Plant Quality Manager

The Quality Manager is a key member of the plant leadership team responsible for driving execution of the site’s quality strategy in a high-volume, Tier 1 automotive environment. This role owns the Quality Management System and ensures flawless delivery performance to OEM customers by leading proactive quality initiatives, rapid issue resolution, and disciplined process control.

Core Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead customer quality contact, managing relationships and ensuring strict adherence to OEM requirements and expectations.
• Drive immediate response and containment for customer and internal quality issues, leading structured problem-solving efforts (8D) through closure.
• Own customer scorecards (PPM, warranty, delivery quality) and implement recovery plans to meet or exceed targets.
• Maintain authority to stop production or shipments when nonconforming conditions pose risk to the customer or business.
• Lead all internal and external audits, ensuring compliance to IATF 16949, ISO standards, and customer-specific requirements.
• Ensure plant-wide adherence to quality systems, layered process audits, and standardized work.
• Lead APQP activities for new launches, ensuring readiness, risk mitigation, and successful PPAP submission and approval.
• Oversee all PPAP activities for both customer and supplier changes, ensuring documentation and validation meet requirements.
• Verify launch readiness and production startup discipline, including validation of error-proofing (poka-yoke) and control plans.
• Lead containment activities, ensuring robust controls, trained personnel, and effective verification processes are in place.
• Ensure measurement systems and gaging are capable and compliant with MSA requirements.
• Drive implementation and sustainment of SPC and process capability improvements across manufacturing lines.
• Lead root cause analysis efforts, ensuring permanent corrective actions are implemented and validated.
• Champion Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives to reduce variation, scrap, and customer disruptions.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical field.
• 7 years of quality experience within automotive manufacturing, Tier 1 supplier environment.
• 5 years of leadership experience managing teams in a production setting.
• Strong working knowledge of IATF 16949, OEM customer requirements, and core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, FMEA, SPC, MSA).
• Proven experience managing customer relationships and handling escalations.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or higher.
• Certified IATF 16949 and/or ISO 9001 Lead Auditor.

Preferred Qualifications

• Six Sigma Black Belt or Master Black Belt.
• ASQ certifications such as CQE or CMQ/OE.
• Experience with supplier quality development and performance management.
• Background supporting high-volume launches and complex manufacturing processes.