Senior Director, Quality Excellence

Axon•Scottsdale, AZ

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Join Axon and be a Force for Good. At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other. Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter. Your Impact Reports to: VP, Quality Location: Phoenix, AZ Direct Reports: none We are seeking an exceptional Senior Director to lead our most critical quality initiatives and drive quality excellence across the enterprise. This role is designed as a high-impact, senior individual contributor position with a clear trajectory into broader leadership across the company's quality functions. In the initial phase, the successful candidate will personally own and drive resolution of the company's top 3-4 highest-impact quality issues — problems that directly affect customers, drive RMA volume, and carry significant business consequence. This is not a role for someone who delegates first; it requires someone who can dissect complex, cross-functional quality failures, develop actionable resolution strategies, and lead the organization to closure. As the role evolves, the Senior Director will take on increasing responsibility across the full spectrum of quality disciplines — from supplier and manufacturing quality through field performance, reliability, and customer experience — building organizational capability to prevent systemic quality issues before they reach customers.

Requirements

12+ years of experience in quality engineering, reliability, manufacturing quality, or a closely related discipline, with at least 5 years at a director level or equivalent
Demonstrated track record of personally resolving complex, multi-causal quality problems with measurable business outcomes (reduced RMAs, warranty cost reduction, customer satisfaction improvement)
Broad exposure across multiple quality domains — you've operated across supplier, manufacturing, design, product reliability, and field quality, not just one silo
Deep technical fluency — able to engage credibly with engineering teams on failure analysis, root cause methodology (8D, fault tree, FMEA, etc.), and corrective action effectiveness
Exceptional executive communication skills — able to translate technical complexity into business-relevant narratives for senior leadership and customer-facing stakeholders
Experience leading cross-functional initiatives without direct authority
Strong analytical capability with experience using field data, manufacturing data, and test data to drive decisions
Experience spanning both hands-on problem resolution and leadership of technical teams across quality, reliability, test engineering, or supplier quality disciplines
Track record of building, scaling, or transforming quality organizations through periods of growth or change
Six Sigma Black Belt, CQE, CRE, or equivalent certification
Experience implementing or maturing quality management systems (ISO 9001, AS9100, or similar)

Responsibilities

Own and drive resolution of the company's most critical quality issues (typically 3-4 concurrent high-severity, high-business-impact problems)
Conduct rigorous root cause analysis spanning design, manufacturing, supply chain, and field performance data
Develop and execute corrective action plans with measurable milestones and clear business impact metrics
Communicate progress, risks, and resource needs to executive leadership with clarity and precision
Partner cross-functionally with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Customer Support to drive systemic fixes
Reduce customer-facing RMA rates and warranty costs on targeted product lines
Assume broader leadership across the company's quality disciplines, which may include: Supplier quality and incoming material assurance, Manufacturing and process quality, Field quality, returns analysis, and warranty performance, Validation, reliability, and product assurance, Quality management systems (QMS), audit programs, and regulatory compliance, Non-conformance management, CAPA, and continuous improvement programs
Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of quality and reliability professionals
Define and mature quality strategies, test frameworks, quality gate criteria, and predictive analytics
Drive standardization of quality processes, tools, and metrics across business units
Represent quality in new product development, design reviews, and product lifecycle decisions
Establish early warning systems and data-driven quality dashboards to identify emerging issues before they reach scale
Champion a culture of quality and continuous improvement across the organization