Job Summary & Responsibilities

Position Summary

The Quality Manager owns 4D Technology’s product quality and safety programs, leading the Quality Management System (QMS), customer quality engagement, supplier quality, audit readiness, and the Safety function for the Tucson site. The role manages all aspects of 4D product quality — from incoming material acceptance through final-tool qualification and field performance — and serves as the cross-functional escalation point on quality matters across Manufacturing, Service, Engineering, and Procurement.

This is a working-level role with cross-functional reach. The Quality Manager reports solid line to the GM / VP at 4D Tucson with a dotted line to the Onto VP of Quality, ensuring local execution while maintaining alignment with corporate quality standards.

Key Responsibilities

Quality Management System

• Develop, implement, and maintain the site Quality Management System; ensure procedures, work instructions, and records remain current.

• Drive ISO 9001 readiness; schedule and execute internal audits; manage external audit cycles end-to-end.

• Track nonconformities and drive Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA) to closure with verification of effectiveness.

• Provide training on QMS procedures, standards, regulatory requirements, and quality tools across the site.

• Promote a continuous-improvement culture in coordination with Manufacturing, Engineering, and Service.

Customer Quality

• Serve as the primary point of contact for formal customer quality matters — complaints, quality questionnaires, regulatory inquiries, and quality-driven technical investigations (CAPA, MRB, 8D).

• Lead root-cause investigation and Corrective Action for customer hot issues that involve a quality root cause; communicate containment, root cause, corrective action, and verification of effectiveness; coordinate with the Senior Service Manager when issues originate as field-service incidents.

• Complete customer quality questionnaires, audit-response packages, and quality documentation requested by customers as part of supplier qualification or recertification.

• Own Out-of-Box Quality (OBQ) at delivery and product field-defect rates (distinct from service CSAT, which Service owns); report trends to senior staff and Product Management.

Supplier Quality

• Coordinate supplier quality activities including incoming-material evaluation, qualification, and ongoing performance monitoring.

• Conduct supplier quality audits and maintain supplier quality records.

• Close critical and aging Non-Conforming Material Reports (NCMRs) with vendors.

• Partner with the Master Planner / Buyer on critical supply quality issues and supplier corrective action.

• Make accept / reject decisions on critical materials and products.

MRB & Change Control

• Govern the Material Review Board (MRB); adjudicate disposition of nonconforming material.

• Assess quality impact on Engineering Changes (EC / ECO); ensure quality requirements are reflected in change implementation.

• Coordinate with Manufacturing and Engineering on change-control roll-outs and effectiveness verification.

Quality Reliability Review (QRR) & Reporting

• Own the QRR cadence with Onto, ensuring quality metrics, field performance, and corrective action status are reported on time.

• Develop and track quality KPIs — defect rates, audit findings, NCMR aging, CAPA cycle time, OBQ.

• Surface extended-factory quality issues (Milpitas and the extended supply chain) and drive resolution.

Calibration & Measurement Systems

• Ensure calibration of systems and measurement processes for lab and floor equipment remains current and traceable to standards.

• Maintain calibration records and audit-ready documentation.

Cross-Functional Escalation

• Serve as the cross-functional escalation point on quality matters; raise systemic issues to senior staff and the Onto VP of Quality as appropriate.

• Attend the weekly senior staff meeting; participate in EC implementation, shipments, and bi-weekly product meetings as the quality voice.

• Coordinate with the Senior Service Manager when customer issues cross both lanes — Service owns the customer relationship and intake for service issues; Quality owns the formal investigation, CAPA, and audit response.

Safety (EHS)

• Lead the site Safety Team; conduct safety meetings, delegate responses, and track follow-through to closure.

• Communicate safety issues to senior staff and the broader organization.

• Conduct monthly building safety inspections.

• Control updates to Material Data Sheets (MDS) and Safety Data Sheets (SDS).

• Control access to machine tools and ensure compliance with machine-safety procedures.

Key Performance Indicators

• Internal and external audit findings: count, severity, and time-to-closure.

• CAPA cycle time and verification-of-effectiveness rate.

• NCMR aging and closure rate.

• Customer hot-issue cycle time.

• Out-of-Box Quality (OBQ) and field defect rate.

• Supplier quality performance (PPM, on-time-quality).

• Calibration-compliance rate.

• Safety incident rate and observation closure.

Qualifications

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Optical, Electrical, Industrial, or Quality), Physics, or related technical field; equivalent experience considered.

Experience

• 5–8 years in a quality role within a precision manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated experience owning a Quality Management System under ISO 9001 (AS9100, ISO 13485, or comparable also relevant).

• Experience leading internal and external audits and driving CAPAs to closure with verification of effectiveness.

• Experience with supplier quality, MRB processes, and customer quality engagement (questionnaires, technical investigations, on-site audits).

Skills & Competencies

• Deep working knowledge of ISO 9001 QMS development and maintenance.

• Strong knowledge of CAPA, root-cause analysis (5-Why, Ishikawa, 8D), and statistical quality tools.

• Familiarity with metrology, calibration programs, and measurement-system traceability.

• Comfortable in optical / precision-instrument environments — laser interferometry experience strongly preferred.

• Strong cross-functional communication; able to escalate quality issues without becoming the bottleneck.

• Coaching influence — driving quality behavior across teams without direct reports.

• Experience presenting quality data to senior leadership (site GM / VP and corporate VP of Quality).

• Adherence to company ethics, customer-confidentiality, and gifts / conflict-of-interest policies in supplier and customer interactions.

Preferred Qualifications

• ASQ certification: Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Quality Auditor (CQA), or Certified Manager of Quality / Organizational Excellence (CMQ / OE).

• Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.

• Experience with regulated customer accounts (semiconductor, defense, aerospace, medical, research).

• Experience with Oracle ERP quality modules (NCMR, supplier quality records, calibration tracking).

• Working knowledge of EHS programs and OSHA standards.

Working Conditions

• Tucson, AZ-based, on-site at the manufacturing facility for daily presence with Manufacturing, Engineering, and Service.

• Travel up to 15% for supplier audits, customer quality engagements, regulatory audits, and trips to the corporate office in Milpitas.

• Occasional after-hours availability during customer hot issues, audit activities, or safety incidents.

• Physical demands include occasional lifting up to 25 lbs, time on the manufacturing floor, and PPE compliance during inspections.