Role Objectives:The Director, Automotive North America Quality is responsible for the strategic leadership and continuous improvement of the quality management system across the region's automotive glass manufacturing operations, spanning eight plants in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. This role ensures compliance with IATF 16949 and customer-specific requirements, drives a culture of quality rooted in proven quality principles (e.g., Kaizen, Jidoka, Poka-Yoke, Genchi Genbutsu), and serves as the primary regional liaison to customers on open quality concerns.
The Automotive NA Quality Director partners closely with the global quality leadership team to align regional execution with global strategy, and leads a team of quality professionals - both directly and through dotted-line collaboration with plant-level Quality Managers.
Primary Duties: Quality Systems & Compliance
- Own and continuously improve the regional quality management system (QMS) in alignment with IATF 16949, ISO 9001, and applicable customer-specific requirements.
- Lead audit readiness and compliance across all 8 plants, including IATF certification audits, surveillance audits, and internal audit programs.
- Ensure consistent deployment and adherence to corporate quality standards, procedures, and documentation across all North American sites.
- Monitor regional quality performance metrics (PPM, cost of quality, warranty, containment effectiveness) and drive corrective action to closure.
- Champion the application of core quality tools including APQP, PPAP, FMEA, SPC, and MSA throughout the product lifecycle.
People Leadership & Talent Development
- Directly lead, coach, and develop a team of three direct reports, setting clear objectives and providing regular performance feedback.
- Provide functional leadership and mentorship to plant-level Quality Managers across all 8 facilities, ensuring alignment on priorities, standards, and best practices despite the indirect reporting relationship.
- Build organizational capability by identifying training needs and developing quality talent across the region, including succession planning for key roles.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the quality organization.
- Facilitate regular team meetings, cross-plant knowledge-sharing forums, and calibration sessions to drive consistency across the network.
- Model and reinforce proven quality principles and a customer-first mindset throughout the organization.
Customer & Stakeholder Engagement
- Serve as the primary point of contact for customers on open quality concerns, escalations, and containment/corrective action activities across the region.
- Represent the North America quality organization in customer audits, scorecards reviews, and business reviews.
- Partner with sales, program management, and engineering to resolve customer-facing quality issues quickly and transparently.
- Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with key customer quality contacts.
Continuous Improvement & Problem Solving
- Apply proven quality principles and lean methodologies (Kaizen, Jidoka, Poka-Yoke, 5 Whys, Genchi Genbutsu) to drive sustainable improvements in product and process quality.
- Lead, teach and support structured problem-solving (8D, A3, 5-Why, fishbone) for chronic and critical quality issues across the plant network.
- Partner cross-functionally with Operations, Engineering, and Supply Chain to identify root causes and implement robust, verified corrective actions.
- Drive standardization of best practices across all 8 plants to reduce variation and elevate baseline quality performance.
Global & Regional Leadership Collaboration
- Serve as the key North American liaison to the global quality leadership team, ensuring regional alignment with global quality strategy, initiatives, and standards.
- Communicate regional quality performance, risks, and improvement plans to global and regional leadership on a regular cadence.
- Represent North America quality interests in global quality council meetings and cross-regional initiatives.
- Translate global quality directives into actionable regional plans, tailored to local plant needs and customer requirements.
- Adherence to NSG/Pilkington Standards of Business Conduct and its Values and Principles
- Other duties as assigned by manager
Scope/Dimensions - Manages a team of three salaried employees, and will be responsible for providing operational leadership and support to approximately 15+ employees (indirect and contract service)
- The Director, Automotive NA Quality will interact with the North America Leadership team for Automotive, other Business Units as needed, as well as global leaders within Automotive, Engineering, Legal, Finance, EH&S, HR and Ethics & Compliance
- Interact directly with key customers to provide support and resolution to any concerns or production issues
Top 4 Competencies Needed for Success in the Role: - Empowers and Develops: Promotes a learning culture through coaching, stretch opportunities, sharing expertise and providing honest and helpful feedback
- Engages and Inspires Others: Is a Role Model for the NSG Group's Vision, Values and Code of Ethics, using them as guideposts for conducting own day-to-day activities
- Decision Making: Takes appropriate actions to minimize risks and maximize the opportunities in decision-making process. Promotes the review and learning from business decisions
- Safety & Quality Focus: Identifies breakdowns in internal processes and systems that directly impact customer service and quality to ensure that issues are properly identified and resolved
Qualifications Required:- Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, Business, or related technical field required; advanced degree preferred.
- 10+ years of progressive quality leadership experience in automotive manufacturing, with direct Tier 1 supplier experience required.
- Demonstrated success supporting automotive OEM customer relationships and meeting OEM quality/delivery standards (e.g., IATF 16949, PPAP, APQP).
- Working knowledge of Japanese quality principles and lean manufacturing methodologies (Kaizen, Jidoka, Poka-Yoke, Genchi Genbutsu).
- Strong people leadership skills, with demonstrated ability to develop teams.
- Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to work effectively across cultures, languages, and time zones.
- Ability to travel up to 50% of the time across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
Qualifications Desired:- Strong working knowledge of Lean Manufacturing principles and demonstrated ability to drive Lean compliance across a plant network.
- Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or Black Belt preferred) with practical application of DMAIC methodology.
- Proven track record leading Kaizen events and continuous improvement programs at scale.
Working Conditions:- Combination of office and manufacturing plant floor environment.
- While on the manufacturing floor, may be exposed to conditions including elevated noise levels, dust, and extreme heat; appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided and required in designated areas.
- Must be able to stand, walk, bend, and climb (e.g., stairs, ladders, platforms) for extended periods while touring manufacturing floors, with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Must be able to travel by vehicle for distances of up to six hours at a time and must hold and maintain a valid driver's license.
- Frequent domestic and international (North America) travel required, including visits to plant sites in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
- Must be able to obtain and maintain necessary travel documentation (e.g., valid passport) for cross-border travel.
Salary Range: $158,316 - $197,900The Salary Range posted represents Pilkington North America's good faith and reasonable estimate of the possible compensation at the time of the posting. Individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, etc. We offer an excellent compensation and benefits package, which includes 401k, medical, dental, vision, life insurance, company paid holidays, paid vacations, and education assistance. 
