Quality Director

Anduril Anduril · Defense · Costa Mesa, CA · Hardware Engineering : Quality Engineering : Quality Engineering Platform

Anduril Industries is a defense technology company seeking a Director of Quality to lead Product Quality Engineering. This role focuses on driving product development excellence, building quality capabilities, and establishing a culture of statistical rigor. Responsibilities include evolving priorities, coaching team leaders, building delivery rhythms, leading cross-team initiatives, partnering with Quality Systems Engineering, fostering cross-functional relationships, providing strategic oversight for product line governance, and owning Product Quality Engineering strategy for new product development. The role also involves managing factory quality engineering, productization/recovery execution, embedding quality at the source, developing mitigation strategies, driving DFMEA/PFMEA, establishing product validation protocols, driving design review governance, creating closed-loop corrective action systems, building and leading a high-performing team, establishing a center of excellence for statistical analysis, leading capability maturity assessments, serving as the Quality voice in PDP governance, partnering with Supplier Quality, driving Voice of the Customer integration, leading production readiness assessments, owning product quality scorecards, and facilitating post-launch reviews.

What you'd actually do

  1. Support the VP of Quality in evolving priorities and organizational needs, adapting capacity and focus as required
  2. Enable Quality team leaders and division members to maximize efficiency and quality output through coaching and resource alignment
  3. Build internal delivery rhythms, KPIs, and OKRs that drive team alignment, execution fidelity, and risk management
  4. Lead cross-team initiatives requiring executive sponsorship and accountability, acting as go-to problem solver for ambiguous challenges
  5. Partner with Quality Systems Engineering to deploy and track KPIs through scorecards to inform decisions at QBR, MDPR

Skills

Required

  • Bachelor's degree in engineering or equivalent technical experience
  • 5 – 10 years of industry experience that includes Quality management within the defense, aerospace or or other end system hardware
  • Proven experience leading Product Quality Engineering in complex product development environments
  • Strong background in DFMEA, Control Plans, DOE, Six Sigma, DFSS, statistical methods, and reliability engineering
  • Proven track record of developing and implementing global Quality strategies
  • Experience leading large-scale organizational change and driving cultural transformation
  • Deep knowledge of Quality Management Systems and standards such as ISO9001, AS9100, etc.
  • Experience in interfacing with agencies and managing regulatory compliance
  • Experience in a variety of Quality domains, including design, production, supply chain, etc.
  • Experience in large-scale risk assessment and management at a corporate level
  • Strong knowledge in one or more technical or production industry areas as it relates to design for Quality, root cause corrective action, measurement analysis, etc.
  • Working knowledge of product development methodologies such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) elements such as Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)

Nice to have

  • statistical methods
  • DOE
  • MSA
  • process capability
  • Six Sigma
  • DFSS
  • ISO9001
  • AS9100

What the JD emphasized

  • executive amplifier
  • strategic integrator
  • Product Development excellence
  • world-class Product Quality Engineering capabilities
  • statistical rigor
  • continuous improvement
  • executive sponsorship
  • accountability
  • go-to problem solver
  • ambiguous challenges
  • Quality Systems Engineering
  • QBR
  • MDPR
  • cross-functional relationships
  • quality and compliance fluency
  • strategic oversight
  • product line governance
  • DCMA compliance
  • federal mandates
  • connective tissue
  • coordinating
  • communicating
  • facilitating
  • Product Quality Engineering strategy
  • new product development
  • Reliability
  • System Safety
  • Supplier Quality
  • Quality Systems Engineering
  • factory quality engineering
  • sustainment
  • Productization
  • Recovery execution
  • productionization
  • stabilization
  • ramp support
  • embed Quality at the source
  • Design for Quality
  • DFM
  • FSS risk management methodologies
  • root cause analysis
  • FMEA
  • trend analysis
  • design improvements
  • process enhancements
  • DFMEA
  • PFMEA
  • proactively identify and mitigate risks
  • product validation and verification protocols
  • DV
  • PV
  • reliability testing
  • industry best practices
  • design review governance
  • critical phase-gate reviews
  • quality criteria
  • R&D
  • Engineering
  • Manufacturing
  • Supply Chain
  • closed-loop corrective action systems
  • next-gen designs
  • high-performing Product Quality Engineering team
  • statistical methods
  • DOE
  • MSA
  • process capability
  • center of excellence
  • statistical analysis
  • tools
  • templates
  • mentorship
  • governance
  • data-driven decision-making
  • capability maturity assessments
  • product development processes
  • improvement roadmaps
  • PDP governance
  • product strategy
  • customer expectations
  • regulatory requirements
  • manufacturing capabilities
  • Supplier Quality
  • early establishment
  • supplier quality engagement protocols
  • co-developing quality agreements
  • performance metrics
  • Voice of the Customer integration
  • product requirements
  • quality standards
  • production readiness assessments
  • process capability
  • tooling
  • training
  • quality systems
  • product quality scorecards
  • first-pass yield
  • defect rates
  • warranty returns
  • field reliability
  • post-launch reviews
  • lessons learned
  • Product Development playbook
  • engineering
  • equivalent technical experience
  • 5 – 10 years of industry experience
  • Quality management
  • defense
  • aerospace
  • end system hardware
  • leading Product Quality Engineering
  • complex product development environments
  • DFMEA
  • Control Plans
  • DOE
  • Six Sigma
  • DFSS
  • statistical methods
  • reliability engineering
  • developing and implementing global Quality strategies
  • leading large-scale organizational change
  • driving cultural transformation
  • Quality Management Systems
  • ISO9001
  • AS9100
  • interfacing with agencies
  • managing regulatory compliance
  • design
  • production
  • supply chain
  • large-scale risk assessment and management
  • corporate level
  • technical or production industry areas
  • design for Quality
  • root cause corrective action
  • measurement analysis
  • product development methodologies
  • Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
  • Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
  • Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)
  • Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA)
  • Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T)