Director, Customer Quality

Position overview:

The Director of Customer Quality is responsible for leading customer quality assurance initiatives to ensure the highest standards of product quality and customer satisfaction by ensuring product and process outputs are conforming to specifications, regulatory requirements, and internal business objectives.

This role will work closely with various departments including manufacturing, distribution, sales, customer service, supply chain and applications engineering, providing strategic direction and oversight on all quality-related matters that impact our customers.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Quality Leadership:

• Develop and maintain a strategic vision for customer quality assurance in alignment with the company's goals and objectives.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance quality processes and improve customer performance (complaints, satisfaction, deviations).

Quality Oversight:

• Monitor and analyze quality metrics to identify trends and areas of concern.
• Collaborate with the manufacturing and distribution teams to ensure product quality standards are met consistently.

Customer Feedback Management:

• Customer Liaison and first point of escalation for customer issues.
• Lead efforts in collecting, analyzing, and responding to customer feedback and complaints.
• Establish a robust system for addressing customer quality issues swiftly and efficiently.

Cross-functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with the sales and customer service teams to address any customer quality concerns.
• Collaborate with applications engineering and production teams to integrate customer feedback into product development and improvement cycles.

Team Leadership & Development:

• Oversee and mentor the customer quality team, setting performance goals and ensuring continuous skill development.
• Foster a culture of quality awareness and customer-centricity across the organization.

Process Design and Compliance:

• Ensure compliance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and company policies.
• Oversee the documentation of quality processes, guidelines, KPIs and reports.

Skills and Competencies:

• Customer Orientation and Responsiveness.
• Drive for Results.
• Team Player.
• Excellent Communication.
• Excellent Analytical, Problem Solving and Decision-Making Skills.
• Process Orientation.
• Negotiation and Conflict Management.
• Collaboration and Influencing.

Qualifications:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in a quality assurance role, with at least 5 years in a leadership capacity.
• Extensive knowledge of quality assurance methodologies, Quality Core Tools, and best practices.
• AIAG Core Tools: PPAP, MSA, SPC, FMEA.
• Automotive Manufacturing or Distribution Experience highly preferred.
• Familiarity with the fastener industry is a strong plus.
• Bachelor’s Degree in STEM field preferred. Mechanical or Industrial Engineering is a strong plus.
• GD&T, Print Review, Understanding and interpretation of engineering specifications (IFI, ASME)
• Lean Practitioner, Six Sigma Black Belt Highly Preferred.
• Internal or Lead Auditor Certification Highly Preferred.
• Proficiency with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Smartsheet, Tableau, ERP systems.

Compensation:

At Optimas we believe in having a competitive compensation scheme to motivate and retain our employees. More information will be given throughout the process.

Optimas OE Solutions provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Optimas OE Solutions complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.