Nationality Requirements
Due to the nature of the programs we support, certain roles may require candidates to meet U.S. nationality requirements and be eligible to obtain a security clearance.
Position Summary
Your mission: As the Senior Quality Manager, Programs, you will lead Quality Assurance across an assigned portfolio of complex defense programs and product families. You will be accountable for product assurance, contractual and customer compliance, technical Quality Engineering, program risk, customer readiness, and the performance and development of VSM-Aligned Quality Partners and other assigned Quality Engineers.
You will serve as the senior Quality partner to Program Management, Value Stream leadership, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Supplier Quality, Configuration Management, and our customers. You will help teams understand and meet program and business commitments while maintaining independent Quality judgment and ensuring that product conformity, objective evidence, and customer requirements are never compromised by schedule pressure.
This role is ideal for a seasoned Quality leader who understands how to operate in a fast-paced, cross-functional defense environment; can balance technical, contractual, schedule, cost, delivery, and customer priorities; and can develop Quality Engineers into true senior technical partners rather than routine inspection resources.
Job Description
What You’ll Be Accountable For
- Lead Program Quality strategy and execution across assigned programs and product families, ensuring Quality plans align with contract requirements, customer expectations, technical risk, production schedules, delivery commitments, and business objectives.
- Serve as the senior Quality representative to Program Managers, VSM leaders, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Supplier Quality, Configuration Management, and customer or government Quality representatives.
- Maintain clear visibility of Quality risks that could affect product performance, compliance, cost, schedule, revenue, delivery, or customer acceptance, and drive timely cross-functional recovery actions.
- Ensure contract requirements, statements of work, specifications, drawings, quality clauses, data-item requirements, and customer direction are correctly interpreted, flowed down, implemented, verified, and supported by objective evidence.
- Lead preparation and Quality readiness for customer and government inspections, source inspections, audits, formal acceptance events, corrective-action responses, and other customer-facing activities.
- Maintain effective working relationships with DCMA, Department of Defense customers, prime contractors, and other customer Quality organizations.
- Lead, coach, prioritize, and develop VSM-Aligned Quality Partners and other assigned Quality Engineers as senior technical and cross-functional business partners.
- Establish clear program assignments, technical expectations, deliverables, escalation thresholds, and decision authority for Quality Engineering personnel.
- Ensure Quality Engineers focus primarily on prevention, technical analysis, process assurance, risk reduction, corrective action, readiness, configuration assurance, and program support rather than routine inspection.
- Partner with the Quality Operations Manager to ensure routine Receiving, In-Process, Final, and other inspection activities are properly staffed and that QE inspection support is limited to technically appropriate or temporary business-risk situations.
- Develop employees transitioning from inspection-centered work into true Quality Engineering through planned technical assignments, mentoring, competency reviews, and progressive removal from routine inspection activity.
- Provide program-level technical leadership for significant, complex, recurring, high-risk, or customer-visible nonconformances.
- Ensure MRB inputs and dispositions are technically sound and appropriately consider form, fit, function, performance, reliability, configuration, contractual requirements, customer impact, schedule, cost, precedent, and delegated authority.
- Ensure rework instructions, repair approaches, retest requirements, use-as-is justifications, and other dispositions are supported by adequate technical analysis and approved by the appropriate functions.
- Partner with Quality Operations to maintain an effective MRB cadence, prioritize aging nonconformances, remove technical barriers to disposition, and escalate stalled or high-risk items.
- Lead or sponsor root-cause and corrective-action investigations for systemic or high-impact issues and verify that actions address cause, prevent recurrence, and are effective.
- Assess product and process risk throughout design, procurement, manufacturing, assembly, integration, test, inspection, and delivery.
- Ensure appropriate Quality planning for new products, new suppliers, first articles, production transfers, process changes, software/firmware changes, facility changes, and configuration changes.
- Review manufacturing, inspection, and test planning to verify that critical characteristics, acceptance criteria, special processes, and required objective evidence are adequately controlled.
- Lead or support production readiness reviews, first-article activities, process qualification, test readiness, configuration reviews, and customer acceptance preparation.
- Drive Quality controls upstream, promote defect prevention and mistake-proofing, and reduce reliance on final inspection as the primary means of assuring conformity.
- Partner with Supplier Quality and Supply Chain to identify and mitigate supplier risks, ensure appropriate flow-down of customer and technical requirements, and support supplier corrective-action and recovery activities.
