Director of Quality, Site

GKN Aerospace•Tallassee, AL

43d

About The Position

The Director of Quality, Site leads the site’s Quality Management System and quality culture. The role drives the site’s quality transformation from compliance toward performance excellence by embedding Zero Defect thinking, translating customer and regulatory requirements into effective processes, strengthening process discipline, and preventing quality escapes. Through standardization, continuous improvement, and data-driven decision-making, the Director improves customer satisfaction, reduces the Cost of Poor Quality, and supports overall business performance. Working across engineering, operations, site leadership, customers, certifying bodies, aerospace authorities, and internal stakeholders, the Director builds organizational capability, promotes robust problem solving, and ensures quality is owned throughout the business. The role governs and continually improves the site’s QMS/BMS, monitors quality performance and risks, leads audits and risk assessments, and holds delegated authority for product compliance and approval of required conformance documentation.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Business, or Quality Management, or equivalent experience.
At least 10 years of quality leadership experience within aerospace or complex manufacturing.
Working knowledge of ISO 9001, AS9100, and aviation regulatory standards.
Strong command of Lean, APQP, and risk-based thinking.
Proven audit leadership using IAQG OASIS and Nadcap eAuditnet databases.
Exceptional communication and influence skills in a matrixed environment.
Must be a US Person and able to work under ITAR compliance standards.

Nice To Haves

Experience with AS13100 and aviation design/manufacturing regulations, including Part 21G, Part J, and Part 145.
Six Sigma certification and continuous improvement leadership.
Familiarity with IAQG SCMH, APQC frameworks, and AATT/IRCA AS9100/AS9110 training.
Commercial acumen and stakeholder engagement experience.

Responsibilities

Partner with site leadership to provide governance, assurance, and strategic leadership that embeds quality across the business.
Lead the site’s quality transformation by aligning customer expectations, business objectives, and quality priorities across functions.
Coach leaders and teams on GKN Aerospace Global Standards and build quality capability, operational discipline, and ownership.
Manage Quality resources, organizational capability development, and delegated Quality authorities.
Promote early problem identification, business ownership of quality, and learning from issues.
Represent the site in Quality matters with customers, certifying bodies, aerospace authorities, and internal stakeholders.
Plan, deploy, govern, and continually improve the site’s QMS/BMS to meet industry standards, aviation regulations, customer requirements, and APMS.
Translate customer, regulatory, and business requirements into processes, operational controls, training, and performance measures.
Establish transparent quality information, common data, meaningful measures, and risk-based insights for decision-making.
Monitor and improve Quality KPIs, including Quality Escapes, COPQ, corrective action effectiveness, process capability, and customer performance.
Analyze QMS/BMS performance, trends, risks, and improvement opportunities for management reviews and business decisions.
Promote standardized quality methods and common approaches to enable consistency and scalable improvement.
Plan and execute internal, customer, and third-party audits, resolve findings, and use audit outcomes to improve process maturity and performance.
Lead product and process audits, risk assessments, and opportunity analyses to ensure product safety, conformity, and operational effectiveness.
Share lessons learned, corrective actions, best practices, and problem-solving knowledge across functions and sites.
Establish Connected Governance through consistent standards, risk-based decisions, accountability, and oversight.
Manage systemic quality risks by identifying, escalating, and mitigating emerging issues using structured methodologies.
Hold delegated authority for product compliance and approval of regulatory- and customer-required conformance documentation.
Ensure customer, regulatory, and certification requirements are deployed, maintained, and verified throughout the product lifecycle.