Sr. Quality Manager, Assurance & Regulatory Compliance

Barnes Aerospace is seeking a Sr. Quality Manager, Assurance & Regulatory Compliance to lead the enterprise assurance program and strengthen regulatory, certification, and Quality-system compliance across our global aerospace portfolio. This role provides independent assessment of QMS effectiveness, establishes consistent audit and regulatory-governance practices, and drives timely escalation and resolution of systemic risks. The successful candidate will partner with site Quality leaders, Operations, and functional teams to ensure that lessons learned, corrective actions, and compliance expectations are consistently applied across the organization.

Remote in the US with 20-30% travel.

Core Responsibilities:

• Lead the enterprise assurance program, including risk-based internal-audit planning, common audit methodology, auditor qualification and calibration, audit reporting, and assessment of QMS effectiveness across multiple sites.
• Establish enterprise regulatory-compliance requirements and lead the harmonization of common regulatory controls across sites. Partner with QMS & Process Excellence to develop and maintain aligned documentation and implementation practices for shared requirements while ensuring site-specific manuals, certificates, and procedures remain appropriate to each site’s approvals and operating scope.
• Establish and maintain enterprise standards for audit planning, execution, reporting, corrective-action follow-up, and verification of effectiveness.
• Monitor site compliance health, audit trends, certification status, significant findings, and systemic risk indicators; provide clear reporting, recommendations, and escalation to executive leadership.
• Provide enterprise oversight for AS9100, AS9110, Nadcap, customer, and applicable regulatory requirements; maintain awareness of relevant regulatory and industry changes and coordinate their effective integration into the Quality Management System.
• Support governance of aviation-authority approvals, certificates, capability limitations, and related compliance controls, as applicable to Barnes Aerospace operations.
• Lead enterprise certification and regulatory audit readiness activities; coordinate support for significant customer, certification-body, aviation-authority, and Nadcap audits.
• Provide independent review and enterprise support for significant findings, escapes, and compliance events, including containment, root-cause and corrective-action quality, product-impact assessment, effectiveness verification, and cross-site learning.
• Identify and escalate systemic Quality and regulatory risks directly to the Global VP Quality; ensure risk mitigation actions have clear ownership, timing, and verification.
• Partner with QMS & Process Excellence, Supplier Quality, site Quality Managers, and Operations leaders to ensure audit results, regulatory changes, and lessons learned drive practical improvements to enterprise processes.
• Develop and maintain an enterprise community of qualified internal auditors; provide coaching, calibration, and development to improve audit depth, consistency, and process-based assessment capability.
• Build effective working relationships with Site Quality Managers and Site General Managers while respecting site ownership of daily Quality execution, local resourcing, and site performance.
• Travel domestically and internationally as required, anticipated at approximately 20–30% of the time.

Qualifications:

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive Quality, regulatory, manufacturing, or engineering experience in a complex aerospace manufacturing or maintenance environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading internal-audit programs, certification readiness, regulatory compliance, or Quality-system assurance activities across multiple sites, functions, or business units.
• Strong working knowledge of AS9100 and/or AS9110, applicable customer-specific requirements, and aerospace Quality Management System principles; familiarity with AS13100 is preferred.
• Demonstrated experience with Nadcap requirements, audit preparation, finding response, corrective-action effectiveness, and special-process compliance is strongly preferred.
• Working knowledge of applicable aviation-authority requirements. Familiarity with FAA regulations is strongly preferred; familiarity with EASA, UK CAA, and other international aviation authorities is preferred.
• Thorough knowledge of risk-based auditing, process-based auditing, root-cause analysis, CAPA, nonconformance control, management review, risk management, and regulatory-change management.
• Proven ability to independently assess compliance and process effectiveness, identify systemic risk, and communicate clear, evidence-based recommendations to senior leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to influence without direct authority, lead cross-functional corrective-action efforts, and build alignment across Site Quality, Operations, Engineering, and other business functions.
• Strong analytical, project-management, communication, and presentation skills, including the ability to convert complex regulatory and Quality-system requirements into clear, actionable direction.
• Experience working effectively across cultures, time zones, and changing business priorities in a global organization.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications; experience with QMS software, audit-management tools, ERP/MES systems, and business-intelligence tools is preferred.

Education Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality, Aviation, or a related technical discipline; equivalent relevant technical experience may be considered.
• Lead Auditor certification in AS9100 and/or AS9110 auditing is strongly preferred.
• Other relevant professional auditing certifications, such as ASQ Certified Quality Auditor, are preferred.

Salary: $125,000 - $194,000

Barnes Aerospace offers eligible employees a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, and vision insurance; a Health Savings Account (HSA) with company contributions for eligible medical plan participants; flexible spending accounts (FSAs); a 401(k) retirement plan with company matching contributions; life and disability insurance; and paid vacation and holidays. Additional offerings include an employee assistance program (EAP), wellness programs, tuition reimbursement, employee discounts, voluntary accident and critical illness coverage, pet insurance, and work-life support resources. Benefits are subject to applicable plan terms and eligibility requirements, which may vary based on employment status, position, and location.

This job position may include access to controlled information or technology subject to U.S. export control laws. If an applicant does not meet the definition of a “U.S. Person” (which includes U.S. citizens, U.S. lawful permanent residents, and those granted U.S. asylum or refugee status), the Company may be required to obtain an export control license. If the position for which you applied involves access to controlled information or technology subject to U.S. export control laws, then any offer is also contingent on verification of appropriate documentation for the Company to assess whether an export license will be required to employ you in that role, and if it is determined that an export license is required, the offer is also contingent on the Company’s determination, in its sole discretion, whether a license application and ongoing administration is prudent under the project’s contract parameters and whether an export license can be successfully obtained before you can start in that role. Export license applications may take several weeks to be processed.