Blackwave designs, manufactures and ships flight-qualified, commercial off-the-shelf composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for launch vehicles and satellites. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, the company delivers COPVs from a standardized portfolio with flight heritage. The approach reduces lead time from months to days while ensuring that each tank is qualified and flight-ready. Blackwave's mission is to end COPV failure in spaceflight. The company employs more than 150 people across manufacturing facilities in Germany and Texas.
More information at Blackwave.com and the procurement platform COPV.com.
The mission of the Quality Manager is to establish and implement a pragmatic, ISO 9001-compliant Quality Management System for the new Texas site, aligned with the existing German QMS while adapting processes to local operational needs. This role builds a scalable, hands-on quality culture from the ground up, ensuring the Texas site operates with the same rigor and reliability as our German operations.
Lead the site to ISO 9001 certification, with all required processes, documentation, responsibilities, and evidence in place
Define, implement, and drive adoption of essential quality processes, including non-conformance management, document control, audits, corrective actions, and quality-related decision paths
Ensure quality expectations, documentation requirements, acceptance criteria, and process requirements are clearly understood and applied by local engineering, manufacturing, and management teams
Keep processes pragmatic, scalable, and usable in daily work, so the Texas organization operates effectively while maintaining compliance and alignment with company-wide quality standards
Design and implement core quality processes: non-conformance management, document control, internal audits, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and quality-related decision paths
Prepare for and support internal, customer, and certification audits, including tracking and closing out audit findings
Define documentation expectations, acceptance criteria, and process requirements in collaboration with engineering, manufacturing, and management
Strong working knowledge of ISO 9001 requirements, with experience establishing, implementing, and maintaining Quality Management Systems in manufacturing environments (must have)
Excellent structural and systematic thinking, with the ability to develop, adapt, and implement practical quality processes while balancing compliance, operational efficiency, and organizational maturity (must have)
Experience preparing for and supporting internal, customer, and certification audits, including implementation and follow-up of audit findings (must have)
Understanding of manufacturing processes, quality controls, acceptance criteria, and how quality requirements interact with production operations (nice to have)
Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate quality-related risks when establishing new processes, with a strong understanding of risk-based thinking per ISO 9001 principles (must have)
Equal Opportunity Employer
Blackwave Texas Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to protected characteristics under applicable law.
ITAR Requirement
This position requires eligibility under U.S. export regulations (ITAR). Candidates must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident, or otherwise authorized to access export-controlled information.
For this U.S.-based role, your application may be managed by our global People Team in Germany.
