root causes, collaborate on effective corrective actions, and meet deadlines.
Ability to collaborate with internal stakeholders, resolve conflicts, and establish best practices.
Ability to leverage AI tools to optimize workflows and daily productivity.
Must pass a pre-employment physical and drug screen.
Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring employer-sponsored work authorization now or in the future; OPT/CPT is not eligible.
Regular attendance is required.

Nice To Haves

Direct customer collaboration experience.
Supplier management experience.

Responsibilities

Serve as the Voice of Customer and primary contact for quality-related customer complaints from initiation through resolution.
Manage the internal customer response process, ensuring timely responses, containment, root cause analysis, and corrective and preventive actions.
Manage the CAPA process using customer and internal portals, and report external cost of poor quality (COPQ) and related metrics.
Direct product returned material authorization (RMA) activities and coordinate with MRP systems alongside Sales, Operations, customer service, and shipping.
Collaborate with sub-suppliers and outside processors to establish customer requirements and ensure first-time quality (FTQ).
Manage sub-supplier quality through audits, scorecards, and corrective actions.
Provide technical support to manufacturing areas and the Sales/customer service team, and provide support onsite at customer and supplier locations as needed.
Support ISO and IATF certification, internal audits, compliance activities, and tasks related to the quality management system (QMS).
Use Lean tools, statistical techniques, and analytical methods for problem solving, root cause discovery, and corrective action.
Support PFMEA and control plan modifications and apply lessons learned across processes.
Support annual PPAP documentation according to customer requirements as needed.
Direct inspection and testing activities to ensure products continuously comply with specifications.
Ensure customer requirements are met, customer scorecards remain green, and provide input to weekly and monthly operational metric reviews.
Perform other duties as assigned.