Quality Manager
Space Coast, Florida | Onsite, full time | US citizens only
THE COMPANY
Our client builds expandable space habitats: fabric pressure structures that pack into a rocket fairing and deploy to many times their stowed volume in orbit and on the lunar surface. The company is backed by strategic investment from a listed industry partner, holds government funding against its lunar programme, and is targeting a habitat on the Moon in 2028. Several organisations have attempted this. None has flown it.
WHY THIS ROLE EXISTS
There is no quality system. Not a weak one, not an outdated one. None.
The team has been holding itself to a standard drawn from where its people worked before, but nothing is written down. To fly, the company needs AS9100D certification, and to get there it needs someone to write the whole system from a blank page.
This is the top priority hire in the business, and the timeline is driven by a hard flight date.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
You will be the first quality hire and the head of the function. You will author the quality management system the entire company works to, take it through AS9100D certification, and then build and lead the team that enforces it and inspects the hardware.
- Design, write and implement the QMS from scratch to AS9100D and ISO 9001, alongside customer, regulatory and contractual requirements.
- Take the organisation through initial AS9100D certification and act as management representative for certification, surveillance, customer and supplier audits.
- Write the policies, procedures, work instructions and supporting documentation the business will run on.
- Stand up document control, configuration management, nonconformance handling, material review board and change management.
- Build the CAPA process and lead structured root cause investigation.
- Define incoming, in-process and final inspection strategy.
- Establish supplier quality: qualification, audits, performance monitoring, corrective action and risk mitigation.
- Set quality objectives, KPIs and reporting that give leadership a real picture.
- Embed quality requirements across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and operations through the product lifecycle.
- Support new product introduction, design reviews, PFMEA and DFMEA, control plans and production readiness reviews.
- Recruit, mentor and lead quality engineers, inspectors and technicians as the function grows.
THE PROFILE THAT WINS THIS
The client has been explicit on this point. Most quality managers have stepped into an existing system, made improvements and optimised around the edges. That is not what is needed here.
They want someone who has genuinely built a quality system themselves and taken an organisation through certification with it. That single line on your CV matters more than any other.
Equally important: this is a collaborative build, not a decree. The system has to work for engineering, manufacturing and operations, and leadership will be involved in shaping it. Someone who arrives and imposes a framework without listening will struggle here.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
- US citizenship.
- Degree in engineering, manufacturing, quality or a related technical subject.
- 8+ years' progressive quality experience in aerospace, defence, aviation or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.
- 3+ years leading or managing.
- Deep, practical knowledge of AS9100D and how to implement it, not just operate within it.
- Experience running external certification and customer audits.
- Command of document control, CAPA, NCR, MRB, internal audit, calibration, supplier quality and risk management.
- Strong grasp of GD&T, engineering drawings, inspection methods and manufacturing processes.
- The credibility to influence both technicians on the floor and the executive team.
STRONGLY PREFERRED
- Direct experience standing up or recertifying a quality system, particularly at a scaling manufacturer.
- ASQ CQE, CMQ/OE or CQA.
- AS9100D Lead Auditor certification.
- Familiarity with NASA and DoD quality requirements.
- Experience spanning prototype, low-rate initial production and higher-rate manufacturing.
PRACTICALITIES
- Onsite in Brevard County, Florida. Space Coast local strongly preferred; relocation considered case by case.
- Full time, permanent.
- Must pass an internal background check.