Quality Engineer

at  Austal USA

Austal USA Advanced Technologies: Innovative on Land, Exceptional at Sea.
Every day the team at Austal USA Advanced Technologies is tasked with developing solutions to address some of the US Navy’s most challenging problems. The team at Austal USA Advanced Technologies works to design and build the future of the US Navy’s fleet as the prime contractor on a program to integrate additive manufacturing and manufacturing automation into the US Navy submarine industrial base. Austal USA Advanced Technologies operates an Additive Manufacturing research and development facility in Charlottesville, VA and leads the Navy’s Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville, VA.
Austal USA has over 4,000 team members across the US and is among the nation’s fastest-growing shipbuilders, with over 13 programs under contract. In addition to Austal USA’s tri-hull Independence Class Littoral Combat Ship, catamaran-style Expeditionary Fast Transport ship, and the Navy’s most advanced Unmanned Surface Vessel, Austal USA has recently won contracts to build the US Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter, US Navy’s Next Generation Emergency Medical Ship, and the US Navy TAGOS submarine hunting steel-hulled vessels among other awards. Austal USA is also building critical modules for the new Columbia Class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.
REPORTS TO: Operations Manager

QUALIFICATIONS / KNOWLEDGE / EXPERIENCE:

• 5 years proven experience in a field/department/position involving compliance expectations/requirements.
• Bachelor’s degree in related field preferred.
• Experience overseeing compliance with the ISO 9001 standard or another accepted industry standard; performing external and/or internal audits preferred
• Experience with Department of Defense quality flow-downs strongly preferred
• Highly-analytical with strong attention to detail.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings and specifications
• Experience in a variety of basic operation disciplines: Manufacturing, Quality, Process / Tooling and Shop Floor Supervision.
• Ability to interpret complex external (e.g., legal) and internal governance (e.g., corporate policies) documents and to exercise independent and objective decisions towards functional groups and company departments to effectuate related compliance
• Highly evolved oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work with limited direction in a fast-paced environment.
• Exemplify strong knowledge of external (e.g., legal) and internal governance (e.g., corporate policies), industry protocols, and best practices
• Possess a collaborative personality and be open to suggestions from team members while maintaining independence and objectivity
• Demonstrated ability to multitask and to work collaboratively with other functional groups
• Strong time management and organizational skills.
• Must have, or be willing to obtain, job-relevant professional certifications.
• Proficient in the use of standard office computer software including Microsoft Windows and MS Office
• Eligibility for a Secret Security Clearance from DoD.
  WORK ENVIRONMENT: Work time will be spent in a standard office environment with manufacturing plant exposure.
  TOOLS: MS Office, Manufacturing Execution System (MES) software, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software
  DIRECTION EXERCISED: Full discretionary authority to assign work
  LIASES WITH: All other departments within the company, subcontractors, regulatory agencies, and suppliers

The Quality Engineer is responsible for:

• Maintaining a Compliance Program that leverages Austal USA’s Quality Management System to enhance and formalize compliance activities.
• Collaborating with leadership to monitor and document compliance activities and production floor processes to control plans, and to achieve continuous improvement through habitual feedback.
• Liaising with the Austal USA team to ensure current laws, rules, and regulations that govern manufacturing and industry best practices are applied.
• Performing audits of procedures and processes, in addition to internal / external audits performed within partner teams, to assess risks and detect and prevent instances of non-compliance.
• Supporting and/or leading root cause analysis of complex manufacturing processes across multiple organizations.
• Providing and/or recording all OQE/Artifacts related to the program.
• Developing and enforcing a training plan across partner teams to include compliance training and other topics relevant to operation.
• Supporting investigations of suspected and potential violations of compliance-related policies and procedures and documenting resulting corrective actions.
• Collaborating with partners & subcontractors to ensure documented quality standards are met.
• Acting as a Compliance Champion and working to promote a culture of compliance throughout the operation.
• Other duties will be assigned, as neededother than those specified in this description.