Division Director, Quality & Customer Experience

Corning•City of Corning, NY

2d•$184,622 - $253,855•Remote

About The Position

Corning's Advanced Optics Division is seeking a bold, strategic, and transformational leader to serve as Division Director, Quality & Customer Experience. This is a high-impact senior leadership role for a leader who thrives at the intersection of customer trust, operational excellence, and business growth. The Advanced Optics business serves demanding markets like semiconductors, aerospace & defense, space systems, precision optics, and advanced photonics, where customers depend on Corning for performance and reliability. In this role, you will define and lead the strategy to ensure customers experience Corning at its best throughout their entire journey with the company. You will shape how quality and customer experience operate across the division, building the necessary systems, talent, and cross-functional alignment to support future growth. This is an opportunity to transform a critical business capability, influence senior leaders, and create competitive advantages through exceptional execution and customer confidence. The role involves leading a global organization responsible for strengthening product quality, elevating customer experience, and embedding a proactive, prevention-based mindset across the business. Success requires executive-level leadership and deep operational credibility, with the ability to challenge legacy approaches, align cross-functional teams, and create disciplined execution in a complex, highly technical manufacturing environment.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering, mechanical engineering or related field
10+ years of leadership experience in Quality, Customer Experience, Manufacturing, Operations, or related functions
Success leading in advanced manufacturing, engineered products, highly technical B2B, or regulated environments
A track record of driving cross-functional transformation and delivering sustained improvements in quality, customer satisfaction, and operational performance
Experience serving customers in industries such as semiconductor, aerospace, defense, space, medical, precision optics, or other high-reliability markets
Strong executive presence and the ability to influence across functions, levels, and geographies
Technical credibility with engineering and manufacturing teams in complex production environments
Financial acumen, with the ability to connect quality and CX initiatives to margin, growth, and risk reduction
Courage to challenge “the way we’ve always done it”
A systems mindset and bias toward prevention over containment
Strong business judgment and decision-making in ambiguous, high-stakes environments
A collaborative, high-accountability leadership style
Passion for developing teams and building organizational capability
Deep commitment to customer trust, execution excellence, and continuous improvement

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with digital, data, analytics, or AI-enabled tools that strengthen quality systems or customer experience is a plus

Responsibilities

Set the vision and strategy for division-wide Quality and Customer Experience.
Lead transformational change across systems, processes, and operating rhythms.
Champion the voice of the customer across commercial, engineering, operations, and supply chain teams.
Build scalable capabilities that improve performance, protect margins, and enable growth.
Enable excellent customer outcomes through quality systems, processes, governance, and coordinated issue resolution.
Raise the strategic impact of Quality and CX from functional excellence to business leadership.
Develop and execute a multi-year Quality & Customer Experience strategy aligned to division growth objectives.
Establish clear priorities, operating mechanisms, and performance metrics tied to business outcomes.
Position Quality and CX as strategic enablers of growth, customer retention, and profitability.
Drive alignment across the full customer lifecycle, ensuring customer requirements are translated effectively from opportunity development through production and field performance.
Partner closely with Sales, Engineering, Operations, and Supply Chain to improve responsiveness, predictability, and customer confidence.
Support executive-level customer escalations with urgency, transparency, and accountability.
Serve as a strong internal advocate for the customer while balancing business, technical, and operational realities.
Drive measurable improvements in quality performance, including yield, scrap, rework, nonconformance reduction, and root-cause effectiveness.
Strengthen prevention-focused quality systems and robust problem-solving disciplines.
Improve supplier and extended enterprise performance to reduce customer-impacting risk.
Ensure the division has the right management systems, governance, and operating cadence to sustain results.
Challenge legacy processes, handoffs, and structures that limit speed, consistency, or customer trust.
Redesign how Quality and Customer Experience operate where needed — not simply optimize around existing constraints.
Build a high-performing organization with strong leadership, accountability, technical depth, and influence.
Foster adoption of digital, data, and advanced analytics tools that improve quality insights and customer outcomes.

Benefits

Company-wide bonuses and long-term incentives
100% company-paid pension benefit with fixed contributions that grow throughout your career
Matching contributions to your 401(k) savings plan (up to 4% of pay when you contribute at least 6% of pay)
Medical, dental, vision insurance
Paid parental leave
Family building support
Fitness programs
Company-paid life insurance
Disability insurance
Disease management programs
Paid time off
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)