A rapidly growing advanced manufacturing company is seeking a Director of Quality to lead, manage, and scale quality across the entire organization. This role spans all sites, programs, and operations, including solid rocket motors, energetics, and advanced manufacturing activities. This role can be based in Texas or New Mexico.
This leader will own the quality strategy, quality systems, compliance posture, supplier quality performance, and operational execution required to support development, production, and scale-up.
This is a senior leadership role for someone who can build rigor without slowing execution. The Director of Quality will partner closely with operations, engineering, supply chain, and program leadership to ensure delivery of reliable, conforming products in a controlled, auditable, and scalable manufacturing environment.
Responsibilities
- Lead the company’s quality organization across quality assurance, quality control, supplier quality, audit readiness, nonconformance management, and corrective action
- Set quality strategy, objectives, and performance expectations aligned with operational goals, customer requirements, and company growth
- Advise executive leadership on quality risks, systemic issues, compliance gaps, and improvement priorities
- Own and maintain the Quality Management System (QMS) across all operations, facilities, and programs
- Ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, customer requirements, contract flow-downs, and applicable FAR/DFARS requirements
- Lead internal, customer, third-party, and regulatory audit activities and maintain audit readiness
- Ensure effective controls for documentation, traceability, inspection, testing, calibration, configuration control, and records retention
- Lead receiving, in-process, and final inspection strategies to ensure product conformity and process discipline
- Own nonconformance, containment, root cause, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness across internal and supplier issues
- Improve quality performance using metrics such as yield, escapes, rework, scrap, supplier defects, audit findings, and cost of poor quality
- Partner with operations and engineering to improve process capability, production readiness, repeatability, and manufacturing throughput
- Lead supplier quality strategy, including qualification, surveillance, performance management, issue resolution, and corrective action
- Drive continuous improvement using Lean, Six Sigma, statistical methods, and disciplined problem solving
- Build and develop a high-performing quality team and foster a culture of accountability, urgency, and prevention
Qualifications
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field
- 10+ years of progressive quality leadership experience in defense, aerospace, propulsion, energetics, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment
- 5+ years of experience managing managers or leading at the senior manager/director level with responsibility for a sizable organization
- Deep knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, audit systems, corrective action, nonconformance control, supplier quality, and configuration-controlled manufacturing
- Experience supporting U.S. government contracts in highly regulated production environments
- Strong understanding of inspection systems, process validation, first article inspection, traceability, and risk-based quality management
- Proven ability to lead root cause investigations, drive corrective action, and improve quality performance in complex technical operations
- Strong leadership, judgment, and cross-functional influence, with the ability to lead through managers and hold teams accountable across functions and locations
- U.S. Person status and ability to obtain or maintain required security clearance or access authorization
Preferred
- Master’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Quality, or Business Administration
- ASQ certification (CQE, CMQ/OE, or similar)
- Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent certification
- Experience with solid rocket motors, propulsion systems, energetics, aerospace systems, composites, or advanced manufacturing
- Experience supporting product development, production scale-up, qualification programs, and mission-critical hardware delivery
- Experience working with prime defense contractors, DCMA, or similar regulatory environments
- Experience with ERP/MRP systems, digital quality platforms, and manufacturing data systems
- Experience leading multi-site or geographically distributed quality organizations
- Active Secret-level security clearance
