Quality Engineer - Aerospace
Position Overview
The Quality Engineer establishes, maintains, and optimizes mid-to-senior level quality assurance standards and processes within our advanced Aerospace manufacturing operations. This role serves as a critical technical liaison and operational owner between external suppliers, engineering, and internal production teams to systematically resolve quality variances, mitigate production roadblocks, and drive measurable continuous improvement. Utilizing a mature, data-driven approach to root-cause analysis, the Quality Engineer ensures regulatory compliance, material integrity, and operational excellence.
Key Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary liaison between suppliers and internal stakeholders to independently resolve quality concerns, remove roadblocks, and ensure seamless communication.
- Manage supplier corrective action processes, owning end-to-end 8D investigations, root cause analysis, containment activities, and verification of permanent corrective actions.
- Monitor and drive supplier performance through KPIs, scorecards, and performance metrics, instilling accountability and driving measurable vendor improvements.
- Manage non-conforming material tracking and orchestrate rapid containment activities to mitigate facility-wide operational risks.
- Provide technical support to Receiving Inspection, resolving technical inspection concerns, optimizing workflows, and managing the supplier returns pipeline.
- Develop, prepare, and present regular quality reports, metrics, and project status updates directly to plant and executive leadership.
- Support and lead Continuous Improvement activities, utilizing lean manufacturing methodologies to spearhead site-wide enhancement projects.
- Act in a training capacity, mentoring floor inspectors and junior staff to cultivate an advanced, proactive quality culture.
- Support general plant Quality team initiatives and execute advanced technical duties as assigned.
Qualifications & Requirements
- Professional Experience: 5+ years of progressive quality or manufacturing engineering experience, with strong, specific exposure to injection molding, metal stamping, CNC machining, or complex assembly operation
- Technical Proficiency: High proficiency in accurately interpreting engineering blueprints, technical schematics, wiring diagrams, and operational specifications
- Metrology Skills: Strong hands-on experience with dimensional measurement methodologies and standard quality inspection tools (e.g., Keyence systems, calipers, micrometers, pin gauges)
- Leadership Capabilities: Demonstrated experience or a clear capability to lead, mentor, and develop technical talent and inspectors within a plant environment
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Exceptional interpersonal skills to interface, negotiate, and collaborate effectively with multi-disciplinary internal teams and external supplier networks
- Software Competency: Highly proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) for building quality metrics; prior operational experience with Epicor or equivalent Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is highly preferred
- Preferred Certifications: Professional credentials such as ASQ (CQE/CQA), Six Sigma (Green/Black Belt), or Internal Auditor certifications are strongly desired
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in engineering or technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and professional manufacturing experience
Preferred Skills & Experience
- Advanced Root-Cause Analysis: Possesses advanced root-cause analysis with strong deductive reasoning, critical thinking, and a solid background in manufacturing process optimization to systematically isolate and resolve operational variances
- Proactive Problem Solving: Self-motivated and proactive problem solver able to demonstrate high self-motivation with a proven ability to identify latent operational risks, implement proactive countermeasures, and champion site-wide continuous improvement initiatives
- Cross-Functional Influence: Cross-functional influencer functioning as a collaborative and highly effective communicator capable of driving positive operational change that aligns with the strategic interests of all stakeholders
- Technical Acumen: Elite technical acumen. Proficient in engineering blueprint interpretation, geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), and fully conversant in formal quality inspection criteria, methodologies, and tools
