Vice President of Quality

Position Summary 

The Vice President of Quality is the senior executive responsible for product quality, regulatory and contractual compliance, and the effectiveness of the enterprise Quality Management System across the company’s CONUS and OCONUS operations. 

This executive will develop and execute a scalable quality strategy supporting the design, production, delivery, and sustainment of unmanned aircraft systems and related aerospace products. The role will establish consistent quality standards, processes, accountability, and performance across multiple manufacturing facilities, suppliers, and contract manufacturing partners. 

Working closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Programs, Flight Operations, and executive leadership, the Vice President of Quality will ensure products conform to engineering requirements, customer commitments, and applicable aerospace and defense standards. 

Reporting Relationship 

Reports to: Chief Operating Officer 

The Vice President of Quality will have independent authority to elevate significant product-quality, compliance, safety, or airworthiness concerns directly to the President and Chief Executive Officer. 

Location and Work Arrangement 

This is a fully hybrid executive position combining remote work with regular in-person leadership at the company’s corporate headquarters in San Luis Obispo, California, and its manufacturing operations in the Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, areas. 

The Vice President of Quality may be based outside these locations, provided the individual can travel frequently and maintain a meaningful on-site presence based on operational and business needs. Proximity to San Luis Obispo, Dallas–Fort Worth, or Dayton is preferred but not required. 

Regular travel among company facilities will be required. As the company expands its international manufacturing footprint, the position will also support planned OCONUS operations in the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and Australia. Additional travel to suppliers, customers, government sites, and other domestic and international locations will be required. 

The role requires sufficient in-person engagement with executive leadership, engineering teams, manufacturing operations, and site quality organizations to provide effective enterprise oversight. 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities 

Enterprise Quality Leadership 

• Develop and execute the enterprise quality strategy in alignment with company growth, production objectives, customer commitments, and international expansion. 

• Establish a consistent quality operating model, governance structure, and performance standards across all manufacturing facilities. 

• Advise executive leadership on product quality, compliance exposure, operational risk, and quality-related business decisions. 

• Build a culture in which quality is owned throughout the organization and incorporated into design, sourcing, manufacturing, delivery, and sustainment. 

• Develop the organizational structure, leadership capability, systems, and resources required to support continued growth. 

Quality Management System and Compliance 

• Own the development, implementation, certification, and continuous improvement of the enterprise Quality Management System. 

• Ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, contractual requirements, and other applicable aerospace, defense, regulatory, and country-specific standards. 

• Standardize core quality processes across CONUS and OCONUS facilities while addressing legitimate customer, regulatory, and operational differences. 

• Oversee internal and external audits, certification activities, customer assessments, regulatory inspections, management reviews, and corrective actions. 

• Ensure new facilities, acquisitions, international operations, and production transfers are incorporated into the enterprise QMS in a disciplined and timely manner. 

• Maintain effective controls for quality records, configuration, document management, calibration, product traceability, and change management. 

Product and Manufacturing Quality 

• Establish quality planning and assurance throughout the product lifecycle, from design and development through production, acceptance, delivery, and field support. 

• Ensure effective implementation of production-readiness reviews, first-article inspection, process validation, inspection planning, control plans, and product-acceptance processes. 

• Provide independent oversight of product conformity, testing, acceptance, release, and delivery documentation. 

• Oversee nonconforming-material controls, Material Review Board processes, root-cause investigations, and corrective and preventive actions. 

• Establish appropriate controls for special processes, critical characteristics, counterfeit-parts prevention, foreign-object damage prevention, and product safety. 

• Support disciplined production ramp-up while protecting product conformity, reliability, and customer requirements. 

• Lead or oversee investigations of significant product failures, quality escapes, flight anomalies, and field-reported issues. 

Engineering and Product Assurance 

• Partner with Engineering to incorporate quality requirements into product designs, specifications, test plans, configuration baselines, and verification and validation activities. 

• Ensure manufacturing and supplier-quality risks are addressed early in product development and new-product introduction. 

• Participate in design reviews, configuration control, production-readiness decisions, product-safety reviews, and engineering change processes. 

• Ensure lessons learned from production and field performance are translated into improvements to designs, processes, training, and supplier controls. 

Supplier Quality 

• Establish an enterprise supplier-quality strategy based on product criticality, supplier capability, and supply-chain risk. 

• Oversee supplier qualification, audits, surveillance, source inspection, performance management, and corrective-action processes. 

• Ensure appropriate flow-down and verification of technical, contractual, regulatory, and quality requirements. 

• Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering to develop supplier capability, resolve chronic performance issues, and reduce incoming defects and supplier escapes. 

• Maintain effective quality controls for outsourced manufacturing, special processes, and international suppliers. 

