Director of Quality

Job Description

Job Description

Why This Role Exists

Allocortech designs and manufactures mission-critical power electronics and avionics — motor controllers, battery management, power distribution, flight control, and flight termination — for UAS, eVTOL, and unmanned maritime platforms. We are moving from an engineering-services company to a production-capable manufacturer. AS9100D certification is the gate to that business.

Role Summary

The Director of Quality owns Allocortech’s Quality Management System end to end and is accountable for taking the company to AS9100D certification. This is a builder role: the draft system exists on paper, and this person makes it real, approved, and audited.

You are the single owner of quality. You take the existing draft document set, get it approved and rolled out, generate the operating records auditors require, and lead the company through Stage 1 and Stage 2. You also run day-to-day product quality: nonconformances, first article inspections, supplier quality, and product release. At our size there is no one else to hand either half to.

What Success Looks Like

The measure of this role is an AS9100D certificate within roughly 12 months of start, earned on real operating records rather than paperwork. Milestones are counted from your start date. The internal build plan estimates about 44 weeks from kickoff to certificate; you own that schedule and tell leadership early when it is at risk.

Core Responsibilities

Build and certify the QMS

• Own the AS9100D certification program: schedule, budget (external spend of roughly $20–35K), registrar selection, pre-assessment, and Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits.
• Review, reconcile, and drive approval of the draft Quality Manual, Quality Policy, and QMS-001 through QMS-016, including cross-document consistency in terminology, record retention, and category definitions.
• Build the forms, templates, and registers the procedures require, including the Context and Interested Parties Register, Risk Register, and Lessons Learned Register.
• Stand up document and record control with the Head of IT: controlled repository, Master Document List, electronic signatures, and backups.

Run the system day to day

• Manage the internal audit program; become a qualified internal auditor and train one or two others.
• Prepare and run Management Review, reporting QMS performance, quality objectives, and on-time delivery to top management.
• Own the NCR, MRB, and corrective action processes, including root cause analysis and effectiveness checks.
• Deliver QMS awareness training company-wide, covering product safety, ethical behavior, counterfeit prevention, and Stop Work authority.

Own product and supplier quality

• Define inspection plans, mandatory inspection points, and receiving inspection criteria for electronic and electromechanical assemblies.
• Perform or lead AS9102 First Article Inspections and approve product release.
• Manage supplier quality: evaluation and approval, ASL maintenance, PO quality flow-downs (QMS-008-EXT), performance monitoring, and SCARs.
• Run the calibration program for monitoring and measuring equipment, including ATE instrumentation. Maintain counterfeit parts prevention controls.

Be the quality voice in engineering and change control

• Serve as the Quality member of the Configuration Control Board and Product Review Board.
• Verify that design reviews, category promotions, ECOs, and Category T tooling validation meet QMS requirements.
• Represent Allocortech to customers and registrars on quality matters, including customer audits and source inspections.

Required Qualifications

The non-negotiable is having personally led an organization through an initial AS9100 (or equivalent aerospace) certification. Everything else can be learned faster than that experience.

• Led or co-led at least one initial AS9100 certification, or a major transition such as AS9100C to D, as the accountable quality lead.
• 8+ years in quality roles in aerospace, defense, or another regulated hardware industry, with at least 3 years owning a QMS.
• Hands-on manufacturing quality experience: NCR and MRB, root cause analysis, receiving and in-process inspection, and AS9102 First Article Inspection.
• Working knowledge of electronics assembly standards: IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, and ANSI/ESD S20.20.
• Supplier quality experience, including supplier evaluation, flow-downs, and counterfeit parts prevention.
• Trained internal auditor to AS9100 or ISO 9001, or willing to complete training within 90 days.
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, a technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
• Clear, direct writer; able to turn a procedure into something technicians actually follow.

Preferred Qualifications

These strengthen a candidate but should not screen one out.

• AS9100 Lead Auditor certification or ASQ certification (CQE, CQA, or CMQ/OE).
• Experience building a QMS at a small or fast-growing company with no existing quality team.
• Background in avionics, UAS, or embedded systems, including firmware and software configuration control.
• Familiarity with configuration management practice (baselines, MCOs, ECOs, Class I and II changes) and design control for hardware and software.
• Exposure to DCMA oversight, customer source inspection, or defense prime supplier requirements.
• Awareness of airworthiness and assurance standards such as DO-178C, DO-254, or ARP4754A.
• Experience with ITAR/EAR controls and handling of CUI.
• Comfort with modern tooling (Jira, Git, SharePoint, ERP/PLM) as systems of record.

Who Will Thrive Here

The right person is equally at home editing a procedure in the morning and dispositioning a bad PCBA lot in the afternoon.

You will thrive if you:

• Would rather launch a quality system than inherit one.
• Measure a QMS by whether people use it, not by page count.
• Can say no to a shipment and still keep the respect of the production floor.
• Size controls to risk, and can defend why a lighter control is still compliant.
• Work well with production who need to get stuff done — and with engineers who have strong opinions.

This role is not a fit if you:

• Want to manage a quality department rather than do quality work yourself for the first year.
• Have only worked in systems and compliance roles, with little time around hardware.
• Need a mature system, an established team, and clear precedent to be effective

Why Allocortech

Just over 50 people. Revenue has tripled. Founders from Kitty Hawk/Cora, Google, Rockwell Collins, and Lockheed. Small enough that your board flies. Serious enough that the architecture holds up in the air and on the water. American-made. Mountains out the window.

APPLY NOW

This position may require prolonged periods of sitting, standing, walking, computer work, and occasional exposure to moderate levels of noise, dust, and fumes in production and lab areas.

Level and base salary will be determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on the following considerations: job-related knowledge and skills, education, and experience. Base salary is just one component of our total rewards package. Employees may receive equity opportunities and/or cash bonus, and have access to a robust benefits package including: top tier medical HMO, PPO & a 100% company-sponsored HSA plan option, dental and vision coverage, unlimited PTO, 11 paid holidays per year, flexible spending and dependent care savings accounts, paid parental leave, disability insurance, life insurance, and access to a 401(k) retirement plan with company match. Eligibility for benefits may vary based on employment status; please check with your recruiter for a comprehensive list of the benefits available for this role. Benefit programs are subject to change at the company’s discretion.

Important Information

FOR CANDIDATES SEEKING TO WORK IN US OFFICES ONLY:

To conform to U.S. Government technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), Allocor.Tech Employees must be a U.S. citizen, lawful U.S. permanent resident (i.e., current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State and/or the U.S. Department of Commerce, as applicable.

Allocor.tech provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment at Allocor.Tech, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

We review applications on a rolling basis and move quickly for strong fits.