Director of Quality

Description

The Director of Quality provides executive-level leadership and operational accountability for A1J Technologies' Quality Management System (QMS), product conformity, quality assurance, quality control, regulatory and customer compliance, and continuous improvement initiatives.

• Develop and execute A1J's quality strategy in alignment with business objectives, customer requirements, and aerospace and defense industry expectations.
• Provide leadership and direction to Quality Systems, Quality Control, Inspection, Metrology, Calibration, and related quality functions.
• Establish clear departmental responsibilities, decision-making authority, performance expectations, and accountability.
• Build a proactive quality organization focused on defect prevention rather than defect detection alone.
• Establish quality policies, procedures, standardized work practices, and performance management systems.
• Develop and mentor Quality Managers, Quality Systems personnel, inspectors, CMM programmers, and other quality professionals.
• Promote quality ownership throughout Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, and supporting departments.
• Establish training, competency evaluation, and succession planning programs for Quality personnel.
• Maintain appropriate independence between production objectives and product acceptance decisions.

• Lead the implementation, maintenance, and continuous improvement of A1J's Quality Management System in accordance with applicable AS9100, ISO 9001, customer, and contractual requirements.
• Establish and maintain standardized quality procedures, work instructions, forms, and documented processes.
• Oversee internal audit planning, execution, reporting, and corrective-action follow-up.
• Lead preparation for customer, registrar, and other applicable external audits.
• Ensure audit findings are addressed through documented containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and effectiveness verification.
• Establish and maintain management review processes, quality objectives, risk assessments, and QMS performance reporting.
• Ensure effective implementation of document control, record retention, configuration management, product safety, and traceability requirements.
• Establish processes to identify and communicate customer-specific quality requirements throughout the organization.
• Ensure quality-related process changes are appropriately reviewed, approved, implemented, and verified.
• Provide executive leadership with accurate assessments of QMS effectiveness, compliance risks, and improvement priorities.

• Establish and oversee effective receiving, first-piece, in-process, and final inspection processes.
• Ensure inspection requirements are properly identified, documented, and implemented throughout manufacturing.
• Develop inspection strategies appropriate to product complexity, manufacturing risk, customer requirements, and process capability.
• Establish clear first-piece inspection requirements before production continues beyond defined verification points.
• Implement and sustain operator self-inspection practices supported by appropriate training, measurement equipment, and documented requirements.
• Ensure inspection personnel have the training, equipment, documentation, and technical support necessary to perform their responsibilities.
• Oversee CMM programming, inspection planning, measurement methods, and inspection capacity.
• Establish controls for inspection status, acceptance records, inspection equipment, and product release.
• Monitor inspection backlogs, turnaround times, and resource requirements to prevent avoidable delivery delays without compromising product conformity.
• Partner with Manufacturing to identify recurring defects and improve process capability, repeatability, and first-pass yield.
• Conduct routine shop-floor quality reviews to verify compliance with approved manufacturing and inspection procedures.

• Partner with the Director of Engineering to establish effective Quality Engineering participation in manufacturing process development and release.
• Ensure Quality Engineering reviews address applicable drawing requirements, critical characteristics, inspection methods, customer quality clauses, and manufacturing risks.
• Establish quality planning requirements for new product introduction, manufacturing process changes, and complex production jobs.
• Support the development and implementation of PFMEAs, control plans, inspection plans, and process validation requirements.
• Ensure appropriate first piece and First Article Inspection requirements are identified before manufacturing release.
• Oversee the quality acceptance and compliance aspects of AS9102 First Article Inspection documentation, as applicable.
• Establish clear technical interfaces and approval responsibilities between Manufacturing Engineering, Quality Engineering, Quality Control, and Manufacturing.
• Ensure engineering changes are evaluated for impacts on inspection requirements, configuration control, product conformity, and FAI requirements.
• Support manufacturing process improvement while maintaining independent product acceptance authority.

Organizational Interface: Quality Engineers may report administratively through the Engineering organization. The Director of Quality retains authority over QMS requirements, inspection and product acceptance criteria, nonconforming product control, and independent quality approvals.

• Establish and enforce standardized processes for identifying, documenting, segregating, evaluating, and controlling nonconforming material and product.
• Oversee Nonconformance Reports (NCRs), Material Review Board (MRB) activities, rework verification, and authorized disposition processes.
• Ensure product dispositions are made only by appropriately authorized personnel and that customer, or design-authority approvals are obtained when required.
• Lead investigation and resolution of significant internal nonconformances, recurring manufacturing defects, and customer quality escapes.
• Establish effective root-cause analysis and corrective-action practices using appropriate structured problem-solving methods.
• Ensure corrective actions address systemic causes rather than symptoms or individual operator mistakes alone.
• Establish corrective-action ownership, completion requirements, due dates, escalation procedures, and effectiveness verification.
• Analyze recurring defects, scrap, rework, and customer complaints to identify systemic improvement opportunities.
• Partner with Manufacturing and Engineering to implement sustainable corrective actions that prevent recurrence.

• Serve as the senior Quality representative for customer quality matters, major nonconformances, audits, and corrective-action requests.
• Ensure customer quality requirements are understood, communicated, and implemented throughout applicable processes.
• Lead responses to customer quality escapes, complaints, corrective-action requests, and significant quality concerns.
• Establish processes for timely customer notification and escalation when product conformity or contractual requirements may be affected.
• Monitor customer quality scorecards, product returns, escapes, and recurring issues.
• Support contract review and new business evaluations by assessing quality requirements, inspection capability, documentation obligations, and compliance risks.
• Ensure required inspection and quality records are complete and available before product release.
• Strengthen customer confidence through accurate reporting, effective corrective actions, and sustained product conformity.

