Quality Engineer III

Mercury Systems•Phoenix, AZ

12d

About The Position

The Quality Engineer III is a technical leader responsible for yield performance, process capability, and production readiness across complex manufacturing operations. The role drives strategic improvements to First Pass Yield (FPY) and Rolled Throughput Yield (RTY), applies advanced quality engineering methods to identify systemic issues, and ensures new or modified parts satisfy design, specification, and capability requirements before release. Working closely with Manufacturing, Engineering, and Supply Chain, the engineer validates production readiness, strengthens process controls, and supports stable, predictable high-volume manufacturing. The position also provides technical guidance to junior engineers and production teams, supports customer communications, and promotes the Quality Management System (AS9100). A government security clearance is required or must be obtained; clearances may only be granted to U.S. citizens. Mercury Systems describes itself as a technology company supporting aerospace and defense missions. It has more than 2,300 employees across 24 locations worldwide. Its culture emphasizes a casual and enjoyable atmosphere, learning and growth, teamwork, communication, transparency, and recognition. The company offers comprehensive skills training and tuition reimbursement.

Requirements

Bachelor of Science degree in a technical discipline.
Typically 4 or more years of experience in a quality or process engineering position for complex aerospace programs and systems.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships across departments and the company to support organizational strategies.
Ability to maintain the professional competence, knowledge, and skills needed to perform assigned responsibilities.
Knowledge of relevant quality standards, methods, and practices.
Knowledge of fault trees and statistical process control.
Experience working in a matrix organization supporting multiple products and projects.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
Demonstrated initiative, problem-solving ability, and ability to recognize and implement improvements.
Ability to obtain and maintain a government security clearance as required by program or customer needs; security clearances may only be granted to U.S. citizens.

Nice To Haves

PCBA or related product experience.
Contract Manufacturer experience, particularly PCBA-type work, or similar experience.
Experience with Agile PLM or similar software, Oracle, Solidworks, Jira, and Jama.

Responsibilities

Develop, maintain, and deploy quality tools including PFMEAs, control plans, capability studies, and measurement system analyses.
Establish and monitor yield and quality performance indicators, and provide data-driven insights and improvement roadmaps to leadership.
Lead FPY improvement initiatives by analyzing defect data, identifying systemic issues, and driving corrective and preventive actions.
Own RTY methodologies, map end-to-end process performance, calculate yield losses by stage, and implement plans to improve throughput efficiency.
Facilitate cross-functional production-readiness reviews, validating process controls, capability metrics, tooling, equipment qualification, and operator readiness before full-rate manufacturing.
Partner with Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Engineering to reduce waste and variation and improve process robustness using Lean and Six Sigma methods.
Lead structured problem-solving using 8D, DMAIC, and A3, and ensure resulting actions are implemented, verified, and sustained.
Support material review, disposition processes, and defect reduction through analytics and trend identification.
Mentor and provide technical guidance to junior engineers and production teams on quality systems, root-cause analysis, and process control.
Execute non-conforming material processes and manage MRB efficiently.
Prevent defects through process, supplier, manufacturing, and quality controls.
Drive failure analysis and responsive customer communication; interface with customers regularly and provide quality status as required.
Promote adherence to and improvement of the AS9100 Quality Management System.
Participate in internal and external audits and provide results.
Develop and maintain visible quality KPIs and related actions, including COPQ, FPY, and DPPM.
Facilitate and oversee First Article Inspection (FAI), verify design, specification, and process requirements under applicable standards and internal procedures, and drive timely closure of gaps before production release.