Lead, Propulsion Quality Engineering & Strategy

Socket.dev; Berthoud (CO); On-site; USD 106,000 - 132,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Parental leave

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

HSA/FSA

Short and long-term disability

Life and AD&D

Voluntary life

Emergency Medical Transport

EAP program

401k with company match

Equity grants

Job summary

Ursa Major is seeking a Product Quality Engineering Lead to own and scale the Quality Engineering function for aerospace and defense products. You will lead a team of Product Quality Engineers, drive end-to-end quality processes, and ensure compliance with AS9100D while coordinating with Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing on quality controls and investigations.

The role demands strategic leadership and hands-on execution to rewrite the playbook for product quality across complex propulsion

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a related field.
• 5+ years of progressive experience in product quality, manufacturing quality, test engineering, or a comparable quality-focused role within aerospace, defense, or a regulated manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience building or substantially overhauling product or manufacturing quality systems and processes.
• Working knowledge of AS9100D and a track record of bringing internal quality processes into compliance.
• Strong understanding of inspection planning, first article inspection, nonconformance management, root cause analysis, and corrective action.
• Ability to think in systems and redesign broken processes rather than work around them.
• Credibility with design engineers, manufacturing technicians, and executives, with the ability to shift communication styles between all three.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills, with the ability to lead through influence as much as authority and to defend quality decisions that carry cost or schedule impact.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Product Quality Engineers – including hiring, performance management, and career development
• Set priorities and balance workload across the team while ensuring stakeholder alignment
• Build a high-ownership culture in which each engineer is accountable for the quality of their assigned products and processes
• Develop the architecture of product quality engineering processes end-to-end, including inspection planning, in-process and final inspection, nonconformance management, and root cause and corrective action
• Drive processes to AS9100D compliance and beyond while supporting other certification or accreditation schemes
• Define key metrics for product and team performance and establish a reporting cadence
• Provide input into the design and continuous improvement of the QMS, especially product realization and verification/validation
• Lead or support high-stakes investigations, test failures, FAI, and critical build/test activities
• Own escalations for product quality issues the team cannot resolve
• Lead or support MRB, root cause analysis, and corrective actions for product-related issues
• Collaborate with Engineering and Manufacturing on DFM, process capability, control plans, and technical drawing reviews
• Ensure inspection methods, sampling plans, and acceptance criteria are defined and implemented
• Support qualification efforts by ensuring activities meet requirements and evidence is complete
• Serve as senior contact for product quality engineering across the business
• Represent product quality engineering in cross-functional settings
• Collaborate with Design, Configuration, Systems Engineering, Operations, and Test to align verification plans and quality controls
• Other duties as assigned

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

eQMS

NCR/CAPA systems

SPC tools

Digital travelers

Job description

Ursa Major is seeking a Product Quality Engineering Lead to own and scale the Quality Engineering function for aerospace and defense products. You will lead a team of Product Quality Engineers, drive end-to-end quality processes, and ensure compliance with AS9100D while coordinating with Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing on quality controls and investigations.

The role demands strategic leadership and hands-on execution to rewrite the playbook for product quality across complex propulsion