• Partner with Supply Chain to establish supplier qualification, approval, monitoring, and performance evaluation processes.
• Ensure applicable supplier quality requirements and customer flow-downs are identified and communicated.
• Establish incoming material verification requirements, including applicable material certifications, certificates of conformity, and lot/heat traceability.
• Ensure nonconforming or uncertified incoming materials are appropriately controlled.
• Support oversight of special-process suppliers, approved sources, and customer-specific supplier requirements.
• Establish supplier nonconformance and corrective-action processes.
• Monitor supplier quality trends and coordinate improvement actions with Supply Chain.
• Ensure material traceability and quality documentation are maintained throughout applicable manufacturing and outside-processing operations.

• Establish and maintain an effective inspection equipment calibration and control program.
• Ensure measuring and test equipment is appropriate for intended use, identified, calibrated or verified as required, and controlled.
• Oversee CMM capabilities, inspection programming standards, and measurement process consistency.
• Establish procedures for addressing equipment found out of tolerance, including evaluation of potentially affected products.
• Support measurement system analysis, gage repeatability and reproducibility studies, and other capability assessments where appropriate.
• Evaluate inspection technology, equipment investments, and automation opportunities to improve inspection capability and efficiency.

• Lead initiatives to establish quality as a shared responsibility across the organization.
• Partner with Manufacturing leadership to implement effective first-piece verification, operator self-inspection, and manufacturing process compliance.
• Establish training and audit practices to reinforce proper traveler use, inspection documentation, job traceability, and adherence to approved procedures.
• Promote proactive identification and escalation of quality risks before nonconforming product is produced.
• Establish data-driven initiatives to reduce scrap, rework, customer escapes, and recurring defects.
• Support Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives that improve both product conformity and manufacturing efficiency.
• Encourage employee participation in identifying process risks and improvement opportunities.
• Develop sustainable quality controls that support growth without unnecessary administrative complexity.

• Establish meaningful quality performance indicators, measurable objectives, and routine management reviews.
• Develop dashboards and reporting systems that provide accurate visibility into quality performance and emerging risks.
• Analyze quality trends to identify priorities for corrective action and improvement.
• Establish accountability for corrective-action completion, inspection performance, and quality system compliance.
• Provide regular quality performance reports to Operations and Executive Leadership.
• Develop improvement plans for areas failing to meet established performance expectations.
• Support quality-related resource planning, staffing, capital investment, and budget management.

• Customer Quality Escapes - Number and severity of nonconforming products reaching customers.
• First-Pass Yield - Percentage of products or operations accepted without rework or correction
• Internal Scrap & Rework - Cost and frequency of nonconforming manufacturing output
• First-Piece Inspection Compliance - Percentage of applicable jobs with required first-piece approval before continued production
• Inspection On-Time Completion - Percentage of inspections completed by approved production schedule requirements
• NCR / MRB Aging - Number and age of open nonconformances awaiting disposition
• Corrective Action Effectiveness - Percentage of corrective actions verified effective within defined review periods
• AS9100 / QMS Compliance - Audit findings, overdue corrective actions, and demonstrated process effectiveness
• Calibration Compliance - Percentage of applicable measuring equipment within required calibration status
• Supplier Quality Performance - Supplier defect trends, incoming nonconformances, and supplier corrective-action performance
• Quality Documentation Compliance - Compliance with traveler, inspection, traceability, and required quality record controls
• Cost of Poor Quality - Measured cost of scrap, rework, quality escapes, and other defined quality failures

• Combination of executive office, quality laboratory, inspection areas, and precision manufacturing floor environments.
• Regular interaction with customers, auditors, suppliers, Engineering, Manufacturing, and Executive Leadership.
• May require travel for customer meetings, supplier evaluations, audits, or quality-related activities.
• Requires regular technical review of drawings, specifications, inspection records, quality data, and compliance documentation.

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive quality experience in manufacturing, including at least 5 years in quality leadership.
• Demonstrated experience leading Quality Management Systems, Quality Control, Inspection, and corrective-action functions.
• Strong working knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, AS9102, and applicable aerospace manufacturing quality requirements.
• Experience with precision machining, engineering drawings, GD&T, manufacturing processes, and inspection methods.
• Demonstrated experience preparing for and leading internal, customer, and third-party quality audits.
• Proven ability to establish effective nonconforming product controls, root-cause analysis, and corrective-action systems.
• Experience managing inspection operations, metrology, calibration, and product acceptance processes.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional quality improvement initiatives and reduce recurring defects.
• Strong understanding of material traceability, supplier quality requirements, and configuration management.
• Experience establishing quality KPIs, performance reporting, and organizational accountability.
• Strong leadership, communication, decision-making, and customer relationship management skills.
• Ability to balance quality compliance, manufacturing efficiency, operational risk, and customer delivery requirements without compromising product conformity.

• Master's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, or Business Administration.
• Extensive experience in aerospace, defense, or high-precision CNC manufacturing.
• Experience leading an organization through AS9100 certification, surveillance audits, or major QMS improvements.
• ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), or Certified Quality Auditor (CQA).
• Experience managing Quality Control, CMM programming, and complex dimensional inspection operations.
• Experience implementing first-piece inspection programs, operator self-inspection, and risk-based quality planning.
• Familiarity with PFMEA, SPC, process capability studies, and measurement system analysis.
• Experience with supplier qualification, special-process controls, and aerospace customer flow-down requirements.
• Experience using JobBoss or comparable manufacturing ERP/MRP systems.
• Demonstrated success reducing customer escapes, scrap, rework, and Cost of Poor Quality.
• Experience scaling quality organizations and systems during manufacturing growth or organizational transformation.