Quality Engineer

Eleven Recruiting is searching for a Quality Engineer for one of our largest defense manufacturing clients. The facility is a single-site, AS9100-certified operation in Cedar City, Utah, focused on the design, development, qualification, and small-batch manufacture of tactical solid rocket motors, boost motors, and solid propellant gas generators for high-priority DoD programs.

The Quality Engineer supports the Quality Management System and serves as the hands-on quality support embedded across engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and programs. In a specialized energetics environment where product reliability is mission-critical, this role combines strategic QMS ownership with direct floor-level engagement. You will ensure compliance with AS9100, customer, contractual, and regulatory requirements across the full product lifecycle — from propellant development and motor qualification through production and delivery.

• Own, maintain, and continuously improve the AS9100-certified QMS.
• Serve as the primary interface for third-party, customer, and government audits; ensure compliance with DoD customer quality requirements.
• Lead internal audits, management reviews, corrective actions, and document control.
• Ensure quality is embedded across the full product lifecycle: design, development, manufacturing, test, delivery, and sustainment.
• Partner with Engineering on design reviews, risk management, configuration control, and change management.
• Oversee First Article Inspection (AS9102), nonconformance management, MRB activity, and root cause corrective actions.
• Work directly with manufacturing to ensure process control, inspection effectiveness, and production readiness.
• Manage supplier quality activities including flow down, qualification, performance monitoring, and corrective actions.
• Mitigate supplier risk to ensure purchased material meets all technical and quality requirements.

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Chemistry, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical field.
• Minimum 3 years of quality experience in aerospace or defense manufacturing.
• Demonstrated ownership of an AS9100-certified QMS, including audit leadership.
• Experience supporting both design and manufacturing in a defense environment.
• Hands-on contributor comfortable working directly in a small-company, production floor environment.
• Clear communicator across executive, engineering, and technician levels.

Preferred

• Background in energetics, solid propulsion, pyrotechnics, or ordnance-adjacent manufacturing.
• Familiarity with MIL-SPEC and MIL-STD qualification standards for propulsion or energetic hardware.
• Experience with small-batch manufacturing and rapid qualification cycles.
• DoD customer quality experience (MDA, USAF, USN) and government audit interface.
• Supplier quality experience with specialty materials — propellants, energetic components, precision machined parts.
• CQE, CQM, or equivalent ASQ certification.

Salary: $100,000 - $115,000