Customer Product Quality Manager

Johnson Controls; San Antonio (TX); On-site; USD 112,000 - 187,000; Full time

Job summary

Johnson Controls seeks a Senior Quality Leader to own the customer-facing product quality function at the San Antonio factory. You will connect customer experience, field performance, warranty, plant quality, engineering, service, and supplier quality data to prevent recurrence and strengthen product reliability.

You will lead high‑visibility escalations, drive containment and corrective actions with cross‑functional teams, and implement durable quality systems and metrics that prevent

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline.
• 5+ years in manufacturing, product, customer, or field quality with cross-functional leadership.
• Experience with ISO 9001 and core quality tools (APQP, PPAP, DFMEA/PFMEA, Control Plans, MSA, SPC, 8D).
• Ability to analyze data and translate findings into prioritized actions and measurable results.
• Strong communication with customers and senior leaders during high-visibility quality concerns.

Responsibilities

• Own the quality response for customer complaints and field failures from notification to closure.
• Lead risk assessment and containment across finished goods, in‑process, suppliers, and sites.
• Coordinate release, inspection, rework plans, and recovery actions with cross‑functional teams.
• Provide concise updates distinguishing facts, risks, containment, and due dates.
• Lead root-cause analysis using 8D, 5 Why, Fishbone and DMAIC methods.
• Ensure corrective actions address systemic causes and verify effectiveness.

Skills

ISO 9001 knowledge

Quality data analysis

Cross-functional leadership

Customer communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or related technical discipline

ASQ CQE/CQA or equivalent Six Sigma capability

Tools

APQP/PPAP

DFMEA/PFMEA

Control Plans

MSA

SPC

8D problem solving

Job description

Johnson Controls, a global leader in thermal management, mission-critical building systems, energy efficiency, and decarbonization, helps customers use energy more productively, reduce carbon emissions, and operate with the precision and resilience required in rapidly expanding industries such as data centers, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing, and higher education.

For more than 140 years, Johnson Controls has delivered performance where it really matters. Backed by advanced technology, lifecycle services and an industry-leading field organization, we elevate customer performance, turn goals into real-world results and help move society forward.

Lead the customer-facing product quality function for the San Antonio factory. Connect customer experience, field performance, warranty, plant quality, engineering, service, and supplier quality data to prevent recurrence, reduce external defects and cost, and strengthen product reliability. Lead high-visibility escalations with urgency while building sustainable systems that improve how the organization identifies, raises, solves, and learns from quality issues.

How You Will Do It

Customer Escalation, Containment and Recovery

• Own the quality response for customer complaints, Customer Escapes, field failures, and critical product concerns from initial notification through verified closure.
• Lead immediate risk assessment and containment across finished goods, work in process, feeder plants, suppliers, distribution points, and customer sites, as applicable.
• Coordinate certified product release, inspection or rework plans, replacement-part activity, and customer recovery actions with Operations, Service, Engineering, Supply Chain, and account teams.
• Provide concise, fact-based updates that distinguish confirmed facts, open risks, interim containment, permanent corrective action, owners, and due dates.

Closed-Loop Corrective Action and Product Learning

• Lead structured problem solving using 8D, 5 Why, Fishbone, A3, DMAIC, fault-tree analysis, and other fit-for-purpose methods.
• Ensure root cause is supported by evidence, corrective actions address systemic causes, effectiveness is verified, and lessons learned are deployed across products and manufacturing sites.
• Convert field and warranty issues into updates to design standards, DFMEA and PFMEA, control plans, inspection and test requirements, work instructions, training, and preventive maintenance where applicable.
• Escalate stalled or ineffective corrective actions and facilitate cross-functional decision making to protect the customer.

Customer, Warranty and Product Quality Analytics

• Analyze customer complaint, warranty, service, return-part, EPPM, Customer Escapes, defect, reliability, and Cost of Poor Quality data to identify priorities and emerging risks.
• Establish leading and lagging indicators, maintain data integrity, and publish actionable dashboards and management reviews.
• Use Pareto, trend, segmentation, recurrence, severity, age, and exposure analysis to focus resources on the highest customer and business risks.
• Partner with Finance and Service to validate warranty impact, quantify improvement opportunities, and track realized results.

Production Readiness, NPI and Change Quality

• Represent customer and product quality requirements in new product introduction, production readiness assessments, design reviews, validation builds, Engineering Change Notices, and launch readiness decisions.
• Ensure customer-specific and critical-to-quality requirements are translated into measurable manufacturing and test controls.
• Confirm that APQP deliverables, PFMEA, control plans, MSA, capability evidence, PPAP or equivalent approvals, and traceability are complete and effective before release.
• Identify legacy issues and lessons learned that must be addressed before introducing new or changed products.

Cross-Functional and Customer Leadership

• Act as the primary quality integrator among the factory, Engineering, Service, Warranty, Sales or Account Management, Program Management, Supplier Quality, and Global Quality.
• Lead and facilitate customer factory visits in collaboration with the Global Customer Excellence & Quality Managers, coordinating visit objectives, agendas, plant readiness, cross-functional participation, issue follow-up, and customer communications.
• Participate in customer calls, site visits, and executive reviews; communicate clearly, professionally, and with appropriate urgency.
• Build effective feedback loops with field technicians and service teams so product and process decisions reflect actual customer experience.
• Coach teams on customer-focused problem solving, quality fundamentals, escalation discipline, and evidence-based decision making.

Quality System and Governance

• Ensure customer quality records, issue-tracking systems, approvals, evidence, and closure documentation meet Quality Management System and audit requirements.
• Define standard work and governance for intake, triage, severity, containment, root‑cause analysis, corrective action, effectiveness verification, closure, and horizontal deployment.
• Prepare regular portfolio reviews of open customer issues, aging, risk, recurring failures, corrective‑action health, and business impact.
• Promote a proactive quality culture focused on prevention, transparency, accountability, and Zero Defects.

What We Look For

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline.
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in manufacturing, product, customer, or field quality, including leadership of complex corrective actions and cross-functional teams.
• Practical knowledge of ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems and core quality tools, including APQP, PPAP, DFMEA or PFMEA, Control Plans, MSA, SPC, and 8D.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze technical and operational data and convert findings into prioritized actions and measurable results.
• Experience communicating with customers and senior leaders during high-visibility quality concerns.
• Ability to read engineering drawings, specifications, test requirements, and manufacturing documentation.
• Strong written and verbal communication, facilitation, influencing, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to work on site in a manufacturing environment and travel periodically to customer, supplier, service, or company locations.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with HVAC, chillers, complex electro‑mechanical equipment, engineered‑to‑order products, or similarly complex industrial manufacturing.
• Experience with warranty analytics, returned‑part analysis, field service, reliability, or customer quality systems.
• Working knowledge of Power BI for data analytics and visualization, and Minitab or an equivalent statistical analysis tool for Statistical Process Control (SPC).
• ASQ CQE, CQA, or CMQ/OE; Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt; or ISO 9001 Lead Auditor certification.
• Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish is desirable.

Hiring Salary Range

$112,100.00 - 187,100.00 USD Annual (Salary to be determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicant, internal equity, location and alignment with market data.) This position includes a competitive benefits package. For details, please visit the About Us tab on the Johnson Controls Careers site at https://jobs.johnsoncontrols.com/about-us