Lead Quality Engineer

Job Title: Quality Lead

Location: Warren, MI

Employment Type: Full-Time

The Quality Lead is responsible for ensuring world-class product quality, delivery performance, and customer satisfaction across assigned production lines. This role serves as the primary quality interface for customers, suppliers, and internal teams, supporting flawless product launches, stable production, and continuous improvement throughout the product lifecycle. The Quality Lead provides tactical leadership over quality systems, staff development, customer concerns, supplier performance, and product safety while ensuring compliance with corporate, customer, and regulatory requirements.

Customer Interface & Issue Resolution

• Serve as a primary quality contact for assigned customers, responding to requests and deliverables in a timely and thorough manner
• Drive continuous improvement in customer scorecards while reducing or eliminating customer rejects
• Establish root cause and corrective actions for customer returns through effective defect analysis
• Participate in customer quality reviews, audits, and concern resolution meetings as required
• Communicate and escalate critical quality concerns appropriately to internal leadership and customers

Production Quality & Problem Solving

• Analyze scrap, defect, and warranty data to identify trends and improvement opportunities
• Lead structured problem-solving activities using objective measurement, analysis, and quality tools
• Read and interpret blueprints to verify product compliance and quality improvement
• Authorize disposition of nonconforming product and stop production when safety or major quality risks are identified
• Initiate preventive actions to eliminate recurring design, material, or process-related nonconformities

Quality Systems & Continuous Improvement

• Develop, implement, and maintain the Quality Operating System, including policies, procedures, work instructions, and specifications
• Coordinate quality system audits to ensure compliance with TS, QS, JCI, and customer requirements
• Identify system gaps and drive timely corrective actions to support world-class quality and delivery
• Support Kaizen and continuous improvement initiatives across production and quality functions

Staff Development & Leadership

• Maintain appropriate staffing levels to support all quality functions
• Train and develop quality team members to strengthen technical, analytical, and system knowledge
• Supervise quality staff to ensure effective resource utilization, cost control, and timely execution of responsibilities

Operational Reporting & Plant Support

• Support daily gate board reviews, KPIs, and month-end operational meetings
• Provide quality performance reporting and feedback to plant teams
• Actively participate in plant-wide initiatives and action plan development

Supply Chain & Supplier Quality

• Support new supplier qualification to ensure compliance with customer specifications
• Monitor supplier performance and ensure adherence to customer and corporate quality standards
• Collaborate with suppliers to address performance gaps and strengthen quality systems

Program & Engineering Support

• Support program SDT meetings and engineering change activities (SDT, ECO, ECR)
• Partner with Quality Engineers and Engineering teams to support new launches and design changes
• Participate in VA/VE initiatives to improve product quality, cost, and efficiency

Additional Responsibilities

• Perform other duties as assigned by the Plant Quality Manager

Safety & Compliance

• Promote product safety and quality at all stages of development and production
• Ensure compliance with ISO, TS, QS, and customer-specific quality standards
• Support plant initiatives that promote a safe and compliant manufacturing environment

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Quality required
• ASQ Quality Auditor certification preferred
• Strong ability to read and interpret blueprints and technical documentation
• Effective problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills

• 3–5 years of experience in an industrial or manufacturing environment
• Experience with ISO 14001, TS 16949, and QS9000 standards
• Quality audit experience preferred
• Customer quality system experience preferred
• Controller and/or laboratory equipment experience preferred