What are the responsibilities and job description for the Quality Director position at Winnebago Industries?
Are you passionate about process improvement and driving strategy? Winnebago Motorhome is seeking a dynamic leader to join our Customer Experience team as the Director of Quality based at our Forest City, IA location. The Director of Quality is a pivotal leadership role responsible for driving a customer-first quality culture across the organization. Reporting to the VP of Customer Experience, this individual will oversee product quality, process improvements, and quality assurance for production and post-sale operations. Guided by our mission to “Serve, Solve, Simplify” you will champion a zero-defect philosophy, build robust quality systems, and foster collaboration to ensure a seamless experience for customers and dealers and drive measurable outcomes (i.e. First Pass Yield, Defects Per Unit, Warranty per Unit, Net Promoter Score).
Day To Day Of The Role
By fostering innovation, igniting growth, promoting well-being and connecting with purpose, we cultivate the passion and pride that make both work and play extraordinary. Greatness is in your NATURE.
Day To Day Of The Role
- Inspire a Customer-First Quality Culture: Lead by example to embed a mindset where quality serves customers, dealers, and colleagues, ensuring problems are solved the first time and delivering a positive experience with every interaction.
- Develop an Efficient Customer Feedback Loop: Design and implement systems to capture, analyze, and act on customer and dealer feedback, driving rapid resolution and process enhancements.
- Build Quality at the Source: Establish a quality management system that empowers teams to identify and address issues at their origin, simplifying processes and reducing defects across three assembly lines, suppliers, and vertical operations.
- Drive a Zero-Defect Mindset: Implement process controls and metrics to achieve zero defects, utilizing Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) methodologies to monitor and refine quality outcomes.
- Lead Continuous Improvement: Serve as a champion of continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to streamline operations and enhance product reliability, aligning with the mission to simplify processes.
- Collaborate Across Functions: Partner with Customer Service, Factory Service Center, and Part Sales teams to integrate quality insights, ensuring a seamless end-to-end experience.
- Oversee Quality Teams: Manage a team of 20–35 staff across Quality Assurance, Continuous Improvement, and Post-Sale Quality functions, fostering an extreme ownership mentality and accountability.
- Analyze and Act on Data: Leverage warranty, production, and field data to inform strategic decisions, maintaining a big-picture view of quality’s impact on the business.
- 10 years in quality management, ideally in the automotive or manufacturing sector, with a proven track record of building quality systems and leading teams.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, Quality Management, or related technical field; advanced degree or certifications (e.g., Six Sigma, ASQ) preferred.
- Expertise in structured problem-solving (A3, 8D, Fishbone, etc) and process optimization, with deep familiarity in Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) methodologies.
- Ability to connect tactical quality efforts to broader business goals and customer experience outcomes.
- Strong interpersonal skills to align cross-functional teams and drive shared objectives.
- Takes full accountability for quality outcomes, inspiring the same in others.
- Passionate about driving incremental and breakthrough improvements in processes and products.
- Familiarity with quality management systems (e.g., ISO 9001) and statistical process control
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to influence and align diverse stakeholders.
By fostering innovation, igniting growth, promoting well-being and connecting with purpose, we cultivate the passion and pride that make both work and play extraordinary. Greatness is in your NATURE.
