Director of Quality

Title: Director of Quality

Company: X-Bow Systems

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Location: Texas or New Mexico

FLSA Status: Exempt

Salary Range: $200,000 to $275,000

Summary: X-Bow Systems is hiring a Director of Quality to lead, manage, and run Quality for the entire corporation across all sites, programs, and operations, including its solid rocket motor, energetics, and advanced manufacturing activities. This leader will own the quality strategy, quality systems, compliance posture, supplier quality performance, and operational quality execution required to support development, production, and scale-up.

This is a senior leadership role for someone who can build rigor without slowing execution. The Director of Quality will work across operations, engineering, supply chain, and program leadership to ensure X-Bow delivers reliable, conforming products in a controlled, auditable, and scalable manufacturing environment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the company’s quality organization across quality assurance, quality control, supplier quality, audit readiness, nonconformance management, and corrective action.

• Set quality strategy, objectives, and performance expectations aligned with operational goals, customer requirements, and company growth.

• Advise the COO and executive leadership on quality risks, systemic issues, compliance gaps, and improvement priorities.

• Own and maintain the Quality Management System across relevant operations, facilities, and programs.

• Ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, customer requirements, contract flow-downs, and applicable FAR/DFARS requirements.

• Lead internal, customer, third-party, and regulatory audit activity and maintain audit readiness.

• Ensure effective controls for documentation, traceability, inspection, testing, calibration, configuration control, and records retention.

• Lead receiving, in-process, and final inspection strategies to ensure product conformity and process discipline.

• Own nonconformance, containment, root cause, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness across internal and supplier issues.

• Improve quality performance using metrics including yield, escapes, rework, scrap, supplier defects, audit findings, and cost of poor quality.

• Partner with operations and engineering to improve process capability, production readiness, repeatability, and manufacturing throughput.

• Lead supplier quality strategy, including qualification, surveillance, performance management, issue resolution, and corrective action.

• Drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, statistical methods, and disciplined problem solving.

• Build and develop a high-performing quality team and a culture of accountability, urgency, and prevention.

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field.

• 10 years of progressive quality leadership experience in defense, aerospace, propulsion, energetics, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.

• 5 years of experience as a people manager leading quality teams at the senior manager or director level, with direct supervisory responsibility for a meaningful-sized organization rather than a small team of individual contributors.

• Deep knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, audit systems, corrective action, nonconformance control, supplier quality, and configuration-controlled manufacturing.

• Experience supporting U.S. government contracts and operating in highly regulated production environments.

• Strong understanding of inspection systems, process validation, first article inspection, traceability, and risk-based quality management.

• Proven ability to lead root cause investigations, drive corrective action, and improve quality performance in complex technical operations.

• Strong leadership, judgment, and cross-functional influence, with the ability to lead through managers and supervisors and hold teams accountable across functions and locations.

• U.S. Person status and ability to obtain or maintain any required security clearance or access authorization.

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Quality, or Business Administration.

• ASQ certification such as CQE or CMQ/OE.

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or similar certification.

• Experience with solid rocket motors, propulsion systems, energetics, aerospace systems, composites, or advanced manufacturing.

• Experience supporting product development, production scale-up, qualification programs, and mission-critical hardware delivery.

• Experience working with prime defense contractors, DCMA, or similar customer and regulatory environments.

• Experience with ERP/MRP platforms, digital quality systems, and manufacturing data systems.

• Experience leading a multi-level quality organization across multiple locations and/or time zones.

• Current or active Secret-level security clearance.

Equal Opportunity Statement

X-Bow Systems is an equal opportunity employer and considers qualified applicants without regard to any protected status under applicable federal, state, or local law.