Position Summary
Maintains an audit-ready Quality Management System by planning, coordinating and tracking internal, customer, supplier, certification and special audits. This position manages audit findings and customer-specific requirements, coordinates BMW requalification audit activities and verifies that process owners maintain required evidence. The role audits technical systems but does not replace the assigned document owner.
Major Duties and Responsibilities
Audit Program Management
- Develop and maintain the annual audit schedule for ISO 9001/IATF 16949 system audits, internal process and product audits, EASE layered audits, customer audits, supplier/sub-supplier audits and special assessments.
- Plan audit scope, assignments, timing, evidence requirements and reporting; coordinate affected departments and maintain audit readiness.
- Lead or support customer and certification audits, supplier audits (minimum three annually), BMW requalification audits and applicable special assessments.
- Maintain auditor qualification and independence requirements and provide EASE/audit training support.
Findings and Corrective Action
- Record and track nonconformities, opportunities, hints and corrective actions from identification through root cause, implementation, verification and closure.
- Escalate overdue actions, repeat findings, weak root-cause responses, missing evidence and unresolved audit risks.
- Verify corrective-action effectiveness and use audit trends to identify repeat issues, high-risk locations and improvement priorities.
Customer-Specific and BMW Requirements
- Maintain current customer-specific requirements and communicate applicable changes to affected departments and process owners.
- Verify customer requirements are reflected in procedures, training, PFMEAs, Control Plans, inspection plans, gage/MSA controls, PPAP records and other assigned QMS documentation.
- Coordinate BMW requalification audit preparation, evidence collection, finding management and completion in applicable BMW systems.
- Support BMW/customer portal requirements, process-series evidence, IPQ, RSCI, RG5 and other customer qualification activities as applicable.
Supplier, Special and Supporting Audits
- Plan or support supplier process/product audits, potential analyses and follow-up of supplier audit actions.
- Support ISO 14001, ISO 45001, TISAX/VDA ISA, emergency process assessments, responsible supply-chain and applicable CQI special-process assessments.
- Support APQP gate, launch-readiness, safe-launch, controlled-shipping, PFMEA/Control Plan alignment, special-characteristic, MSA/gage and PPAP package audits.
Reporting and Communication
- Report audit completion, open and overdue findings, repeat findings, customer-requirement status, certification risk and required support to Quality Management.
- Ensure process owners understand audit expectations, required evidence, KPIs, risks and due dates.
Authority
- Request audit evidence and access to applicable processes, records and responsible personnel.
- Assign and track audit actions and due dates within approved audit plans.
- Reject incomplete corrective-action responses or closure evidence and require additional verification.
- Escalate overdue findings, repeat nonconformances and customer/certification risks to management.
- Stop or report noncompliant audit practices and recommend additional containment, assessment or management review.
Key Performance Indicators
- Annual audit schedule completed on time.
- Number of open and overdue findings and on-time corrective-action closure rate.
- Repeat finding rate and corrective-action effectiveness.
- BMW requalification and customer-specific requirement reviews completed on time.
- Supplier audit completion and follow-up status.
- Auditor qualification/training completion and external audit readiness.
- Certification status and audit KPI reporting accuracy.
Required Documentation and Records
- Annual audit schedule, plans, assignments, reports, findings and closure evidence.
- Internal system, process, product, EASE and supplier audit records.
- External/customer audit reports, BMW requalification records and portal evidence.
- Customer-specific requirement reviews and applicable CQI, TISAX/VDA ISA, RSCI or RG5 support records.
- Auditor qualification records, corrective-action trackers, effectiveness verification and monthly KPI/status reports.
Required Qualifications
- Associate or bachelor's degree in Quality, Engineering, Manufacturing, Business or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience.
- Three or more years of automotive quality, audit, QMS or supplier-quality experience preferred.
- Working knowledge of ISO 9001, IATF 16949, customer-specific requirements, corrective action and audit evidence expectations.
- Strong facilitation, technical writing, organization, follow-up, conflict-management and cross-functional communication skills.
Required Training and Competency
Not all certifications must be complete at hire. Required qualifications may be completed within an approved timeframe, but the employee must be qualified before independently leading applicable audits.
- Automotive Core Tools and 8D/root-cause analysis.
- IATF 16949 Quality Management System Internal Auditor and VDA 6.3 Process Auditor training; prerequisite Core Tools training must be completed as required.
- ISO 9001/IATF 16949 Lead Auditor principles, audit planning, evidence collection, nonconformity writing and corrective-action verification.
- BMW customer-specific requirements and applicable B2B, IPQ, qWIN/requalification or related customer systems.
- EASE layered-process auditing and awareness of applicable TISAX/VDA ISA, CQI, RSCI, RG5, LPA, safe-launch and controlled-shipping requirements.
Preferred Certifications and Experience
- Current VDA 6.3 Process Auditor and IATF 16949 Internal Auditor credentials.
- ISO 9001/IATF Lead Auditor, ASQ Quality Auditor or comparable certification.
- Experience supporting BMW, a Tier 1 automotive supplier, supplier audits and third-party certification audits.
- Experience with EASE, Babtec/CAQ systems, customer portals and special-process assessments.
