Principal Quality Engineer - Development Programs (R5350)

The Principal Quality Engineer serves as the senior technical quality authority for a complex aerospace development program. This role establishes and drives quality engineering strategies to ensure products are designed, developed, tested, and transitioned to production with high levels of safety, reliability, manufacturability, and mission effectiveness. The engineer partners with design, manufacturing, supply chain, flight test, and program management to identify risks, drive root cause investigations, and improve product reliability. As the most senior individual contributor in the quality organization, this role provides technical leadership and advises engineering and executive leadership on quality matters.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the lead quality engineering representative on a major aerospace development program.
• Establish quality engineering strategies and methodologies throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Ensure quality requirements are incorporated into system architecture, design, verification, validation, and production planning activities.
• Drive quality integration within cross-functional engineering teams.
• Provide technical leadership for complex quality and reliability challenges.
• Participate in system requirements reviews, design reviews, and technical readiness reviews.
• Assess product designs for quality, manufacturability, inspectability, maintainability, and reliability.
• Identify and mitigate technical risks associated with design maturity and product performance.
• Evaluate engineering changes and configuration modifications for quality impact.
• Champion Design for Quality (DFQ), Design for Manufacturability (DFM), and Design for Reliability (DFR) principles.
• Lead investigations of the program's most complex failures and quality escapes.
• Apply advanced root cause methodologies to identify systemic causes of defects and failures.
• Facilitate cross-functional corrective action teams.
• Drive closure and effectiveness verification of corrective actions.
• Mentor engineering teams in structured problem-solving techniques.
• Develop reliability growth strategies and quality metrics for development programs.
• Support implementation and execution of FRACAS processes.
• Analyze failure trends, test results, field data, and operational performance.
• Identify emerging risks before they impact program objectives.
• Recommend design, process, or operational improvements to improve product robustness.
• Develop quality engineering approaches for laboratory, environmental, ground, and flight testing.
• Ensure test anomalies, failures, and nonconformances are properly evaluated and resolved.
• Support qualification and certification efforts.
• Evaluate test readiness and production readiness criteria.
• Ensure lessons learned are captured and incorporated into future designs.
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop scalable production processes.
• Support development of inspection strategies, acceptance criteria, and process controls.
• Evaluate manufacturing capability and production risks during product maturation.
• Ensure development lessons learned are translated into production controls.
• Support transition from prototype builds to low-rate and full-rate production.
• Support supplier quality planning for critical components and technologies.
• Evaluate supplier quality risks associated with development hardware.
• Participate in supplier investigations and corrective actions when required.
• Drive quality improvements across the supply base supporting the program.
• Serve as a mentor and technical coach to Quality Engineers and cross-functional engineering teams.
• Develop quality engineering standards, tools, and best practices.
• Influence program decisions through technical expertise and data-driven analysis.
• Lead special projects involving advanced quality engineering methodologies.
• Act as a trusted advisor to engineering and executive leadership.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or related technical discipline.
• 12+ years of experience in aerospace, defense, aviation, space, or similarly complex engineered products.
• Extensive experience supporting new product development programs.
• Deep understanding of quality engineering principles and development lifecycles.
• Demonstrated success leading complex technical investigations and root cause analyses.
• Experience with reliability engineering, failure analysis, and risk management.
• Strong understanding of aerospace manufacturing processes and production transitions.
• Working knowledge of AS9100 quality systems and aerospace regulatory requirements.
• Excellent communication and technical leadership skills.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree in Engineering, Systems Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or related field.
• Experience with UAVs, autonomous systems, aircraft development, or defense technologies.
• Experience supporting flight test programs and developmental testing.
• Expertise in FRACAS, FMEA, reliability growth, and statistical analysis techniques.
• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) or equivalent certification.
• Experience supporting military or government aerospace programs.

Benefits

• Pay within range listed + Bonus + Benefits + Equity
• Pay within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)