Full job description

Job Title: Quality Assurance Manager

Location: Southampton

Salary: Circa £45,000, flexible depending on experience

We are recruiting for an experienced Quality Assurance Manager to lead and maintain a robust Quality Management System across a busy manufacturing environment.

This is a key role for someone who can take ownership of quality governance, ISO 9001 compliance, customer quality matters, audits, corrective actions and the continued development of the business towards AS9100 accreditation. The role will suit a practical, technically strong quality professional who can influence operational teams while maintaining independent oversight of standards, product conformity and compliance.

The Role

As Quality Assurance Manager, you will be responsible for the overall governance and continuous improvement of the company’s QMS, helping the business move from reactive quality management towards a proactive, risk-based approach focused on defect prevention, process capability and continuous improvement.

Key responsibilities include:

Taking overall responsibility for the development and improvement of the QMS
Maintaining ISO 9001 certification and supporting progress towards AS9100
Leading internal audits and coordinating external certification, customer and regulatory audits
Maintaining quality policies, procedures, work instructions and document control
Providing independent oversight of product and process conformity
Establishing inspection standards, quality procedures and acceptance criteria
Managing nonconformance governance, concessions, deviations and customer approvals
Acting as the main management contact for significant customer quality matters
Leading or coordinating root cause investigations using 8D, 5 Whys and other methods
Ensuring corrective and preventive actions are implemented and verified
Working with Operations to reduce recurring defects, scrap and rework
Overseeing calibration, measurement systems and inspection equipment control
Supporting supplier quality requirements, approvals, audits and performance monitoring
Providing quality governance for new product introduction, process validation and production launch
Supporting FAIR requirements, PFMEA, control plans and quality planning tools where applicable
Reporting quality performance, risks, audit findings, complaints and corrective actions to senior management

Responsibilities