Quality Engineer - Magnetics

TITLE: Quality Engineer - Magnetics
Department - Operations
FLSA Status: Salaried Exempt
Pay Range: $105,900 - $137,700

Scope
The Quality Engineer – Magnetics provides strategic quality engineering leadership and technical support across Rantec’s total magnetics portfolio, including magnetics manufactured internally and those procured through Rantec’s external supply base. Reporting to the Director of Magnetics, this position serves as the embedded quality engineering resource and subject-matter expert for the Magnetics organization, with a focus on developing and maintaining the quality strategy necessary to ensure magnetics products, processes, test methods, and suppliers are capable of consistently meeting Rantec, customer, contractual, and technical requirements.

This position will work closely with the Director of Magnetics, Magnetics Buyer, Electrical Engineering magnetics subject-matter experts, Quality, Manufacturing, Strategic Sourcing, Purchasing, and suppliers to establish a consistent quality approach across the magnetics portfolio. The Quality Engineer will focus on the alignment and standardization of drawings, specifications, inspection criteria, test methods, acceptance criteria, quality planning, and supplier requirements to ensure Rantec has appropriate methods to demonstrate product conformance and reduce quality risk and unnecessary variation.

The Quality Engineer – Magnetics will evaluate quality performance and risk across the portfolio to identify systemic issues and develop strategies to improve product quality, test effectiveness, supplier capability, process controls, and conformance. This individual will help establish what quality controls and test capabilities are required, where those capabilities should reside within Rantec or its supply base, and how quality requirements should evolve to support the long-term performance and scalability of the magnetics portfolio.

While organizationally aligned to the Director of Magnetics, this position will operate in close partnership with Rantec’s independent Quality organization. The Quality Engineer – Magnetics will provide technical quality expertise, recommendations, analysis, and magnetics portfolio strategy; however, Rantec’s Quality organization retains final authority for Quality Management System interpretation, product conformity, and formal product acceptance or rejection.

