Hardware Quality Engineer

About the position

As the Quality Champion, you will be the driving force behind the quality, reliability, and durability of all our hardware products. This hybrid role blends Quality Management, Quality Engineering, and Quality Inspection, giving you end-to-end ownership of our Quality Management System (QMS), supplier quality, product testing, and failure analysis. You will work closely with hardware engineering, manufacturing partners, and customer feedback channels to proactively embed quality into our designs, processes, and supplier relationships. Your mission: deliver ultra-reliable, high-performance products through a data-driven, proactive quality strategy.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and optimize an effective Quality Management System (QMS) to ensure continuous improvement and compliance with industry best practices.
• Establish and maintain quality policies, standards, and procedures covering design, manufacturing, supplier management, and field reliability.
• Define and drive corrective and preventive action (CAPA) processes based on field and manufacturing data.
• Own the Failure Analysis (FA) process, investigating product defects, conducting root cause analysis (RCA), and implementing long-term solutions.
• Work closely with hardware engineers to integrate quality and reliability principles into the design phase, ensuring DFM (Design for Manufacturability), DFT (Design for Testability), and DFA (Design for Assembly) best practices.
• Lead product reliability testing, including environmental stress testing, lifecycle analysis, and accelerated aging tests to predict and mitigate failure modes.
• Collaborate with firmware and electrical engineers to analyze failure patterns and optimize testing strategies for circuit board assemblies and electromechanical components.
• Develop and maintain supplier quality requirements, ensuring contract manufacturers and component suppliers meet or exceed our quality expectations.
• Define and implement Incoming Quality Control (IQC), In-Process Quality Control (IPQC), and Final Quality Control (FQC) strategies at manufacturing sites.
• Perform supplier audits, evaluate process capabilities, and work with vendors to continuously improve manufacturing quality.
• Establish clear acceptance criteria, inspection procedures, and statistical quality control (SQC) methods for key components and assemblies.
• Define and oversee inspection criteria, test plans, and acceptance levels for hardware components and finished products.
• Lead failure investigations for field returns, customer complaints, and internal test failures, ensuring proper documentation and resolution.
• Own first article inspection (FAI) and production part approval process (PPAP) for new product introductions (NPI).
• Utilize Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, and statistical process control (SPC) methodologies to improve product and process quality.
• Implement key performance indicators (KPIs) such as yield rates, defect rates, first-pass success rates, and customer return metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Champion a culture of quality by training internal teams and suppliers on best practices, lessons learned, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Requirements

• Proven experience in Quality Management, Quality Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong knowledge of Quality Management Systems (QMS) and industry best practices.
• Experience with failure analysis, root cause analysis, and corrective action processes.
• Familiarity with design for manufacturability, testability, and assembly principles.
• Experience in product reliability testing and quality control methodologies.
• Strong analytical skills and experience with data-driven decision making.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.

Nice-to-haves

• Experience with Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing methodologies.
• Familiarity with statistical process control (SPC) techniques.
• Experience in supplier quality management and audits.
• Knowledge of hardware engineering and product development processes.