Senior Quality Engineer*

3M; Minnesota; On-site; USD 124,000 - 152,000; Full time

Job summary

3M is seeking a Senior Quality Engineer to own Expanded Beam Optics (EBO) quality governance and manufacturing quality performance across locations. You will define quality requirements, control plans, risk registers, defect classifications, and lead issue resolution with continuous improvement.

Collaborating with engineering, manufacturing, customer quality, site quality, and metrology teams worldwide, you will review changes for quality impact, maintain baselines, and standardize dashboards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, and/or manufacturing (completed and verified prior to start).
• Three (3) years of experience in product and manufacturing quality, including advanced quality planning, process controls, customer issue resolution, manufacturing defect investigation, and product design risk management in a private, public, government, or military environment.
• Three (3) years of experience leading or supporting quality improvement and risk management activities, including PFMEA, control plans, change impact assessments, root cause analysis, corrective actions, SPC, and process capability in a private, public, government, or military environment.

Responsibilities

• Own EBO product quality governance and manufacturing quality performance.
• Lead quality issue resolution and drive continuous improvement.
• Maintain the EBO product quality baseline, including critical-to-quality characteristics, known risks, acceptance criteria, and quality requirements.
• Govern global product-level control plans, inspection expectations, and defect classification standards.
• Lead periodic product quality reviews using data from customers, manufacturing locations, and failure analysis.
• Review product, process, tooling, test method, material, and site changes for quality impact.
• Support global quality triage when Menomonie production is involved.
• Ensure lessons learned from customer issues, internal defects, site qualification, and failure analysis are incorporated into controls and improvement plans.
• Standardize quality dashboards, defect library, and product quality reporting.
• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, customer quality, site quality, and metrology teams.

Skills

Cross-functional leadership

Root cause analysis

Process controls

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Design risk management

Quality planning

Quality governance

Leadership in quality improvement

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, quality, and/or manufacturing

Tools

PFMEA

Control plans

Change impact assessments

Root cause analysis

Corrective actions

SPC

Process capability

Job description

Senior Quality Engineer*

Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World

Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers.

Job Description

This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career.

The Impact You’ll Make in this Role

The Senior Quality Engineer will own EBO (Expanded Beam Optics) product quality governance & manufacturing quality performance, ensuring quality requirements, control plans, risk registers, defect definitions, metrics, and lessons learned remain current and aligned across manufacturing locations, and customer regions. This role will lead quality issue resolution, drive continuous improvement for the manufacturing site, and support global customer issues.

As a Senior Quality Engineer, You Will Have The Opportunity To Tap Into Your Curiosity And Collaborate With Some Of The Most Innovative People Around The World. Here, You Will Make An Impact By

• Lead/support manufacturing quality improvement, root cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Maintain the EBO (Expanded Beam Optics) product quality baseline, including critical-to-quality characteristics, known risks, acceptance criteria, and quality requirements.
• Govern global product-level control plans, inspection expectations, and defect classification standards.
• Maintain the EBO product quality risk register across customer, manufacturing, metrology, application, and design risks.
• Lead periodic product quality reviews using data from customers, manufacturing locations, and failure analysis.
• Review product, process, tooling, test method, material, and site changes for quality impact.
• Support global quality triage when Menomonie production is involved.
• Ensure lessons learned from customer issues, internal defects, site qualification, and failure analysis are incorporated into controls and improvement plans.
• Standardize quality dashboards, defect library, and product quality reporting.
• Partner with engineering, manufacturing, customer quality, site quality, and metrology teams.

Your Skills And Expertise

To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, and/or manufacturing (completed and verified prior to start)
• Three (3) years of experience in product and manufacturing quality, including advanced quality planning, process controls, customer issue resolution, manufacturing defect investigation, and product design risk management in a private, public, government, or military environment.
• Three (3) years of experience leading or supporting quality improvement and risk management activities, including PFMEA, control plans, change impact assessments, root cause analysis, corrective actions, SPC, and process capability in a private, public, government, or military environment.

Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include:

• Experience with optical products, connectors, electronics, precision assembly, or high-reliability manufacturing.
• Experience with product transfers or cross-site process alignment.
• Experience supporting global products manufactured across multiple sites.
• Experience with product lifecycle quality, design change review, process change review, or product transfer.
• Strong cross-functional leadership
• Proficient in Mandarin

Work location:

• This role follows an on-site working model, requiring the employee to work at least four days a week at the 3M Center in Maplewood, MN.

Travel: May include up to 30% domestic and/or international

Relocation: May be authorized

Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status).

Responsibilities of this position may include direct and/or indirect physical or logical access to information, systems, technologies subjected to the regulations/compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws. U.S. Export Control laws and U.S. Government Department of Defense contracts and sub-contracts impose certain restrictions on companies and their ability to share export-controlled and other technology and services with certain "non-U.S. persons" (persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents of the U.S., refugees, "Temporary Residents" (granted Amnesty or Special Agricultural Worker provisions), or persons granted asylum. To comply with these laws, 3M must help assess candidates' U.S. person status. The questions asked in this application are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this particular position.

Supporting Your Well-being

3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope.

Chat with Max

For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers.

Applicable to US Applicants Only: The expected compensation range for this position is $124,127 - $151,710, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/.

Good Faith Posting Date Range 09/07/2026 To 10/07/2026 Or until filled

All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M.

Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M.

Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties.

Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement.

Pay & Benefits Overview:

Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/

3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly.

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