Sr. Quality Investigation Engineer - Connected Vehicle Service Quality

Subaru of America; Merchantville (NJ); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Subaru of America is seeking a Senior Quality Investigation Engineer to lead investigations into vehicle quality issues across North American product lines. The role demands ownership, root-cause analysis, and technical recommendations, with collaboration across NASI, SBR, SIA, SCI, TMNA, and suppliers.

You will evaluate vehicles, conduct root-cause analyses, and drive improvements while coordinating with global teams to ensure quality issues are addressed from escalation to resolution.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in electrical, mechanical, automotive engineering or similar field is required.
• Master's Degree in electrical, mechanical, automotive engineering or similar field is preferred.
• 4–6 years of relevant work experience with a bachelor’s degree, or 2–4 years with a master’s degree.

Responsibilities

• Leads/owns mid-impact projects and coordinates tasks.
• Performs root cause analysis and supports defect investigations.
• Supports cross-functional problem solving with internal and external stakeholders.
• Monitors field issues, triages and escalations, and ensures timely responses.
• Prepares detailed technical reports and presents findings to leadership.
• Collaborates with engineers across disciplines and with suppliers and SBR/Japan teams.

Skills

Root Cause Analysis

Data interpretation

Cross-functional collaboration

Engineering drawings

Education

Bachelor's Degree in electrical/ mechanical / automotive engineering

Master's Degree in electrical/ mechanical / automotive engineering (preferred)

Job description

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Quality Investigation (QI) Engineer supports investigations into vehicle quality issues across all Subaru vehicle product lines across the North American region. Taking ownership with minimal instructions and leveraging industry knowledge and technical expertise, the Senior QI Engineer will evaluate vehicles, conduct root-cause analysis, and recommend technical improvements.

JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Quality Investigation (QI) Engineer supports investigations into vehicle quality issues across all Subaru vehicle product lines across the North American region. Taking ownership with minimal instructions and leveraging industry knowledge and technical expertise, the Senior QI Engineer will evaluate vehicles, conduct root-cause analysis, and recommend technical improvements.

Activities include:

• In-field investigation of vehicle-related issues.
• Collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, including members in North America and Japan.
• Ananalyzing market and automotive technical data.
• Testing and evaluating repair and countermeasures.
• Assisting with the development of vehicles that meet current and future demands of our customers while correlating quality-related tasks to support all aforementioned activities.

The role also involves collaborating cross-functionally with other Subaru entities, business functions, and Alliance partners, such as North American Subaru, Inc. (NASI), Subaru Corporation (SBR), Subaru of America (SOA), Subaru of Indiana Automotive (SIA), Subaru of Canada, Inc. (SCI), Toyota Motors North America (TMNA), and/or Toyota Motors Corporation (TMC), as well as external entities such as various hardware and/or software suppliers. The level of interaction is expected to be higher than that of entry-level QI Engineers.

The Senior QI Engineer reviews the work of QI Engineers and interns. The role also leads some mid-impact projects as a contact person, including communication with vendors.

Approximately, core duties will involve 70% execution of tasks (evaluation, research, reporting, etc.), and 30% project oversight.

The Senior Quality Investigation (QI) Engineer supports investigations into infotainment and connected vehicle (CV) quality issues across all Subaru vehicle product lines across the North American region. This role works to ensure that infotainment and CV quality issues are addressed, from escalation to diagnosis to resolution. Strong knowledge of the Data Communication Module (DCM) and the Cockpit Control Unit (CCU) is required.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES

Primary Responsibilities

Project Responsibilities: 10%

• Leads some mid-impact projects, independently or allocating tasks to other team members.
• Progresses in projects as directed by more experienced team members.
• Recommends data-driven target specifications based on verified quality findings and observed market conditions.
• Independently identifies the next step in each project.
• Collaborates with other engineers and managers when encountering an issue.
• Communicates and coordinates effectively with all levels of the organization, including engineers, suppliers, Subaru Corporation (SBR) in Japan (using translation tools as needed), and retailer/service personnel.
• Establishes clear investigation timelines and holds suppliers accountable to them.

Process Improvement: 10%

• Finds methods of improvement for the team including:
• Streamlining test methods.
• Improving procedures.
• Enhancing efficient allocation of time.
• Automation of data collection/processing.
• Suggestion of projects to better achieve team goals.

Mentoring and Professional Development: 20%

• Reviews the work of Quality Investigation (QI) Engineers and interns.
• Mentors interns or new engineers via:
• Teaching organizational knowledge.
• Instruction on using company systems.
• Using workload from current projects to teach interns/new engineers while making beneficial progress.
• Develops professional skills beneficial to the team's current and future goals by taking classes/courses.

Post-Production Vehicles: 10%

• Monitors early production quality and escalates abnormal trends.
• Deciphers technical specifications and formulates sound hypotheses regarding vehicle software, hardware, and control system issues.

Future Production Vehicles: 10%

• Shares knowledge of best practices from previous quality investigations to reduce potential quality issues.

