Manager of Quality, Testing & Continuous Improvement

Description

Position Summary:

The Manager of Quality, Testing & Continuous Improvement provides strategic leadership across three interconnected disciplines: quality management, testing and certification, and operational continuous improvement. This role leads a team of four and is accountable for maintaining the organization's quality certifications, driving root cause and corrective action processes, developing testing capabilities, and building a data-driven culture of continuous improvement. The position serves as the primary interface with customers on quality matters and partners closely with operations to support successful new product and business launches.

Key Responsibilities:

Quality Management & Corrective Action

• Lead root cause analysis (RCA) and corrective action (CAPA) processes for internal and external quality issues, ensuring timely resolution and effective closure.

• Serve as the primary point of contact for customer quality complaints; manage investigations, communications, and corrective responses with a focus on customer satisfaction and retention.

• Maintain and continuously improve the organization's quality management system (QMS) to support compliance, audit readiness, and operational excellence.

• Oversee the calibration program to ensure all measurement and test equipment is properly maintained, documented, and traceable to applicable standards.

Certification & Compliance:

• Own and maintain all external quality certifications (e.g., ISO 9001, IATF 16949, AS9100, or applicable industry standards), including managing surveillance audits, recertification cycles, and corrective actions arising from audit findings.

• Ensure the organization remains in continuous compliance with applicable regulatory, customer, and industry requirements.

• Manage relationships with external certification bodies, third-party auditors, and customer quality representatives.

Testing & Laboratory Capabilities:

• Lead the development, maintenance, and continuous improvement of internal testing capabilities to support quality assurance, product validation, and customer requirements.

• Coordinate resources and investments to expand testing capacity in alignment with business growth and new product development.

• Ensure testing methods, equipment, and documentation meet applicable standards and are validated for their intended use.

New Product & Business Launch Support:

• Work closely with the Commercial Team to evaluate potential opportunities at the earliest stages of the quoting process. Providing input on the capabilities of the SWH processing equipment and the Steel Mills.

• Partner with operations and cross-functional teams to plan, coordinate, and document production trial runs for new business awards and new product introductions (NPI).

• Develop and execute launch quality plans that define acceptance criteria, monitoring protocols, and escalation paths to drive successful production launches.

• Capture lessons learned from trial runs and launches to continuously improve the launch readiness process.

Continuous Improvement Leadership:

• Champion a culture of continuous improvement across the organization, leading structured improvement initiatives using methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, or DMAIC.

• Evolve the organization's approach to data collection, key performance indicators (KPIs), and performance reporting to ensure metrics are meaningful, actionable, and aligned to strategic goals.

• Identify, prioritize, and lead improvement projects that reduce waste, improve quality, enhance throughput, and lower costs.

• Coach and develop team members and cross-functional partners in CI tools and problem-solving methodologies.

People Leadership:

• Lead, develop, and engage a team of four quality and improvement professionals, setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and building individual capability.

• Foster a collaborative, accountable team culture that reflects the organization's values and quality philosophy.

• Allocate team resources effectively across quality, testing, certification, and improvement priorities.

Requirements

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, Operations, or a related technical field.

• 5+ years of progressive experience in quality management, with at least 2 years in a leadership role.

• Demonstrated experience managing external quality certifications (ISO 9001 or industry equivalent) through the full audit cycle.

• Proven track record leading root cause analysis and corrective action using structured methodologies (8D, A3, Fishbone, 5-Why, etc.).

• Experience interfacing directly with customers on quality issues and complaints.

• Strong working knowledge of calibration systems and measurement system analysis (MSA/Gauge R&R).

• Experience supporting new product launch or production trial run activities in a manufacturing environment.

• Proficiency with data analysis tools and quality management software; ability to build and interpret performance dashboards.

Preferred:

• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Quality Manager (CQM), or equivalent certification.

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.

• Experience in [industry-specific standard, e.g., IATF 16949 / AS9100 / SQF].

• Familiarity with statistical process control (SPC) and advanced quality planning (APQP/PPAP).