Engineering & Quality Manager (Camden, Arkansas)

Valence•Camden, AR

About The Position

The Engineering & Quality Manager oversees engineering processes, quality systems, continuous improvement, and organizational development. The role works with cross-functional teams to introduce and improve processes, manage risks, ensure conformance with regulations, industry standards, and product specifications, and coordinate projects across locations. It also leads quality activities throughout production and supports customer and regulatory requirements. The manager establishes quality goals and metrics, oversees audits, inspections, corrective actions, and quality-system changes, and works with operations to build quality into processes. The position also leads employee training and improvement initiatives, manages and develops the quality team, maintains career paths, and ensures staff training keeps pace with certification requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree from an accredited university.
At least 10 years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
At least 5 years of leadership experience.
Ability to manage and supervise personnel and operations.
Ability to communicate effectively, solve problems, make decisions, plan strategically, manage time and resources, and coach and develop others.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering, Chemistry, or Quality preferred.
Manufacturing experience in aerospace, medical, or another regulated industry preferred.
Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversee implementation of new processes and procedures, working with cross-functional teams to identify improvement opportunities and risks, develop change plans, and monitor progress.
Develop and deploy processes to ensure conformance with government regulations, industry standards, and product specifications.
Define gaps between external and internal processes and establish processes to integrate systems and procedures.
Drive test engineering excellence through automation, repeatability, and methodology development.
Lead concurrent engineering efforts, including process development and first-part integration, representing quality assurance and the customer.
Review process specifications for compliance with industry safety and performance standards.
Evaluate new technologies and materials for suitability in manufacturing processes.
Coordinate with engineering, infrastructure, and business stakeholders to confirm process strategies and coverage across locations.
Manage multiple projects to ensure timely completion and communicate project status to stakeholders and participants.
Set quality improvement goals and identify opportunities based on audits, metrics, and customer feedback.
Define KPIs and metrics for engineering and quality teams and track and report results.
Ensure root-cause and corrective-action analyses are completed for escapes, and that processes to prevent future escapes are effective and efficient.
Work with operations to incorporate quality into their processes.
Provide input to, design, or implement quality standards, specifications, and procedures for process control, improvement, testing, and inspection.
Review program plans for quality compliance before production.
Coordinate product inspections and ensure products meet customer quality standards.
Oversee quality processes during production and manage and update the quality system and processes as necessary.
Establish organization-wide quality metrics to reduce scrap and rework and improve the efficiency and discipline of the Quality organization.
Communicate with internal and external customers as needed to explain processes and risks.
Plan, schedule, and conduct employee training on quality-control best practices and techniques.
Establish and manage process-improvement metrics intended to reduce customer escapes to near zero.
Conduct internal audits of quality-control methods, identify potential problems, and recommend production-efficiency improvements.
Lead training across departments so employees understand how and why metrics are measured.
Use established metrics to identify improvement opportunities and implement changes.
Lead and support quality-improvement initiatives, including process and product characterization, to achieve continuous and cost improvements.
Manage and motivate the quality team, assess performance, create individual performance plans, and implement strategic replacements as needed.
Maintain career paths for Quality Engineering staff on both managerial and individual-contributor tracks.
Develop quality engineering, compliance, and leadership talent for new product introductions and product life-cycle management.
Supervise personnel and operations according to company policies and procedures and sound operating principles.
Ensure necessary training is provided to maintain current certification requirements.