OverviewIndustry: Aerospace/Defense (Supply Chain management)Job Title: Program Technical Lead - Quality Operations ContractorLocation: Onsite Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pmCompensation: $50 - $55/hrPosition SummaryThe Program Technical Lead serves as the primary technical authority supporting a defense industry customer program. This role is responsible for supporting a geographically distributed team of field resources performing quality inspections, process audits, delivery assurance, expediting, and packaging validation with solid engineering guidance that ensures full compliance to customer requirements. The Technical Lead ensures consistent interpretation and application of customer, regulatory, and contractual requirements while acting as the central point of contact for all technical inquiries. This position is a full-time contractor role, Monday - Friday, 8am - 5pm CST, onsite in an office environment.
Key Responsibilities- Serve as the single point of technical contact for the field resource pool, providing real-time and accurate guidance on quality and compliance matters.
- Provide technical direction for:
- Source inspections
- Process audits
- Delivery assurance activities
- Expediting
- Packaging and labeling validation
- Interpret and communicate requirements from:
- Customer, specifications, and procedures
- Purchase orders and contractual flow-downs
- Engineering drawings and documentation
- Special Processes
- Quality clauses
- Provide expert guidance on:
- AS9102 Rev C First Article Inspection (FAI) requirements and compliance
- Certificate of conformance validation
- Process audit execution and reporting
- Act as the escalation point for complex technical questions from field personnel to internal teams and the customer
- Ensure alignment and standardization across all field activities to drive:
- Compliance
- Accuracy
- Consistency
- Support continuous improvement initiatives by identifying trends, gaps, and corrective actions.
Qualifications- US Citizenship
- Outstanding written and spoken English
- Minimum 15 years of experience in defense or aerospace quality engineering roles (e.g., Quality Engineer, Quality Manager).
- Demonstrated experience with supplier quality and source inspection programs
- Demonstrated expertise in:
- AS9100 Quality Management Systems
- AS9102 First Article Inspection requirements
- Strong working knowledge of:
- Technical documentation and engineering drawings
- Purchase order and contractual requirement interpretation
- Process auditing methodologies
- Proven ability to support and guide remote or distributed teams.
- Experience interfacing directly with customers and regulatory representatives.
- Excellent problem-solving, communication, and decision-making skills.
- Recent experience in secure web-based computing platforms (Exostar, SAP,
Preferred Qualifications- Lead Auditor certification (AS9100 or equivalent)
- Background in defense contracting or working with major OEMs
- Familiarity with digital FAI tools (e.g., Net-Inspect or equivalent systems)
Key Competencies- Technical leadership and authority
- Strong attention to detail and compliance focus
- Soft-skills
- Ability to interpret complex requirements and translate into actionable guidance
- Effective cross-functional communication
- Independent decision-making in high-visibility customer environments