The Quality Engineer – Magnetics will also partner closely with Rantec’s Supplier Quality Engineering function. The Magnetics Quality Engineer will focus on magnetics-specific quality strategy, technical requirements, test and inspection capability, systemic supplier risks, supplier development priorities, and long-term portfolio improvement. Supplier Quality Engineering will maintain responsibility for the day-to-day execution of Rantec’s supplier quality processes, including routine supplier nonconformance processing, supplier corrective action administration, receiving quality issues, and other transactional supplier quality activities. The two functions will work together on significant supplier issues, audits, qualifications, and development initiatives requiring magnetics-specific technical expertise.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Develop and maintain the quality strategy for Rantec’s complete magnetics portfolio, including internally manufactured and externally sourced magnetics, with focus on product conformance, technical requirements, test capability, supplier capability, risk, and long-term portfolio performance.
• Partner with the Director of Magnetics, Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, and suppliers to establish and maintain consistency across magnetics drawings, specifications, technical requirements, inspection criteria, test methods, acceptance criteria, quality planning, and related documentation.
• Evaluate whether existing magnetics inspection, test, and acceptance methods adequately demonstrate product conformance and work cross-functionally to identify and implement improved methods where gaps exist.
• Develop a strategic roadmap for magnetics inspection and test capabilities, identifying current and future equipment, processes, methods, supplier capabilities, and technical resources required to support Rantec’s magnetics portfolio.
• Partner with Engineering and magnetics subject-matter experts to improve the clarity, consistency, inspectability, testability, and manufacturability of magnetics requirements and identify opportunities to standardize requirements across products and suppliers.
• Review engineering drawings, customer requirements, military specifications, purchase order requirements, and other applicable documentation to ensure quality and conformance requirements are technically sound, measurable, appropriately flowed down, and capable of being verified.
• Analyze internal and supplier quality data across the magnetics portfolio to identify systemic trends, recurring failure modes, technical risks, and opportunities for portfolio-wide corrective or preventive action.
• Establish magnetics-specific quality metrics and provide the Director of Magnetics and other leadership with visibility into product quality, supplier capability, conformance risk, test effectiveness, defect trends, and strategic improvement initiatives.
• Identify high-risk products, processes, suppliers, and technologies within the magnetics portfolio and develop risk-reduction strategies in partnership with Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supplier Quality, and Strategic Sourcing.
• Establish quality and technical criteria used to assess magnetics supplier capability and support the development of a risk-based supplier audit and development strategy.
• Participate in supplier audits where magnetics-specific technical, process, test, or quality expertise is required and translate significant findings into supplier development priorities and portfolio improvement plans.
• Develop magnetics-specific supplier development strategies focused on process capability, technical controls, inspection and test capability, defect prevention, and sustained conformance. Partner with Supplier Quality Engineering on implementation and follow-through.
• Support the technical quality evaluation, qualification, and onboarding of new and alternate magnetics suppliers in partnership with the Director of Magnetics, Magnetics Buyer, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Quality Engineering, and Engineering.
• Provide magnetics-specific technical expertise to Supplier Quality Engineering for significant supplier nonconformances, recurring defects, systemic corrective actions, and supplier escalations. Routine NCMR processing and transactional supplier quality activities will remain within the established Quality and Supplier Quality processes.
• Provide technical analysis and recommendations regarding complex or systemic magnetics product conformity issues. Partner with the appropriate Rantec Quality authority for formal disposition and acceptance/rejection decisions.
• Lead or support cross-functional root cause and corrective action efforts for significant, recurring, or systemic magnetics issues and ensure lessons learned are evaluated for applicability across other products, processes, and suppliers.
• Support the development and maintenance of Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA), Control Plans, and other preventive quality tools for critical magnetics products and manufacturing processes.
• Establish a consistent approach to First Article Inspection and product qualification across the magnetics portfolio and provide magnetics-specific technical support for FAI planning and review in accordance with applicable requirements, including AS9102.
• Evaluate magnetics-related design outputs and Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) for impacts to product conformance, inspection, test, supplier capability, and quality risk.
• Evaluate internal and supplier test capabilities to identify gaps, redundancy, or opportunities for improved test coverage, standardization, automation, correlation, and efficiency.
• Support New Product Introduction (NPI) and production readiness activities to ensure magnetics quality requirements, test strategy, inspection methods, supplier capability, process controls, acceptance criteria, and anticipated risks are addressed prior to production.
• Provide quality input into make/buy, sourcing, and supplier strategy decisions by evaluating quality risk, process capability, test capability, historical performance, technical maturity, and ability to consistently demonstrate conformance.
• Identify and lead strategic continuous improvement initiatives focused on magnetics quality, technical standardization, test effectiveness, supplier capability, process robustness, defect prevention, and reduction in cost of poor quality.
• Support customer and government quality activities involving magnetics when specialized technical or portfolio knowledge is required, in coordination with Rantec’s Quality organization.
• Ability to travel periodically to supplier manufacturing locations to assess technical and quality capabilities, participate in audits, support supplier development, and resolve significant quality issues.
• Ability to work flexible hours and/or different shifts, as required.
• Ability to work in a safe professional manner adhering to all Rantec and regulatory requirements including OSHA, EPA, State, and Federal Regulations.
• As the Company’s success relies on the productivity of our team and adherence to customer product schedules, an essential function of this position is the ability to arrive to work on-time and work each day as scheduled.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Qualification Requirements
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential function
This position requires access to our export-controlled commodities, technical data, technology and services.  These items are restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to U.S. Citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents of the U.S. and properly licensed foreign persons.  Therefore, employment is contingent on compliance with ITAR regulations and successfully obtaining and maintaining the necessary export authorization license from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, U.S. Department of State’s Office of Defense Trade Controls, or other applicable government agency.

Education and Experience

• BS degree in a technical field desirable. 10+ yrs. quality experience in lieu of degree.
• Experience with Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) is desirable.
• Knowledge of First Article Inspection in accordance with AS9102 is desirable.
• Strong working knowledge of SPC tools.
• QC Engineer experience, preferably in an Aerospace design and manufacturing environment.
• 5+ years’ experience in working in an organization certified to an AS9100 Quality Management System.
• Working knowledge of electrical and mechanical inspection requirements, including current industry workmanship standards (J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610).
• Sound reasoning skills in risk assessment.  Able to utilize root cause analysis techniques.
• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal.  Multi-tasking ability.
• Dependable assertive self-starter, that works with all functions of the organization and team on time.
• Excellent knowledge & ability with Microsoft Office Professional (Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.).
• Ability to make sound decisions based on solid reasoning regarding acceptance/rejection of materials.

Physical Requirements
The physical demands described here are representative of those to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Work within a factory environment, including moderate noise and chemical odors
• Moving between sitting, standing and walking
• Consistently lifting and handling up to 10 pounds and periodically lifting up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to focus, with correction, if needed, to perform hand soldering and wiring of assemblies.

Rantec is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or status as a protected veteran. Rantec will consider reasonable accommodation to its policies for employees and applicants due to sincerely held religious beliefs.