- Establish and monitor meaningful program Quality metrics, including first-pass yield, cost of poor quality, escapes, nonconformance aging, corrective-action effectiveness, supplier performance, audit results, and customer acceptance readiness.
- Convert Quality data into analysis, risk identification, priorities, and accountable actions rather than simply reporting counts.
- Present clear, fact-based Quality status, risks, impacts, and recommended actions during program, operating, readiness, and leadership reviews.
- Exercise independent Quality judgment within delegated authority and recommend product hold, containment, additional verification, corrective action, customer notification, or other risk-reduction measures when warranted.
- Challenge incomplete objective evidence, inadequate corrective actions, unsupported MRB dispositions, and readiness claims that do not demonstrate conformity.
- Build a culture in which product conformity is designed and built into the process, owned cross-functionally, and not inspected into the product at the end.
Required Skills & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline, or an equivalent combination of technical education and relevant experience.
- Typically, 10+ years of progressive experience in Quality Engineering, Program Quality, Manufacturing Engineering, Supplier Quality, Systems Engineering, or a regulated production environment, including demonstrated leadership responsibility.
- Proven experience leading senior technical professionals and influencing complex, cross-functional technical or manufacturing organizations.
- Strong working knowledge of nonconformance control, MRB, root-cause analysis, corrective action, configuration-controlled manufacturing, product acceptance, and objective-evidence requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, contracts, statements of work, quality clauses, and other technical and contractual requirements.
- Working knowledge of ISO 9001 and/or AS9100 Quality Management Systems.
- Demonstrated ability to balance product integrity and contractual compliance with program schedule, cost, delivery, revenue, and customer commitments.
- Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills with the ability to communicate risk, impact, decisions, and corrective actions to technical teams, business leaders, customers, and government representatives.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through influence, create accountability across organizational boundaries, and resolve difficult issues without unnecessary escalation.
- Ability and willingness to travel approximately 10–20%, based on program and customer needs.
Desired Qualifications
- Defense, aerospace, maritime, electronics, sonar, radar, torpedo, undersea systems, or complex electromechanical manufacturing experience.
- Experience supporting DCMA, Department of Defense customers, prime contractors, government source inspection, or formal customer acceptance.
- ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE), Lean Six Sigma, or equivalent credentials.
- Experience with first-article inspection, special processes, supplier quality, statistical analysis, test readiness, configuration management, and production transfer.
- Experience leading and developing senior Quality Engineers or equivalent technical professionals.
- Active DoD Secret clearance or eligibility to obtain one.
Why This Role Matters
The products supported by this organization are delivered into demanding operational environments where quality, reliability, configuration control, and customer confidence matter. As the Senior Quality Manager, Programs, you will shape how Quality supports the business—moving the organization from inspection-centered execution toward stronger prevention, technical ownership, risk management, and cross-functional accountability.
You will have the opportunity to influence program decisions, develop the next generation of senior Quality professionals, strengthen customer and government confidence, and ensure that the products we deliver are supported by sound engineering judgment and complete objective evidence.
Expected Compensation: The expected compensation range for this role is
$184,288.00 - $230,256.00.
Please note this represents the expected range. Ultra Maritime considers multiple factors when determining final compensation, including the scope and responsibilities of the role, a candidate’s relevant experience and education, certifications and training, as well as current business and market conditions.
What Ultra Maritime Offers You
At Ultra Maritime, we invest in our employees and their well-being:
Climate controlled, well-lit and clean work environment!
Work/life balance that includes up to 140 hours PTO for first year
8 Paid Holidays, with 3 floating holidays
401k Plan with Company Match
Educational Assistance Program (Tuition Reimbursement)
Wellness Program and incentives
Company HSA contributions
Insurance Benefits that start 1st of the month following hire
Eligibility in Company Performance-based bonuses annually
Additional Employee Discounts and Perks
Company-Paid Benefits:
$75 monthly student loan repayment program
Basic Life Insurance
Basic Accidental Death and Dismemberment (AD&D) Insurance
Short Term Disability
Long Term Disability
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Voluntary Employee-Paid Benefits:
Medical and Prescription insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Supplemental Life Insurance Plans
Supplemental AD&D insurance for Employee and Family
Accident Plan
Critical Illness Plan
Hospital Indemnity Plan
Pet Insurance
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