Vice President, Quality

nVent • St Louis, MN

3d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Vice President of Quality is nVent’s senior-most quality leader, reporting to the Chief Supply Chain Officer. This enterprise leadership role is accountable for quality performance across the full value chain, including customer escapes, cost of poor quality, first-pass yield, supplier quality, warranty, product reliability, launch quality, and quality-related impacts on on-time-to-customer performance. The role defines and executes nVent’s quality strategy, operating model, performance expectations, capabilities, and accountability mechanisms, shifting quality from a primarily compliance- and governance-centered function to a performance-driving enterprise capability.

The Vice President partners with segment presidents and leaders across operations, engineering, product management, sourcing and procurement, digital, commercial, legal, and finance. The role embeds quality into business decisions and drives measurable improvements in customer experience, operational execution, growth, reliability, warranty, launch readiness, supplier performance, and quality-related business risk.

The leader owns enterprise quality outcomes and establishes accountability at enterprise, segment, region, business unit, and site levels. They lead operating reviews focused on performance gaps, root-cause ownership, and sustained improvement. They strengthen new product quality and launch excellence by embedding quality planning, design and process validation, risk assessment, reliability requirements, and readiness gates from concept through launch and field performance.

The role advances digital quality capabilities, including predictive quality, AI-enabled risk detection, manufacturing quality analytics, digital traceability, and enterprise quality intelligence. In partnership with Digital and Integrated Supply Chain leaders, the Vice President modernizes eQMS capabilities, automates workflows, strengthens data integrity, and develops a single source of truth for quality performance.

The Vice President modernizes and continuously improves the Quality Management System, supporting performance improvement while maintaining readiness and sustained compliance with applicable standards and requirements. The role also strengthens audit, management review, and corrective and preventive action processes; advances customer, supplier, and operational quality; and builds a prevention-based quality culture. The leader develops a high-performing quality leadership team and leads through influence across a complex, matrixed global organization. Domestic and international travel is required as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, operations, supply chain, business, or a related field.
• 15+ years of progressive quality, operations, engineering, or supply chain leadership experience in a global manufacturing environment.
• Significant leadership experience with multi-site or enterprise quality functions.
• Demonstrated experience improving customer escapes, cost of poor quality, first-pass yield, supplier quality, warranty, reliability, and launch quality.
• Strong experience in new product quality, design validation, process validation, launch readiness, reliability engineering, and quality risk management for complex product portfolios.
• Experience advancing digital quality capabilities, including eQMS, quality analytics, digital traceability, predictive insights, and AI-enabled risk detection.
• Proven ability to lead enterprise-level change across a complex, matrixed, global organization.
• Exceptional communication, influencing, and executive presence, with the ability to translate quality priorities into business value.
• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally as required.

Nice To Haves

• Advanced degree.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute nVent’s enterprise quality strategy, operating model, performance expectations, capabilities, and accountability mechanisms.
• Own enterprise quality performance outcomes, including customer escapes, cost of poor quality, first-pass yield, supplier quality, warranty, reliability, launch quality, and quality-related impacts on on-time-to-customer performance.
• Translate quality strategy into measurable business results connected to customer experience, operational performance, growth, profitability, and risk reduction.
• Establish quality metric accountability at enterprise, segment, region, business unit, and site levels.
• Lead operating reviews that identify performance gaps, assign root-cause ownership, and sustain measurable improvement.
• Elevate new product quality and launch excellence across strategic programs, from concept through launch and field performance.
• Partner with engineering, product management, operations, and commercial leaders on quality planning, design and process validation, risk assessment, reliability requirements, and launch readiness.
• Establish and strengthen NPI quality gates, readiness reviews, and escalation criteria to prevent launch defects, customer escapes, warranty exposure, and reliability issues.
• Build feedback loops that bring field performance, warranty, customer quality, and manufacturing quality data into product development and launch processes.
• Lead development of digital quality capabilities, including predictive quality, AI-enabled risk detection, manufacturing quality analytics, digital traceability, and enterprise quality intelligence.
• Partner with Digital and Integrated Supply Chain leaders to modernize eQMS, automate quality workflows, strengthen data integrity, and establish a single source of truth for enterprise quality performance.
• Use advanced analytics to identify leading indicators of quality risk across design, suppliers, manufacturing, field performance, warranty, and customer experience.
• Modernize, standardize, and continuously improve nVent’s Quality Management System so it enables performance improvement.
• Ensure readiness and sustained compliance with applicable quality and regulatory standards, including ISO 9001 and other business-relevant standards and requirements.
• Strengthen management review, internal and external audits, and corrective and preventive action processes to identify, resolve, and prevent systemic issues.
• Partner with legal, compliance, engineering, operations, and commercial teams to manage quality-related risk and ensure quality commitments are objective and executable.
• Build customer quality capability that improves responsiveness, transparency, containment, corrective action effectiveness, customer confidence, and reduction of repeat escapes.
• Advance supplier quality strategy, qualification, audits, scorecards, supplier development, and escalation processes.
• Embed quality into manufacturing and operational processes, emphasizing defect prevention, first-pass yield, process capability, reliability, error proofing, and flow to customer.
• Use customer feedback, warranty, supplier, manufacturing, field performance, and operational data to prioritize systemic improvement opportunities.
• Champion a quality-first culture in which leaders model prevention-based decision-making and teams are empowered to stop, escalate, and resolve issues before they reach customers.
• Build, develop, and inspire a high-performing quality leadership team with clear accountability, succession depth, and capabilities across enterprise, segment, regional, and site roles.
• Lead through influence in a matrixed environment, balancing enterprise standards with business-specific execution needs and measurable outcomes.
• Model strategic thinking, courageous decision-making, stakeholder engagement, talent development, collaboration, adaptability, and self-accountability.
• Travel domestically and internationally as required.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision plans
• Flexible spending accounts
• Short-term and long-term disability benefits
• Critical illness insurance
• Accident insurance
• Life insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Employee stock purchase plan with company match
• Tuition reimbursement
• Caregiver, personal, and parental leave
• Back-up care services
• Paid time off, including volunteer time
• Well-being program
• Legal and identity theft protection
• Potential annual incentives or other forms of compensation
• nVent in Action matching program supporting nonprofit and educational organizations where employees volunteer or donate

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive