Quality Business Area Manager

Leidos•Huntsville, AL

20h•Onsite

About The Position

The Defense Systems sector at Leidos has an opening for a Quality Business Area Manager Role. This role involves establishing and maintaining a quality culture committed to performance excellence, customer mission, and Leidos values/requirements. The manager will plan and manage quality engineering & control activities to support Sr Program Quality Manager and business area initiatives to achieve mission assurance and program performance excellence. This includes supporting the development, deployment, and maintenance of an effective quality management system across the business area by applying data analytics, product inspections, and predictive measures with early risk identifications and mitigations. The role also requires conducting independent product/process/measurement inspections, audits, and reviews to ensure compliance and identify issues at the earliest occurrence to prevent problem occurrence. Effectively escalating quality issues in an informative, substantive, timely, and transparent manner with intervention and preventive outcomes is crucial. Ensuring compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, contractual requirements, corporate policies and procedures, program plans, specifications, and processes is a key responsibility. The role facilitates the implementation of practices compliant with ISO 9001, ISO 27001, AS9100, AS6500, CMMI-DEV, and CMMI-SVC as applicable. Ensuring the timely and sustained resolution of internal and external audit findings and requirement escapes by conducting root cause analysis and implementing corrective and preventive measures is also part of the role. The manager will conduct trend analysis at the organization and program levels to identify areas for improvement and implement measures to mature the enterprise. Performing deep dives to analyze program/project issues/problems and facilitating containment, implementation of corrective and preventive actions, and development of lessons learned are expected. Reviewing contract deliverables to ensure conformance with requirements and quality standards, and identifying, collecting, and analyzing measures to effectively track program performance and quality/process improvement initiatives are also key duties. Leading structured improvement activities (kaizens, just-do-it, projects, root cause analysis etc.) to facilitate continual improvement at the program/project level and leverage across the business area level and potentially the sector is required. Monitoring opportunities in business area pre-award to ensure that quality engineering & control activities and quality credentials are properly bid, identifying key discriminators, and maintaining strategic awareness of competitive needs related to quality are important. Engaging with proposals and programs to establish service level agreements and key performance indicators that demonstrate the full understanding of the mission requirements and provide customers the ability to adequately measure program performance is necessary. Participating in supplier/subcontractor oversight to ensure the flow down of applicable clauses and requirements and that supplier/subcontractors are meeting contractual requirements is also part of the role. Participating in formal pre and post award reviews, identifying and mitigating risks, and identifying actions needed to assure quality of products and services are expected. Facilitating root cause analysis and corrective/preventive action plans related to customer letters of concern, nonconformances, discrepancy reports, and customer corrective action reports is required. Supporting the effective and efficient integration of new startup or transition programs/projects is also a responsibility. The role involves managing and developing the quality engineering & control team, fostering an inclusive work environment, and encouraging the highest standards of ethics. Aligning and performing within the business area allocated budget and according to schedule and business rhythms is expected. Being proactive and effectively negotiating, influencing, and persuading leadership, customers, partners, peers, and projects to develop and execute solutions to complex challenges is crucial. Communicating effectively with technical and management staff at all levels of the organization and responding to Defense Mission Assurance management requests quickly, recognizing alignment to Mission Assurance requirements are essential. Identifying and leading initiatives to mature the Mission Assurance expectations, goals, and commitments is also part of the role. Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or related discipline with 7-10 years of experience, including prior leadership of quality or mission assurance teams in defense/aerospace production.
In lieu of degree 15+ years’ experience in a low-rate/ high- rate Manufacturing and Quality production environment.
OR Master's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or related discipline with 3+ years of experience, including prior leadership of quality or mission assurance teams in defense/aerospace production.
Proven experience in AS9100/ISO9001 systems, configuration management, and corrective action systems.
Strong background in production quality management for complex defense hardware or weapon systems.
U.S. Citizenship required; must have a Secret clearance.
Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
Relevant experience with all aspects of quality in a defense and space-focused manufacturing environment.
Must be proficient in utilizing Microsoft Office products.
Must have exceptional verbal and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) or Six Sigma Black Belt.
Experience with metrics-based quality reporting.
Familiarity with kinetic, indirect fires and sensors integration.
Experience with Deltek Costpoint, Windchill, Oracle Agile, or Solumina MES systems.
Experience in medium-volume/high-mix production environments.
Experience in both component fabrication and assembly/integration production environments.

Responsibilities

Establish and maintain a quality culture committed to performance excellence, customer mission, and Leidos values/requirements.
Plan and manage quality engineering & control activities to support Sr Program Quality Manager and business area initiatives to achieve mission assurance and program performance excellence.
Support the development, deployment, and maintenance of an effective quality management system across the business area by applying data analytics, product inspections and predictive measures with early risk identifications and mitigations.
Conduct independent product/process/measurement inspections, audits, and reviews to ensure compliance and identify issue at earliest occurrence to prevent problem occurrence.
Effectively escalated quality issues in an informative, substantive, timely and transparent manner with intervention and preventive outcome.
Ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements, contractual requirements, corporate policies and procedures, program plans, specifications, and processes.
Facilitate implementation of practices compliant with ISO 9001, ISO 27001, AS9100, AS6500, CMMI-DEV, and CMMI-SVC as applicable based upon Leidos and contractual requirements.
Ensure the timely and sustained resolution of internal and external audit findings and requirement escapes by conducting root cause analysis and implementing corrective and preventive measures.
Conduct trend analysis at the organization and program levels to identify areas for improvement and implement measures to mature the enterprise.
Perform deep dives to analyze program/project issues/problems and facilitate containment, implementation of corrective and preventive actions, and development of lessons learned.
Review contract deliverables to ensure conformance with requirements and quality standards.
Identify, collect, and analyze measures to effectively track program performance and quality/process improvement initiatives.
Lead structured improvement activities (kaizens, just-do-it, projects, root cause analysis etc.) to facilitate continual improvement at the program/project level and leverage across the business area level and potentially the sector.
Monitor opportunities in business area pre-award to ensure that quality engineering & control activities and quality credentials are properly bid, identify key discriminators, and maintain strategic awareness of competitive needs related to quality.
Engage with proposals and programs to establish service level agreements and key performance indicators that demonstrate the full understanding of the mission requirements and provide customers the ability to adequately measure program performance.
Participate in supplier/subcontractor oversight to ensure the flow down of applicable clauses and requirements and that supplier/subcontractors are meeting contractual requirements.
Participate in formal pre and post award reviews, identify and mitigate risks, and identify actions needed to assure quality of products and services.
Facilitate root cause analysis and corrective/preventive action plans related to customer letters of concern, nonconformances, discrepancy reports and customer corrective action reports.
Support the effective and efficient integration of new startup or transition programs/projects.
Manage and develop the quality engineering & control team, foster an inclusive work environment, and encourage the highest standards of ethics.
Align and perform within the business area allocated budget and according to schedule and business rhythms.
Be proactive and effectively negotiate, influence, and persuade leadership, customers, partners, peers, and projects to develop and execute solutions to complex challenges.
Communicate effectively with technical and management staff at all levels of organization.
Respond to Defense Mission Assurance management requests quickly, recognizing alignment to Mission Assurance requirements.
Identify and lead initiatives to mature the Mission Assurance expectations, goals and commitments.
Perform other duties as assigned.