Global Manager/Global Director, Design Assurance in Product Development

MSA, The Safety Company•Berlin, PA

34d

About The Position

Are you someone who is passionate, motivated, and driven to make a difference? If so, MSA Safety is the perfect fit for your career. At MSA, SAFETY is who we are AND it is what we do. We are a purpose-driven company committed to deploying innovation and technology to deliver on our Mission to help protect people and assets all around the world. We continue to be relentless in our pursuit of solving our customers greatest problems so they can go home safe each and every day. Are you in? Read on for more details about this particular role. The Global Manager, Design Assurance in product Development is part of the global R&D leadership team responsible to ensure that design, development, and engineering processes lead to MSA products and solutions that consistently meet high standards of reliability, quality, and manufacturability. Acting as both a strategic leader and hands-on contributor, this role develops best practices and standards, implements processes, and drives continuous improvement initiatives within the engineering function. This leader will have a passion for products, integrated solutions, customer success, and business outcomes – turning strategy to life with scale as a strategic operational leader, change agent, and strategic communicator, with the ability to impact cross-functional teams and deliver growth.

Requirements

Deep understanding of design assurance, risk management, and manufacturing quality principles.
Proficiency with statistical analysis, SPC tools, and verification/validation methodologies.
Experience with integrated mechanical, electrical, and software-based systems
Strong communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills.
Excellent project management and organizational abilities.
High attention to detail, analytical rigor, and data-driven decision-making
Bachelor’s or advanced degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
8–10+ years of leadership experience in Design Assurance, Six Sigma, Reliability, Quality, Manufacturing, or R&D Engineering within a complex product development or manufacturing environment.
Deep understanding of design assurance, risk management, and manufacturing quality principles.
Proficiency with statistical analysis, SPC tools, and verification/validation methodologies.
Experience with integrated mechanical, electrical, and software-based systems.
Strong communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills.
Excellent project management and organizational abilities.
High attention to detail, analytical rigor, and data-driven decision-making

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the Engineering Design Quality strategy, including staffing proposals, aligned with business objectives and customer expectations, including close collaboration with the Verification & Validation and Product Compliance Engineering leaders
Lead, coach, and develop direct reports in applicable subject matter expertise, as well as build necessary skillset and capabilities throughout the engineering function through training and similar programs
Allocate resources, set performance goals, and conduct evaluations to build organizational capability and bench strength.
Champion a culture of quality, reliability, and continuous improvement across the R&D function
Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on product risk, reliability, and quality performance related to New Product Development and Engineering Changes
Establish and maintain quality standards, processes, and procedures in compliance with ISO 9001, regulatory, and MSA Quality Management System requirements
Ensure robust design controls and risk management in New Product Development (NPD) and throughout the product lifecycle, including the Engineering Change Management (ECM) process
Identify and deploy training where needed on the NPD, ECM and other critical to quality processes and its tools such as deliverable guidance, FMEA, creating robust qualification plans and other opportunities
Provide oversight for design inputs, reviews, verification/validation, and design transfer to manufacturing
Establish and monitor effectiveness of processes that ensure product designs incorporate manufacturability, reliability, voice of the customer, and compliance with critical-to-quality (CTQ) requirements
Establish methods to evaluate effectiveness and ensure adherence to process such as audit, governance and gate reviews
Collaborate with other areas of quality to ensure robust Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and feedback loop from customer, supplier and manufacturing, is incorporated into designs during new development and on-going lifecycle changes
Identify and incorporate modern methodologies for quality function deployment on complex architectures, including the capture of requirements across system and sub systems and their deployment through the development and industrialization process (product specification-FMEA-verification, etc.)
Utilize Lean Six Sigma fundamental principles to continuously improve NPD and ECM processes
Drive a structured problem-solving culture using methodologies such as 8D, A3, Six Sigma, and DMAIC.
Lead initiatives to identify and close process gaps, reduce inefficiencies, and enhance design robustness.
Apply quality and reliability tools (DFMEA, Design Reviews) to prevent defects and improve product performance.
Oversee engineering change management and APQP processes to ensure risk mitigation and continuous improvement.
Capture and deploy lessons learned and best practices to strengthen product and process quality.
Develop a strategy and implementation plan for continuously improving the NPD process and related tools and sub-processes to improve NPD timeliness while improving quality
Define and monitor key quality and reliability indicators (e.g., defect rates, field performance, CAPA effectiveness) as feedback into design improvements
Promote a proactive, prevention-based approach to quality management supported by measurable performance metrics.
Develop dashboards and reports to monitor engineering quality performance where applicable and drive accountability.
Working closely with Customer Quality function, analyze customer feedback, warranty data, and service findings to identify improvement opportunities to incorporate into new or improved product designs
Ensure warranty performance targets are developed and reviewed collaboratively with Engineering, Compliance, Marketing, and Warranty teams.
Provide executive-level reporting on quality trends, risks, and improvement initiatives.