Principal Quality Engineer - Aerospace

Position: Principal Quality Engineer - Aerospace #2812
Job Description
Our client, a long-standing aerospace tooling and ground support equipment manufacturer based in Cincinnati, has engaged us to find a Principal Quality Engineer. The firm equips commercial aviation, MRO, OEM, and defense clients with engine tooling, ground support equipment, and made-to-order assemblies. With business momentum building steadily, it is meeting licensed tooling needs tied to major commercial engine programs while also fulfilling line, hangar, and shop maintenance work for a worldwide and growing clientele.

The successful candidate will function as a practical, technically grounded quality lead inside a low-volume, high-variety aerospace operation built around sophisticated tooling, ground support equipment, and engineered assemblies. You will hold accountability for the quality outcomes of nominated products, processes, and suppliers, and play a central part in strengthening product conformity, ISO compliance, customer confidence, supplier reliability, and a culture of steady improvement.

What You'll Be Doing

• Champion improvement programs designed to curb variation, lift process capability, and secure durable gains in quality performance.
• Serve as the recognized technical quality decision-maker for the products, processes, and suppliers in your remit.
• Take part in audits of every type, whether internal, external, customer-led, or supplier-facing, and in associated ISO 9001 compliance tasks.
• Assess, authorize, and technically govern inspection plans, First Article Inspections (FAI), and conformance approaches for critical or complex items.
• Steer RCCA investigations reaching across internal, supplier, and customer matters, drawing on disciplined problem-solving frameworks like 8D, 5-Why, and Ishikawa/Fishbone.
• Manage supplier quality across an international supplier base, taking in audits, supplier corrective action requests (SCARs), performance assessments, and development initiatives.
• Work hand in hand with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Customer Service, and leadership to surface, weigh, and curb quality risks.
• Stand as the lead quality contact whenever customer or supplier escalations arise, including audits, complaints, corrective actions, and resolution of issues.
• Keep watch over quality metrics, trends, supplier performance, and customer quality matters, analyzing and reporting on each.
• Handle MRB activity for escalated nonconformances, applying risk-weighted dispositions such as rework, repair, use-as-is, scrap, or customer approval.
• Deliver coaching and instruction on GD&T, inspection methods, and the broader quality toolkit.
• Lead containment, root cause analysis, the deployment of corrective actions, verification of their effectiveness, and prevention of recurrence.
• Establish and upkeep quality standards, inspection plans, work instructions, and the documentation that underpins them.

Requirements

Available to be based onsite in Cincinnati, Ohio.

At least a decade in quality assurance or quality engineering, of which a minimum of seven years sit squarely in a Quality Engineering capacity within aerospace and/or manufacturing.

Direct, practical use of RCCA and structured problem-solving approaches, among them 8D, 5-Why, Ishikawa/Fishbone, or equivalents.

A working command of inspection plans, FAI, technical drawings, GD&T, and the handling of nonconformances.

A dependable technical grounding in manufacturing quality, ideally drawn from aerospace tooling, ground support equipment, MRO, complex mechanical assemblies, precision machining, hydraulics, or comparable engineered products.

Confident communication paired with the ability to work across functions alongside Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, leadership, customers, and suppliers.

Hands-on supplier quality background covering SCARs, supplier audits, performance management, and supplier development.

Open to travel both at home and abroad whenever the role calls for it.

A clear record of steering intricate quality investigations and corrective actions tied to both customer and supplier concerns.

A high level of expertise in ISO 9001 quality systems.

Practical knowledge of inspection equipment and technologies, including CMMs, PCMMs, and Romer/FARO arms.

A track record managing customer quality escalations, audit responses, corrective action responses, and issue resolution.

Capable user of Microsoft Office.

Preferred

• Familiarity with APQP, SPC, process capability, and advanced quality planning.
• A degree in Engineering, Quality, or a comparable technical subject, though meaningful relevant experience may stand in for formal qualifications.
• A history of dealing with international suppliers and the quality expectations that come with them.
• Some exposure to AS9100 or to aerospace customer quality requirements.
• A working understanding of the fundamentals of metallurgy and welding.
• Certification such as CQE, Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, or AS9100 Lead Auditor.
• A technical feel for complex precision machined parts,…