Program Quality Manager

Leidos•Huntsville, AL

1d•$92,300 - $166,850

About The Position

Leidos Defense Mission Assurance is seeking a Program Quality Manager to serve as the accountable leader for program-level Mission Assurance integration. The manager establishes the program assurance strategy, ensures Product Assurance and Execution Assurance are planned and resourced, and verifies that Program Quality Engineers perform assurance activities—or confirm qualified execution—before products are baselined, released, or delivered. The role leads the program quality team, owns the Program Quality Plan and assurance sampling strategy, establishes and analyzes program quality metrics and Confidence Pulse inputs, and drives corrective and preventive actions to verified closure. The manager interfaces directly with customers and program management and is accountable for assurance effectiveness, while not serving as the routine executor of assurance activities. The role ensures compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and contractual quality requirements. The position oversees Product Assurance for decision-based products and ensures assurance is risk-based, properly recorded, and completed before products are used as downstream baselines or delivered. It also oversees Execution Assurance against approved and baselined plans, ensuring reviews, testing, configuration changes, supplier execution, production-readiness activities, and acceptance events meet applicable criteria and produce controlled objective evidence. The manager establishes performance reporting and predictive prevention practices, oversees audits and corrective actions, leads and develops the team, and owns program quality deliverables including the Program Quality Plan, Acceptance Criteria Matrix, Assurance Readiness package, monthly Confidence Pulse, dashboards, checklists, delivery evidence packages, and Quality Status Reports. The Program Quality Manager collaborates with Operations, Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and quality and compliance teams to support production readiness, product conformity, first-pass yield, reliability, certification readiness, and program execution. The role is also a stakeholder across the business lifecycle, including new business capture and procurement.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Quality Management, Engineering, Industrial Management, Business Administration, or a related field is listed as preferred.
At least 8 years of experience in quality engineering, program quality, or quality systems management within defense, aerospace, or regulated manufacturing.
At least 3 years leading or managing a quality team.
Experience owning program-level quality planning, including quality plans, acceptance criteria, and inspection or sampling strategy.
Working knowledge of AS9100 and/or ISO 9001.
Working knowledge of government contract quality requirements and contractual quality clause flowdown.
Working knowledge of configuration management and baseline control, and internal quality management systems.
Experience with root cause analysis, corrective and preventive action, and verification of effectiveness.
Experience establishing and reporting quality metrics and KPIs to program leadership and customers.
Experience supporting internal and external audits and closing findings with objective evidence.
Ability to interpret contracts, specifications, drawings, technical documents, and regulatory requirements.
Ability to interface directly with Government or prime customers and program leadership.
Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.
Ability to manage multiple program deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Strong attention to detail and evidence accuracy.
Ability to obtain a security clearance.

Nice To Haves

ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE).
ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE).
ISO 9001 or AS9100 Lead Auditor certification.
Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.
Experience supporting DoD contracts or prime contractors.
Familiarity with AS9102 first article inspection and APQP or AS9145 practices.
Familiarity with ERP/MRP and PLM systems, preferably Windchill.
Experience with quality data analytics and dashboard reporting tools such as Power BI.
Experience serving as a voting member of a program risk board.
Security clearance eligibility or active clearance preferred.

Responsibilities

Establish the program assurance strategy and ensure Product Assurance and Execution Assurance are planned and resourced.
Lead the program quality team and own the Program Quality Plan and program assurance sampling strategy.
Ensure Product Assurance is performed on decision-based products, including plans, requirements, designs, test artifacts, verification evidence, acceptance data, supplier deliverables, and other downstream-driving products.
Ensure Product Assurance is planned, risk-based, performed or confirmed by a qualified role, recorded, and closed before products are baselined or delivered.
Maintain and adjust the Program Assurance Sampling Plan based on assurance evidence and results.
Ensure quality clauses and standards identified through Assurance Readiness are flowed into quality plans, acceptance criteria, supplier controls, inspection strategies, and assurance activities; coordinate unclear or changing requirements with Contracts and Quality Strategic Planning.
Align program inspection and sampling strategies, including statistically valid sampling where appropriate, with customer, regulatory, corporate, product-risk, and configuration requirements.
Ensure Execution Assurance is performed against Product-Assured, approved, and baselined plans, including the PMP, SEMP, CMP, IMS, test plans, supplier plans, and program-specific quality commitments.
Ensure lifecycle reviews, peer reviews, testing, configuration changes, supplier execution, production-readiness activities, and acceptance events occur as planned, meet entry and exit criteria, and leave controlled objective evidence.
Verify in real time that program execution follows approved plans and that objective evidence is complete, controlled, and accessible.
Coordinate internal- and external-audit readiness, ensure findings are recorded in CAD or the approved system of record, and verify corrective-action closure with effectiveness evidence.
Maintain the current-state assurance record in the Program Assurance Tracker and post results to CAD when formal records are required.
Establish, monitor, and analyze quality metrics such as yield, rework, NCR rates, escape rates, and targeted KPIs.
Record assurance results, dispositions, systemic trends, and escalations in CAD or the approved system of record and use them for Performance Assurance, Predictive Prevention, and monthly Confidence Pulse inputs.
Report inspection results, KPI performance, audit outcomes, and quality improvement progress to senior program leadership.
Report program quality risks, corrective actions, and progress to the customer, and serve as a voting member of the program risk board.
Analyze KPI trends and inspection data to identify systemic issues, lead root cause investigations, and implement corrective and preventive actions.
Identify and escalate predictive program risks before customer impact, including insufficient engineering maturity, configuration, or documentation.
Ensure corrective actions, nonconformances, audit findings, requirement escapes, and customer concerns receive timely containment, root cause analysis, corrective action, and effectiveness verification.
Ensure delivered-product requirement escapes are recorded, classified, reviewed, and closed under the applicable procedure.
Ensure improvement actions have accountable owners, due dates, measurable outcomes, and sustained-effectiveness evidence; report status to the Mission Assurance Business Area Manager.
Drive continual improvement to enhance product conformity, reduce rework, and strengthen mission assurance.
Ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and contractual quality standards.
Provide hands-on leadership, mentoring, and development to program quality staff; coach and train the team on the corporate Quality Management System and Defense Sector requirements.
Ensure Program Quality Engineers inspect products or confirm full inspection by a qualified role, and verify execution in real time.
Translate strategy into clear priorities, develop successors, delegate meaningfully, and address performance issues promptly.
Conduct one-on-one status meetings with direct reports at least every other week, subject to reasonable exceptions for travel and leave.
Oversee team use of Artificial Intelligence tools in accordance with applicable policy and procedure, and ensure decision-informing AI output is verified by a qualified human before use.
Address escalated quality issues promptly and surface systemic issues with proposed solutions; foster a program quality culture aligned with Leidos values.
Interface directly with customers and program management as the program quality authority.
Collaborate with Operations on production readiness for contract delivery, and partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain on first-pass yield and product reliability.
Collaborate with Manufacturing Quality, Supplier Quality, and Compliance Quality; coordinate with the Site Compliance Manager on ISO/AS certification readiness, program evidence, and finding closure at certified sites.
Serve as a quality stakeholder throughout the business lifecycle, including new business capture, procurement, and program execution.
Own and deliver program quality products, including the Program Quality Plan, Acceptance Criteria Matrix, Assurance Readiness package, monthly Confidence Pulse, program risk and quality dashboard, baselined engineering-review checklists, delivery evidence packages, and Quality Status Reports.