Customer, Government, and Regulatory Quality 

• Serve as the senior quality representative to customers, government agencies, certification bodies, and other external stakeholders. 

• Maintain effective relationships with government quality representatives and customer quality organizations. 

• Ensure compliance with contractual quality clauses, government oversight requirements, source inspection, product acceptance, conformity, and delivery requirements. 

• Lead the company’s response to significant customer concerns, corrective-action requests, findings, and product escapes. 

• Ensure material product-quality, safety, or compliance issues are reported accurately, transparently, and promptly. 

• Monitor applicable U.S. and international regulatory developments and ensure company quality systems remain compliant. 

Multi-Site Performance and Organizational Leadership 

• Implement common quality standards, metrics, and reporting across geographically dispersed operations. 

• Ensure OCONUS facilities comply with applicable local requirements while remaining aligned with the enterprise QMS. 

• Establish clear accountability between enterprise quality leadership and site quality organizations. 

• Recruit, develop, and retain a high-performing global quality team, including site quality leaders, quality engineering, supplier quality, and QMS compliance personnel. 

• Establish executive dashboards covering first-pass yield, cost of poor quality, scrap and rework, supplier and customer escapes, corrective-action aging, audit findings, and customer satisfaction. 

• Use quality data, Lean principles, statistical methods, and structured problem-solving to reduce variation and improve process capability. 

• Conduct regular reviews of site performance, staffing, capability, audit results, and operational risk. 

Authority 

The Vice President of Quality is authorized to: 

• Stop production, testing, acceptance, delivery, or shipment when product conformity, safety, airworthiness, contractual compliance, or regulatory compliance may be compromised. 

• Withhold product acceptance or release until applicable requirements have been satisfied. 

• Require containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness. 

• Elevate significant concerns independently to the President and Chief Executive Officer. 

• Require appropriate quality participation in design reviews, production-readiness decisions, configuration changes, supplier selections, and product-acceptance activities. 

Required Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, manufacturing, aviation, or a related technical discipline. 

• At least 15 years of progressively responsible aerospace, defense, or similarly regulated manufacturing experience. 

• At least seven years of senior quality leadership experience, including responsibility for multiple manufacturing locations. 

• Demonstrated experience leading quality for complex aerospace or electromechanical products. 

• Extensive knowledge of AS9100, ISO 9001, first-article inspection, configuration management, corrective action, supplier quality, and aerospace manufacturing controls. 

• Experience working directly with major customers, government quality representatives, regulatory authorities, and certification bodies. 

• Demonstrated success building or scaling an enterprise QMS across multiple facilities. 

• Experience supporting new-product introduction, production ramp-up, facility start-up, or manufacturing transfers. 

• Strong understanding of design assurance, manufacturing quality, supplier quality, product acceptance, and field-quality processes. 

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex investigations and make sound, risk-based decisions under pressure. 

• Ability to travel regularly within the United States and internationally. 

• Ability to obtain and maintain any security clearance or export authorization required for the position. 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Master’s degree in engineering, quality, aviation, business administration, managementoperations, or a related discipline. 

• Experience with unmanned aircraft systems, aircraft production, avionics, propulsion, composites, or defense electronics. 

• Experience supporting Department of Defense programs and government source-inspection or product-acceptance activities. 

• Experience establishing or integrating quality systems at international manufacturing facilities. 

• Familiarity with applicable FAA, EASA, CAA, NATO, or military aviation requirements. 

• Experience with AS9145, AS9102, AS9115, AS13100, or comparable aerospace quality frameworks. 

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence, Certified Quality Engineer, or comparable certification. 

Leadership Competencies 

• Enterprise and strategic thinking 

• Integrity and professional independence 

• Technical and risk-based judgment 

• Executive presence and communication 

• Global and cross-cultural leadership 

• Organizational and talent development 

• Data-driven decision-making 

• Cross-functional influence 

• Customer and mission focus 

• Decisiveness under pressure 

Measures of Success 

• Consistent QMS implementation and certification across applicable facilities. 

• Reduction in customer escapes, supplier defects, scrap, rework, and cost of poor quality. 

• Improved first-pass yield and manufacturing process capability. 

• Timely closure and demonstrated effectiveness of corrective actions. 

• Successful customer, government, regulatory, and certification audits. 

• Effective quality integration during production ramps, facility launches, and manufacturing transfers. 

• Improved supplier performance and customer confidence. 

• Development of capable and accountable quality leadership at each operating location. 

Travel and Working Conditions 

This position operates in corporate office, engineering, laboratory, flight-test, and manufacturing environments. Travel is expected to average approximately 30% to 40%, depending on the individual’s location and business needs. 

Additional travel may be required during facility launches, production transfers, major audits, customer reviews, significant quality investigations, and critical production activities. The position requires international travel and periodic work across multiple time zones.