Vice President of Quality Management

Description

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

As Vice President of Quality Management at Hanwha Q CELLS America, you are responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive global quality strategy to ensure the delivery of high-quality, safe, reliable and compliant energy solutions. You will lead the end-to-end quality, reliability, and product release assurance for AC modules, microinverters, and energy storage systems (ESS) that combine complex electro-mechanical, embedded firmware, and cloud/mobile software technologies. This is a senior executive leadership role charged with architecting and executing a world-class quality management system across design, NPI, manufacturing, deployment, and customer lifecycle.

You will lead cross-functional quality efforts across firmware/software (mobile embedded), hardware, and manufacturing operations, ensuring full integration and accountability across all product dimensions. You’ll oversee quality operations both domestically and offshore/nearshore development centers and distributed engineering teams, implementing an integrated QA discipline for complex, distributed product systems.

This position reports to the Chief Product Officer (or another management personnel that the President of the Company may designate). This role is based in Santa Clara, San Francisco, Bay Area, Irvine, CA, or remote, and working hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm (with flexibility to adjust to 9:00am to 6:00pm as needed). Overtime and weekend work may be required as needed. This position is expected to travel up to 20% of the time for on-site support at partner manufacturing facilities and field sites for quality audits, troubleshooting or customer support.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Champion a culture of quality throughout the organization, promoting a mindset of continuous improvement, proactive problem-solving, and accountability.
• Define and lead a comprehensive quality roadmap that unifies hardware, embedded firmware, cloud infrastructure, and mobile apps under a cohesive strategy aligned to corporate OKRs, warranty exposure, and customer expectations.
• Software Quality Leadership – Build and lead a structured quality program for embedded firmware, cloud-connected platforms, and mobile apps (iOS, Android). Deploy software QA metrics, regression testing, automation, CI/CD validation gates, and release readiness reviews across hybrid teams.
• Offshore Manufacturing and Development Team Oversight – Drive quality across global partners, including manufacturing sites (e.g., Jabil, Flex) and offshore software development teams. Develop and implement rigorous quality planning, supplier audits, and integrated software hardware validation plans.
• Cross-Functional Quality Collaboration – Work across engineering, product management, customer service, and operations teams to align quality deliverables and maintain accountability across the value chain. Translate customer incidents/VOCs into product and process improvement opportunities.
• Digital & Predictive Quality Systems – Leverage data analytics and software telemetry from mobile apps, embedded logs, and fleet systems to drive predictive insights. Implement dashboards to track in-field performance, software crash trends, and end-to-end defect rates.
  
  

• Execution Excellence
• Integrated Quality Management – Oversee the process for ensuring that all products and services meet or exceed customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Establish and operate an integrated QA system across mechanical, electrical, embedded, and mobile software components. Ensure system-level thinking and interdependency validation between HW--FW-SW is embedded in all quality activities.
• Quality Testing, Product Release and Exit Gate Quality Assurance – Oversee inspection and testing programs to be carried out in both lab(s) and field (e.g., beta sites) to verify conformance to requirements. Manage inspection teams, develop testing protocols, and analyze test data to identify areas for improvement. Own quality participation in stage-gate and launch governance, including setting quality exit criteria (e.g., defect thresholds, MTBF, beta validation results) and risk sign-offs for product release. Work cross-functionally to ensure quality is a go/no-go gating factor.
• Field Quality & Warranty Governance – Own field failure analysis, warranty risk modeling, and VOC-based quality improvement. Monitor field telemetry data, lead RCCA investigations, and translate issues into design/process corrective actions.
• IE & External Certification Engagement – Lead interactions with independent engineers, banks, and third-party reviewers. Prepare technical documentation (test reports, failure analysis, reliability data) to support product bankability and certification (UL, IEC, ISO, NFPA, etc.).
• Continuous Improvement & Culture Building – Cultivate a zero-defect, continuous-improvement culture. Lead lessons-learned reviews, Six Sigma/Lean initiatives, and quality culture programs. Introduce best practices from leading innovators (e.g., Tesla, Enphase, Apple, SolarEdge).
• Risk Management
• Identify and mitigate risks associated with the company’s operations, including risks related to product quality, safety, environmental impact, and regulatory compliance.
• Develop and implement risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans to address potential quality-related issues
  

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Software, or Systems Engineering (Master’s or MBA is a plus)
• 20 years in product quality, reliability engineering, or systems QA, including:
• 10 years leading multidisciplinary HW/SW/FW teams
• Proven experience with embedded systems and mobile/cloud software QA
• Quality leadership in electromechanical products (e.g., solar inverters, ESS, EVs, IoT)
• QA of the following elements:
• Renewable system components – AC modules, micro inverters and Energy Storage System (ESS).
• Embedded including firmware systems testing (unit/integration/system-level for real-time controls, Battery Management Systems, etc.)
• Integrated system testing - Mobile & cloud QA (test automation, CI/CD validation, usability, and OTA updates)
• Software development lifecycle (SDLC) integration with ISO-9001 and quality gates
• Experience managing quality across offshore development centers and partners
• Maintaining one team culture among QA teams distributed across multiple time zone.
• Proficient in:
• Reliability engineering & FA tools (HALT/HASS, FMEA, Weibull, root cause methods)
• Quality frameworks: ISO 9001, UL, IEC, NFPA 855, ISO 26262 or ASPICE (preferred)
• QA tools: Jira, Zephyr, TestRail, Jenkins, Python/R, Tableau/Power BI
• Demonstrated success supporting product certifications, independent engineering reviews, and customer audit engagements
• Excellent communicator, able to articulate risk, root cause, and roadmap to C-suite, engineers, and external partners
• Strategic thinker with customer-centric mindset, data-driven rigor, and urgency to improve rapidly
  

Hanwha Q CELLS America Inc. (“HQCA”) is a Qcells company, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and providers of solar photovoltaic (PV) products and solutions. Headquartered in Irvine, California, HQCA has been rapidly expanding its business in North America through the expansion of products and solutions, including distributed energy solutions, direct-to-homeowner solar sales and financing, and EPC services. We provide an opportunity to be part of an exciting and growing world-class global business in an interesting and expanding industry of the future.

Physical, Mental & Environmental Demands

To comply with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 the essential physical, mental and environmental requirements for this job are listed below. These are requirements normally expected to perform regular job duties. Incumbent must be able to successfully perform all of the functions of the job with or without reasonable accommodation.

Mobility

Standing

20% of time

Sitting

70% of time

Walking

10% of time

Strength

Pulling

up to 10 Pounds

Pushing

up to 10 Pounds

Carrying

up to 10 Pounds

Lifting

up to 10 Pounds

Dexterity(F = Frequently, O = Occasionally, N = Never)

Typing

F

Handling

F

Reaching

F

Agility(F = Frequently, O = Occasionally, N = Never)

Turning

F

Twisting

F

Bending

O

Crouching

O

Balancing

N

Climbing

N

Crawling

N

Kneeling

N

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

The salary range is required by the California Pay Transparency Act and may differ depending on the location of those candidates hired nationwide. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to, skill set, education, licenses and certifications, essential job duties and requirements, and the necessary experience relative to the job’s minimum qualifications.

• This target salary range is for CA positions only and should not be interpreted as an offer of compensation.
  
  

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