Senior Quality Engineer (APQP) – New Product Development

OpTalent; Lake Forest (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

OpTalent in Foothill Ranch, California, seeks a Senior Quality Engineer to drive APQP and New Product Development from concept to launch. You’ll collaborate with Product, Design Engineering, Manufacturing, and suppliers to mitigate risks early and ensure scalable production readiness.

You’ll apply DFMEA/PFMEA, RCA, SPC, DOE and control plans to guide design decisions and prevent issues, while supporting prototypes, validation, and pilot runs for successful market introduction.

Qualifications

• Experience applying APQP in new product development.
• Strong collaboration with cross-functional teams.
• Ability to manage multiple development projects and timelines.

Responsibilities

• Support new products from concept through production launch.
• Apply APQP principles to plan and manage quality throughout NPD.
• Evaluate product designs for quality, risk, reliability, and manufacturability.
• Identify potential failure modes and drive risk reduction through DFMEA/PFMEA and related quality planning.
• Apply quality and problem-solving tools including RCA, SPC, Cpk, MSA, Control Plans, and DOE.
• Provide technical feedback to Product and Design Engineering to prevent issues before production.
• Support prototype builds, testing, validation, pilot production, and launch readiness.
• Partner with Manufacturing and suppliers to address process, tooling, and production risks.
• Support quality gates and ensure appropriate controls are established before production.
• Manage multiple development projects, priorities, and timelines.

Job description

Senior Quality Engineer (APQP) – New Product Development

Full time | OpTalent | United States

Posted On 2026-08-27

Job Information

Job Opening ID ZR_1387_JOB

$100,000 to $120,000 /year

City Foothill Ranch

State/Province California

92610

Job Description

About the Opportunity

We’re seeking a Senior Quality Engineer to support Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) and New Product Development (NPD) from concept through development, validation, and production.

APQP provides the quality-planning framework for the role, but the focus is hands-on product and engineering involvement. You’ll work closely with Product, Design Engineering, Project Engineering, Manufacturing, suppliers, and global teams to identify product and manufacturing risks early, influence design decisions, and ensure new products are ready for successful production at scale.

This is not a traditional production Quality or Quality Systems role. You’ll be involved early in product development and help connect product design, quality, manufacturability, validation, and launch readiness.

What You’ll Do

• Support new products from concept through production launch
  
• Apply APQP principles to plan and manage quality throughout NPD
  
• Evaluate product designs for quality, risk, reliability, and manufacturability
  
• Identify potential failure modes and drive risk reduction through DFMEA/PFMEA and related quality planning
  
• Apply quality and problem-solving tools including RCA, SPC, Cpk, MSA, Control Plans, and DOE
  
• Provide technical feedback to Product and Design Engineering to prevent issues before production
  
• Support prototype builds, testing, validation, pilot production, and launch readiness
  
• Partner with Manufacturing and suppliers to address process, tooling, and production risks
  
• Support quality gates and ensure appropriate controls are established before production
  
• Manage multiple development projects, priorities, and timelines