Lead Root Cause Analysis: 10%

• Organizes and performs in-depth investigations into internal defects, customer complaints, warranty returns, and field issues.
• Drives failure analysis through lab testing, teardown studies, supplier returns, or in-field investigation.
• Owns the end-to-end investigation and analysis process for market defects, which includes directing Quick Response Activity (QRA), parts collection, and investigation scope with suppliers; acquiring and performing initial log data analysis; issuing JIRA tickets for detailed supplier analysis; and ensuring findings are correctly interpreted and validated with SBR in Japan and suppliers.
• Maintains responsibility for Data Communication Module (DCM) supplier coordination and on-site engineering engagements, owning QRA planning, reproduction testing, and information requests as well as test bench operations and improvement efforts, using tools such as CANoe to manage reproduction testing, define enhancement requirements, and verify implementations.
• Operates and troubleshoots using diagnostic and measurement tools (e.g., CANoe, GTS+, SSM4/5) to reproduce and analyze reported issues.

Lead Cross-Functional Problem Solving: 10%

• Facilitates and oversees structured problem-solving processes.
• Works with internal and external stakeholders to identify and eliminate root causes.
• Ensures that robust corrective and/or preventative actions are created, validated, and implemented.
• Works with DCM supplier as first technical point of contact to own the escalation of market issues through resolution and ensure that validated fixes are delivered back to SBR, Subaru of America (SOA), and Subaru Canada, Inc. (SCI).
• Maintains working knowledge of the Cockpit Control Unit (CCU) to support infotainment investigations and analysis, escalating findings to and coordinating with the CCU Engineering Manager who owns the direct interface with the CCU manufacturer.

Manage Quality Incidents and Containment Activities: 5%

• Leads urgent response to field or production issues.
• Defines, coordinates, and audits containment actions, and verifies the effectiveness.
• Triages issues reported via Techline and Quality Market Report (QMR) regarding infotainment, telematics, and other connected vehicle matters.
• Reviews issues to determine appropriate response and if a formal investigation is required.
• Ensures that a timely response is made so that issues affecting vehicles on the market are addressed promptly.

Support Issue Analysis: 5%

• Analyzes early warning alerts, dealership quality reports, and telematics.
• Works with internal stakeholders to identify systemic issues and provide technical guidance.

Document and Report: 5%

• Prepares detailed technical reports summarizing investigations, findings, and next steps.
• Present issues and status to management, including senior leadership when issues affect product safety.

Champion Continuous Improvement: 5%

• Identifies procedural or quality issues and patterns.
• Recommends permanent systemic improvements.
• Supports quality system upgrades and process improvement initiatives.

Additional Responsibilities

Collaborates with engineers from various disciplines (e.g., mechanical, electrical): 5%

• Develops competitive products with higher efficiency and stronger reliability while meeting Subaru's quality standards.
• Considers opportunities to lower operational costs and improve processes and procedures.

Industry & Technology Awareness: 5%

• Stays current with industry trends, new technologies, and best practices in internal combustion engine (ICE), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and battery electric vehicle (BEV) development.
• Shares information with team members to help others in their learning.

JOB REQUIREMENTS

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, or similar field (Required)
• Master's Degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, or similar field (Preferred)

Work Experience

• At least 4-6 years of relevant work experience with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, or similar field (Required)
• Or at least 2-4 years of relevant work experience with a master's degree in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, automotive engineering, or similar field (Required)

Skills

• Expert-level skills necessary to complete daily tasks and basic skills to assist with other aspects of team's projects.
• Good understanding of North American customer interest/trends based on demographics. Ability to use Subaru of America (SOA) data to gain insight into customer base.
• Detailed understanding of technical topics related to active assigned projects. Ability to quickly and independently learn new technical information related to new projects.

Technical & Analytical Skills

• Strong understanding of mechanical, electrical, or automotive engineering principles.
• Strong understanding of assigned system.
• Independently applies root cause analysis (RCA) tools.
• Ability to read engineering drawings, specifications, or technical documents.
• Strong judgment skills and willingness to share them when evaluating new technology and information.
• Ability to independently perform teardown and part investigation to identify probable causes of failure.

Problem-Solving Skills

• Ability to own full investigations of moderate complexity.
• Ability to break down problems logically and follow structured investigation methods.
• Creative and strategic skills.
• Willingness to investigate issues hands-on.
• Ability to translate incomplete data and sync to quality-related issues.

Project Management

• Ability to lead projects and keep track of status, while keeping good communication among North American and Japanese stakeholders, both internal and external to Subaru.

Data Analysis

• Ability to collect, interpret, and present test data to support investigations and decision making.
• Ability to perform and apply in-depth data analytic methods.

Communication & Interpersonal Skills

• Ability to collaborate with cross-functional international teams, both internal and external to Subaru.
• Clear verbal and written communication to explain findings or ask for support.
• Ability to present information logically to engineers, managers, and senior leadership.

Software & Tool Knowledge