Quality Manager

Role Overview:

The Quality Manager reports to the SVP of Safety, Quality and Compliance and is a key member of the Safety, Quality and Compliance (SQC) organization. This role works at the intersection of engineering, supply chain, operations, and safety, providing independent quality oversight across the full product lifecycle. The Quality Manager partners closely with hardware and software engineering, systems engineering, test operations, and program management to embed a culture of quality discipline and continuous improvement throughout the organization.

About the Role:

We're looking for a Quality Manager to lead Glydways’ progression toward ISO 9001 certification, including system readiness, audit preparedness, and registrar engagement.

This role goes beyond documentation, you will define how the organization plans, controls, assures, and improves quality across all functions.  This role enables and governs the Quality Management System but does not replace accountability of other departments for quality performance, policy, and strategic direction.

While you are comfortable operating in an environment where systems and processes are being defined and matured, not inherited, you will support the Glydways Quality Management System (QMS), drive its implementation and continual improvement, lead the internal audit program, manage corrective and preventive actions, enforce formal design review gates, and ensure that configuration management practices provide full traceability and auditability. You will prepare the organization for management reviews by compiling quality performance data, audit results, and improvement action status.

As Glydways transitions toward pilot deployments and revenue service, your work will directly determine whether our products meet the rigorous safety and quality standards that public transit demands. You will ensure that what we build is safe, reliable, and worthy of public trust.

The role requires periodic travel to supplier sites, partner facilities, and pilot project locations across the US. International travel may be required to support supplier quality audits and assessments.

Responsibilities:

QMS: Support implementation and continuous improvement of the Glydways Quality Management System in support of ISO 9001:2015 certification readiness, including authoring and maintaining quality policies, procedures, work instructions, and process maps.

Supplier Quality Assurance: Define and maintain supplier quality requirements, including quality clauses for purchase orders and supplier agreements. Ensure quality requirements are appropriately flowed down through contracts, specifications, and supplier agreements.  Establish incoming inspection criteria and acceptance procedures. Conduct or coordinate supplier audits and assessments, manage supplier corrective actions, and maintain a supplier quality scorecard.

Quality Control: Define and oversee implementation of quality control checkpoints for vehicle build, assembly, and integration activities. Coordinate with engineering the creation of inspection and test plans for incoming, in process, and final acceptance of hardware components and integrated subsystems. Own the nonconformance reporting (NCR) process and drive root cause analysis (5 Why, Fishbone, 8D) for hardware defects, integration failures, and field issues.

Design Review Gates: Establish and uphold formal design review gates (System Requirements Review, Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Test Readiness Review, Production Readiness Review) with documented entry and exit criteria. Ensure adherence to engineering change management processes through quality oversight, including impact assessment, approval workflows, and verification of implementation.

Configuration Management Oversight: Ensure that configuration management processes are defined and followed for hardware, software, and documentation aligned with ISO 10007 (Configuration Management) principles. Provide independent quality oversight to confirm that design, test, and release baselines are defined, maintained, and traceable in accordance with established processes, and that they support safety-critical lifecycle expectations. Ensure that as built vehicle configurations are documented and traceable to design records.

Internal Audits and Continuous Improvement: Plan, schedule, and lead the internal audit program covering all QMS processes and project activities. Conduct process audits, product audits, and system audits. Manage the Corrective and Preventive Action (CAPA) program. Track quality objectives, KPIs, and management review inputs. Facilitate lessons learned and quality improvement initiatives across engineering and operations teams.

Defect Management: Define and maintain the defect and issue management workflow, ensuring that hardware and software defects are properly classified, prioritized, assigned, and tracked to resolution. Establish escalation criteria and processes for quality issues that impact safety, schedule, or customer commitments.

Software Quality Assurance: Collaborate with the Safety and Software teams to ensure alignment between software quality processes and the broader QMS. Support the review and approval of Software Quality Assurance Plans (SQAPs) and software lifecycle process descriptions. Ensure integration of software quality processes into the QMS, including verification traceability, release control, and defect management alignment with system-level safety and performance requirements.

Qualifications:

Please apply, even if you don't meet 100% of the qualifications! We're looking for strong candidates with a great foundation who can also grow on the job.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field; or equivalent professional experience.
• 7+ years of progressive experience in quality engineering or quality management within a regulated, safety critical product development environment (rail, automotive, aerospace, defense, or medical devices).
• Demonstrated experience establishing and managing supplier quality assurance programs, including supplier audits, incoming inspection, and corrective action management.
• Proven ability to define and implement quality control processes for hardware build, assembly, and integration activities, including inspection and test planning.
• Experience leading or supporting an organization through ISO 9001 certification (Stage 1 and Stage 2 audits) strongly preferred. 
• Experience planning and conducting internal audits (ISO 19011 or equivalent methodology) and managing CAPA programs.
• Working knowledge of configuration management principles and practices for hardware, software, and documentation.
• Solid understanding of root cause analysis techniques (5 Why, 8D, Fishbone/Ishikawa, Fault Tree Analysis) and their practical application.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; ability to produce clear, concise, and auditable quality documentation.
• Demonstrated ability to work cross functionally with engineering, supply chain, test, and program management teams in a fast paced development environment.

Preferred

• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Quality Manager (CQM), or Certified Quality Auditor (CQA).
• Experience managing quality in an environment transitioning from prototype/development to production, including establishing production readiness criteria and gate reviews.
• Lead Auditor certification (ISO 9001 or ISO 19011).