Quality Engineer

Heads Up Technologies•Kirkland, WA

22d•$95,600 - $112,400•Onsite

About The Position

The Quality Engineer supports the design, development, and post-delivery support of Innovative Advantage's cabin management electronic products within a regulated aerospace environment. As an engineering firm whose products are built by contract manufacturers, Innovative Advantage relies on this role to help maintain product conformity, reliability, and airworthiness across the full lifecycle from design assurance through supplier build to field support. This role executes and increasingly drives the day-to-day quality activities supporting the company's AS9100 quality management system and applicable airborne systems standards (DO-178, DO-254), working closely with engineering, operations, and external manufacturing partners. The Quality Engineer is expected to protect product conformity, reliability, and airworthiness by applying quality principles consistently and objectively. With several years of experience behind them, they are expected to work with a substantial degree of independence — owning nonconformance and corrective-action processes end to end, making sound day-to-day quality judgments, and escalating airworthiness-critical or high-risk matters appropriately rather than allowing them to propagate. They will turn field return and failure data into actionable reliability insight that informs engineering and supplier decisions. They are expected to maintain accurate, audit-ready records; treat traceability and documentation as core deliverables; build effective working relationships with contract manufacturers and internal engineering teams; and contribute proactively to continuous improvement of both product and process.

Requirements

2–5 years of experience in a quality engineering or quality assurance role, preferably in aerospace, avionics, or another regulated electronics manufacturing environment.
Demonstrated experience with nonconformance handling, root cause analysis, and corrective action processes.
Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, specifications, and geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T).
Experience analyzing failure or return data and drawing conclusions about product quality or reliability.
Strong attention to detail and accuracy in documentation and record-keeping.
Solid written and verbal communication skills for interfacing with internal teams and external suppliers.
Proficiency with standard office and data tools (spreadsheets, documentation systems).
Legal authorization to work with technical data subject to U.S. export control regulations (ITAR/EAR), as applicable to the role.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of aerospace quality standards, particularly AS9100 and AS9102 (First Article Inspection).
Familiarity with airborne systems development assurance standards such as DO-178 (software) and DO-254 (hardware).
Understanding of FAA regulatory context for airborne equipment (e.g., TSO, PMA, or DO-160 environmental qualification concepts).
Experience with reliability engineering concepts and methods (e.g., FMEA, Weibull analysis, MTBF, reliability prediction).
Experience with data analysis, data tools such as PowerBI, QMS apps, and other engineering and quality applications.
Experience working with or auditing contract manufacturers or external suppliers.
Experience with cabin management, avionics, or other electronic/electromechanical aerospace products.
Internal auditor training or certification (e.g., AS9100 internal auditor); ASQ certification (CQE, CQA, or CRE) a plus.
Experience with configuration management and engineering change control processes.
Applied experience with the IPC (J-STD-001, IPC-A-610) electronics manufacturing standards body of knowledge

Responsibilities

Review incoming, in-process, and final inspection data from electronics contract manufacturers for conformity to drawings, specifications, and purchase order requirements.
Own the nonconformance report (NCR) process, including documentation, disposition coordination, and follow-up to closure.
Lead and support root cause analysis and corrective/preventive action (CAPA) activities using structured problem-solving methods (e.g., 5-Why, 8D, fishbone).
Analyze product returns and field failures to determine failure modes, root causes, and product reliability, and translate findings into corrective actions and design/process improvement recommendations.
Track and trend reliability data (e.g., failure rates, MTBF, warranty/return rates, defect escape rates) and report insights to engineering and operations to drive improvement.
Support failure analysis of returned units, coordinating with engineering and suppliers to close out root causes.
Perform and review first article inspection (FAI) per AS9102 for new or changed parts and assemblies.
Maintain and update quality records, inspection reports, certificates of conformance, and traceability documentation.
Support and help drive supplier quality activities including defective product dispositions, supplier corrective action requests (SCARs), and monitoring of supplier performance metrics.
Participate in design assurance and configuration control activities, verifying that documentation, drawings, and revisions are correct and released properly, and that processes are adhered to.
Conduct and support internal audits, and assist in preparation for external/customer/regulatory audits.
Maintain and improve QMS documentation (procedures, work instructions, forms) in alignment with AS9100.
Support engineering change, deviation, and waiver processes from a quality perspective.
Compile and present quality and reliability metrics to support continuous improvement initiatives.