Director of Quality

UPSIDE INNOVATIONS LLC • West Chester Township, OH

2d • Onsite

About The Position

The Director of Quality leads quality across the organization, building a preventive, shared-ownership approach that identifies and addresses risks before they become defects, quality escapes, or customer complaints. The role partners with functional leaders, Operations, Engineering, Sales, Purchasing, Finance, and Business Analytics to improve processes and ensure quality actions have clear ownership and follow-through.

The Director owns the corrective and preventive action (CAPA) process and the Quality Management System, structured around the ISO 9001 framework and designed to support possible future certification. The position also oversees in-process and supplier quality, welding qualifications and inspection support, customer complaints and returns, quality metrics and cost-of-quality reporting, and quality workflows in Monday.com. The Director directly leads a team of three Quality Inspectors and promotes company-wide quality training and accountability.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree; engineering, quality, manufacturing, or another technical field is a plus.
• At least 8 years of quality experience in a manufacturing environment.
• At least 3 years leading a quality team or function.
• Proven ability to influence peers and gain functional leaders' buy-in for actions they own without relying on direct authority.
• Working knowledge of ISO 9001 or similar quality management system frameworks.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and coaching skills.
• Team-oriented approach and a professional, positive attitude.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in metal fabrication or custom and engineer-to-order manufacturing.
• Welding knowledge, including AWS D1.2 and WPS/welder qualification.
• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) certification.
• ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE) certification.
• Lean or Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a preventive action program to identify and address risks before they result in defects, quality escapes, or customer complaints.
• Facilitate preventive and corrective actions with the functional leaders who own the processes, establishing agreed solutions, owners, and due dates.
• Analyze trends in nonconformances, quality escapes, scrap, rework, warranty, and customer complaints to identify high-impact improvement opportunities.
• Partner with Operations to establish operator self-checks, first article inspection, inspection points, control plans, and mistake-proofing in fabrication, welding, and assembly.
• Shift inspector time from end-of-line inspection toward process verification, audits, and shop-floor coaching.
• Partner with Operations to implement picking and shipping verification controls, including pick verification, packing checklists, and pre-shipment checks.
• Partner with Engineering to reduce bill of material errors through review and release checks, design review participation, and downstream feedback.
• Participate in design and pre-production reviews and work with Engineering and Sales to identify manufacturability and quality risks on custom and non-standard projects.
• Own the CAPA process from issue capture through root cause analysis, agreed countermeasures, effectiveness verification, and closure.
• Lead and coach cross-functional teams in structured problem solving.
• Manage customer complaints and returns, including containment, customer communication, and follow-through; visit installation sites occasionally as needed.
• Define, manage, and continually improve the organization-wide Quality Management System around the ISO 9001 framework, maintaining readiness to support future certification.
• Maintain controlled procedures, work instructions, inspection standards, and quality records.
• Ensure products meet applicable code and regulatory requirements.
• Support customer and parent company audits and align with SixAxis quality practices where appropriate.
• Own the welder qualification program, ensuring welders are qualified to Upside's Welding Procedure Specifications and qualification records are current.
• Lead and support the on-staff CWI in welding inspection, welder testing, and weld quality improvement.
• Establish a cost-of-quality model covering scrap, rework, remakes, shipping errors, warranty, and field repair costs, in partnership with Finance and Business Analytics.
• Define and report quality KPIs, including quality escapes by source, first-pass yield, internal defect rate, cost of quality, CAPA on-time closure and effectiveness, and supplier performance.
• Own quality workflows in Monday.com, including task ownership, due dates, and escalation, to make actions visible to the leadership team.
• Lead regular leadership-team quality review meetings covering metrics, trends, and agreed action status.
• Set inspection and quality requirements for raw materials, extrusions, and purchased components, and monitor supplier compliance.
• Partner with Purchasing on supplier qualification, scorecards, supplier corrective actions, and incoming inspection.
• Directly lead, develop, and work alongside three Quality Inspectors, setting priorities, inspection coverage, training, and performance reviews.
• Train employees across the company on quality expectations, inspection standards, and problem-solving methods.
• Build a culture in which front-line employees and leaders raise issues early and own quality in their areas.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director