Customer Quality Advisor

Castrol Services; Pune District; On-site; INR 1,400,000 - 2,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Castrol Services is seeking a Customer Quality Advisor to translate customer quality requirements into robust, compliant processes. You will govern CSR/CMC, lead change communications, and align with OEM standards across global operations.

The role requires guiding audits, preserving license to operate, and driving continuous improvement with cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate has 3+ years in customer-facing quality roles in automotive or regulated industries, strong IATF16949

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 3+ years in customer-facing quality roles in automotive/regulated industries.
• Proven experience with CSR, including interpretation, negotiation support, implementation, and governance across multiple customers.
• Strong hands-on experience with IATF 16949 and customer-specific standards such as VDA, QS9000, Ford Q1, VW FormelQ.
• Knowledge of core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, FMEA, 8D) across end-to-end value chains.

Responsibilities

• Govern Customer Specific Requirements across the globe and ensure compliance.
• Own CSR governance, change communications (CMC), and related standards.
• Lead customer notifications, approvals, and change-related decision making.
• Support audits, supplier ratings, and risk assessments with cross-functional teams.
• Provide training and coaching to build capability in quality processes and tool usage.

Skills

CSR governance

Change management

Quality systems

IATF 16949

OEM customer interaction

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

About the team:

The Customer Quality Advisor ensures that customer quality requirements, change communications, and compliance commitments are translated into robust, consistent, and customertrusted processes across the organization.

The role acts as the central authority and credible customer interface for Customer Specific Requirements (CSR), Change Management Communication (CMC), and related quality topics, balancing customer expectations with regulatory, legal, and operational feasibility.

By providing governance, expert guidance, and enablement, the role safeguards customer satisfaction, audit readiness, and license to operate, while enabling the business to manage change, complexity, and growth in a structured and sustainable way.

Shift Timings:

9:00am to 6:00pm / 12:00 to 9:00pm IST

Key tasks:

Process & Tool Governance

• Own and govern Customer Quality tools and global CSR/CMC processes.
• Define standards, manage enhancements, monitor KPIs, and drive continuous improvement.
• Lead global deployment, stakeholder engagement, and training.

Customer Specific Requirements (CSR)

• Act as the CSR Subject Matter Expert.
• Interpret, assess, and implement customer requirements.
• Lead compliance assessments, maintain compliance matrices, and resolve gaps with business stakeholders.
• Drive organizational capability through coaching and training.

Customer Change Management (CMC)

• Own customer change communication standards and governance.
• Lead customer notifications, approvals, discrepancy management, and change-related decision making.
• Ensure consistent execution through training and performance monitoring.

Special Customer Quality Requirements

• Manage PPAP/PQA activities and associated customer negotiations.
• Serve as focal point for IMDS and customer disclosure requests.
• Coordinate cross-functional support to address customer requirements and data gaps.

Customer Quality Consulting

• Support complex customer quality issues, deviations, shortages, and requalification activities.
• Provide quality input for RFQs, tenders, contracts, and localization initiatives.
• Act as a trusted advisor in critical customer engagements.

Customer Audits & Supplier Ratings

• Lead preparation and support for customer audits.
• Coordinate audit readiness across Sales, Technology, Supply Chain, and Quality.
• Support management of non-OEM supplier performance ratings and associated risk assessments.
• Ownership of agreed Customer Specific Requirements across globe.
• Responsibility for planning and execution of customer audits and assessments.

Experience required:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Minimum 3+ years of experience in customerfacing quality roles (e.g. Customer Quality, Quality Engineering, Quality Assurance, Process Management, Sales or GSC) within automotive, industrial, or other regulated industries, with direct exposure to OEM customers.
• Proven track record in working with Customer Specific Requirements (CSRs), including their interpretation, negotiation support, implementation, and ongoing governance across multiple customers. Strong handson experience with IATF 16949 (formerly ISO/TS 16949) and customerspecific standards such as VDA, QS9000, Ford Q1, and VW FormelQ.
• Demonstrated experience in process management and the practical application of core quality tools (including APQP, PPAP, FMEA, and 8D) across endtoend value chains, with close collaboration across Sales, Global Supply Chain (GSC), and Operations.
• Handson experience in process ownership or governance, particularly for customer requirements, quality processes, or change management (CMC or equivalent).
• Strong understanding of how customer requirements translate into internal processes, product changes, and plant or supplychain impact.
• Experience working with customer or quality management tools, databases, or workflow systems, and contributing to process or tool improvements.
• Awareness of legal and contractual implications related to customer requirements, quality agreements, and change notifications.
• CSR governance and compliance management.
• Automotive quality standards (IATF 16949, VDA, AIAG).
• Customer change management and communication.
• Customer audit management.
• Stakeholder influence and negotiation.
• Problem-solving and root cause analysis.
• Training, coaching, and knowledge transfer.
• Global process governance and continuous improvement.
• Customer Specific Requirements (CSR) management.
• Change Management Communication (CMC).
• Automotive quality systems knowledge.
• PPAP/APQP expertise.
• Customer audit management.
• Customer-facing communication and negotiation.
• Process governance and KPI management.
• Root cause analysis and 8D problem solving.
• Cross-functional stakeholder management.
• Global rollout, training, and capability building.