Sr Design Quality Assurance Engineer

States Manufacturing LLC; Champlin (MN); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

PTO/ESST

Paid holidays

Health insurance

Paid weekly

Vision insurance

Dental insurance

401K

Life insurance

STD

Job summary

The Sr. Design Assurance Engineer at Forgent owns design quality across Solutions product lines, driving root cause analysis and corrective actions to prevent recurrence. You will manage CARB and ECC processes, ensure changes land in all docs and systems, and publish design quality metrics.

You will participate in cross-site reviews, improve design standards, and lead efforts to stop recurring issues from reaching manufacturing across Hanover, Champlin, and Dayton sites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering or related field.
• 5+ years in design or quality engineering within electrical equipment or related manufacturing.
• Strong root-cause analysis capabilities and CAPA experience.
• Experience owning ECO/ECN processes with cross-functional boards (CCB/MRB).
• Ability to translate data into Pareto, trends, and cost-of-poor-quality analysis.
• Proficiency in Excel; Power BI/Smartsheet is a plus.
• Familiarity with UL 891/UL 1558 requirements and PLM/PDM tools like AutoCAD Electrical, SolidWorks, Autodesk Vault, Fusion Manage.

Responsibilities

• Own design quality governance through CARB and ECC/CCB processes.
• Lead root-cause analysis for design defects and drive corrective actions.
• Attend design reviews as the design quality voice and publish effectiveness metrics.
• Coordinate cross-site quality actions across multiple sites.
• Maintain design standards, checklists, and training to prevent recurrence.

Skills

Root cause analysis

ECO/ECN ownership

Excel

Power BI

Smartsheet

Data analysis

Communication

UL standards

AutoCAD Electrical

SolidWorks

Autodesk Vault

Fusion Manage

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering

Tools

Power BI

Smartsheet

AutoCAD Electrical

SolidWorks

Autodesk Vault

Fusion Manage

Job description

Job Summary:

The Sr. Design Assurance Engineer owns design quality for Forgent's Solutions product lines: find recurring design errors, drive root cause and corrective action, and catch defects before they reach manufacturing.

The role also owns the two governance forums where design issues and changes are dispositioned: the Corrective Action Review Board (CARB) and the engineering change control (ECC) process, including the Change Control Board (CCB).

Corrective Action Review Board

• Run the CARB for design issues: set agenda and cadence, present incoming issues, and secure an owner, containment action, and due date for every accepted item.
• Perform root cause analysis on design defects, non-conformances, and field issues, and drive corrective actions that prevent recurrence rather than fix one job.
• Own closure: track actions against due dates, accelerate stalled items, verify effectiveness with evidence, and close only once the fix is embedded in a standard, checklist, template, or tool.

Engineering Change Control and Change Control Board

• Manage the ECC process end to end: intake, review, disposition, implementation, verification, and closure, with clear rules for what requires board review.
• Run the CCB: convene on a fixed cadence, prepare change packages, drive each to a documented disposition, and hold owners to committed implementation dates.
• Confirm approved changes land in every affected document and system (drawings, schematics, models, BOMs, PLM/PDM), and enforce change record data quality.

Design Reviews and Issue Closure

• Attend cross functional design reviews as the design quality voice and support the peer and team lead tiers, bringing known failure modes and open corrective actions into each.
• Ensure design review effectiveness and adherence to the process.
• Publish review effectiveness as a red/green indicator by review type, project, and site. Own the design quality metrics: design accuracy by engineer and by project, issue closure rate, and escape rate into manufacturing.

Analysis, Pareto, and Prevention

• Quantify the cost, rework, and schedule impact of design driven engineering changes.
• Prioritize root cause analysis on the design issues that disrupt manufacturing flow.
• Classify root causes as process, person, or tool, and aim the countermeasure accordingly.
• Maintain Pareto and trend analysis by product line, site, discipline, root cause, and change cycle time, and drive top contributors to permanent resolution through CARB.
• Improve design standards, checklists, and training to stop design issues from recurring.

Reporting and Communication

• Share ECC and design change analysis with engineering on a regular cadence: top failure modes and the actions addressing them.
• Report performance to engineering and Quality leadership: CARB and CCB throughput, open and overdue actions, change volume and cycle time, and top Pareto items with countermeasure progress.

Cross Site and Compliance Support

• Partner with the Engineering Managers to drive open design quality actions to closure.
• Standardize design quality practices, corrective action handling, and change control across Solutions sites (Hanover, Champlin, Dayton).
• Verify that UL listing and labeling escapes (UL 891 / UL 1558) are addressed at the design stage.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 5+ years in design engineering or quality engineering within electrical equipment, switchgear/switchboard, or panel manufacturing.
• Problem solving and root cause analysis (8D, A3, DMAIC) and CAPA experience.
• Experience owning an engineering change control process (ECO/ECN) and facilitating a cross functional board (CCB, CARB, or MRB).
• Able to turn quality and change data into Pareto, trend, and cost of poor quality analysis, and translate findings into process or standard changes. Strong Excel required; Power BI or Smartsheet a plus.
• Working knowledge of low voltage switchboard/switchgear design and UL 891 / UL 1558 requirements.
• Familiarity with design and PLM/PDM tools such as AutoCAD Electrical, SolidWorks, Autodesk Vault, and Fusion Manage.
• Able to present findings clearly to engineering and quality leadership.

Preferred:

• Multi-site engineering organization experience.
• Design engineering background.
• Quality or process focused experience.
• Six Sigma Green Belt or Lean certification.
• Experience chairing a change control or corrective action board.
• Quality and engineering change KPI reporting.

Benefits:

• PTO/ESST
• Paid holidays
• $100 individual deductible and $300 family deductible health insurance
• Paid Weekly
• Vision and Dental Insurance
• 401K / Life Insurance / STD