Senior Quality Assurance Engineer

Senior Quality Assurance Engineer

Vitesse Systems is looking for a Senior Quality Assurance Engineer to join the Harbor City team! The Senior Quality Assurance Engineer will lead quality for electro-mechanical actuators, driving reliability and continuous improvement. This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader with expertise in mechanical design, GD&T, and product development.

Vitesse Systems is a leading provider of highly engineered antenna, thermal management and mission critical solutions used in radar, electronic warfare and C5ISR applications. No challenge is too difficult for the Vitesse Team. From complex specification driven requirements to precision manufactured components, Vitesse Systems has the experience and expertise needed to execute.

Our core values of Integrity, Initiative, Impact, and Integration translate to an environment where every team member is valued and rewarded. The mission-critical solutions we design and manufacture at Vitesse make our country and our world safer.

Our Benefits

• 3 Weeks of Paid Time Off
• 10 Paid Company Observed Holidays
• Birthday & Anniversary Incentives
• 401K Employer Match
• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Company-paid Life Insurance
• Company-paid Short & Long-term Disability
• Continuing Education Reimbursement Program
• Generous Referral Program

The Role

As the Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, you will lead all aspect of the actuators quality activities and team to define, develop, and execute processes that deliver high quality & reliable products. This role focuses on our Core Technology products specifically in electro-mechanical actuators with career growth to any of our products in the development stages. The right person for this role is a team leader and a technical leader who has expertise in mechanical design, design for robustness, design for manufacturability, product development, metrology (GD&T), and continuous improvement. If you are someone who loves to build world-class quality products, work hands-on, and be accountable for results, then this role is for you.

Key Responsibilities

• Manage a team of product quality engineers and interface closely with product engineering, manufacturing engineering, production team and supplier quality team.
• Drive product development to achieve quality experience for the actuators by leading technical design reviews, process development, verification, validation, and qualification of processes and parts, and the assembly itself.
• Drive clarity & resolution for development ambiguities associated with product maturity, process stability, and field performance that impact the product meeting it's quality & reliability goals for volume production.
• Drive quality controls and assurance throughout production phases; develop metrics to uphold the highest level of first pass yield and continuous scrap reduction.
• Champion the transition from new product introduction (NPI) to a sustainable & predictable, high rate manufacturing process and supply chain.
• Own product design risk management to ensure robustness and to improve reliability across the product lifecycle. Engage in quality activities from concept through development and manufacturing to field use.
• Own product quality end-to-end from incoming components, subsystems, and the end-product assembly from early design phase to field sustainment.
• Ensure the execution of product and process requirements. Define and improve such requirements.
• Work cross-functionally to define and execute the product roadmap from quality perspective.
• Lead Root Cause and Corrective Action (RCCA) and Material Review Board (MRB) activities. Review the effectiveness of actions and share lessons learned across the product team.
• Establish quality metrics and develop a strategy to ensure best in class quality performance.
• Support the continuous improvement of the Quality Management System. Define and improve required documentation and activities.
• Support investigations, initiatives, and projects as needed, at the team or organization level.
• Responsible for root cause analysis and associated characterization/sensitivity test development.
• Support supplier quality visits to the supply base to consistently improve process quality and drive down cost of poor quality.
• Develop and implement manufacturing requirements, quality standards, and product quality plans per category of component (castings, forgings, machined parts, electromechanical systems).
• Cross functional leadership through design, manufacturing, quality, and reliability engineering to analyze process capability potential from the early design phase and direct design decisions based on data.
• Lead and conduct DOE's (Design of Experiments) to support design and process improvements.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field.
• 7–10 years of experience in design, product development, manufacturing engineering, and quality within low-volume, high-complexity environments.
• Experience with mechanical/electro-mechanical systems, actuators, product launches, and suppliers in automotive, aerospace/defense, or similar industries.
• Expertise in technical design reviews, PCBA, avionics, systems integration, mechanical systems, DFMEA/PFMEA, and design for robustness and reliability.
• Strong knowledge of SPC, MSA, statistical analysis, reliability engineering, and testing.
• Experience with AS9100/ISO 9001, IPC standards, government contracts, and military requirements.
• Six Sigma Black Belt and DFSS experience preferred.
• Proficiency with Teamcenter, SolidWorks, Jira, Tableau, Altium, MATLAB, JMP, Minitab, or similar tools.
• Strong analytical and ownership mindset with the ability to drive projects from start to completion.
• Proof of US Citizenship or US Permanent Residency is required to comply with ITAR regulations.