Senior Quality Engineer; D

Senior Quality Engineer {D} at ARKA Group, LP

ARKA Group L.P. is an advanced technologies company serving the U.S. military, intelligence community, and commercial space industry delivering next-generation solutions to support the national security space enterprise. Built on more than six decades of excellence, ARKA brings modern approaches and a culture of innovation to the challenges of today.

Position Overview

This position reports directly to the Quality Engineering Manager. The Quality Assurance Engineer candidate will be responsible to develop and execute the Program Plan and lead quality improvement activities in targeted areas of the organization in support of the business plan. Provide quality assurance support to internal and external customers, suppliers and DMT partners. This position also executes the Quality Assurance strategy of the organization to ensure continuous production of products consistent with customer requirements, government regulations and established industry standards.

The Quality Assurance Engineers are responsible for quality assurance support to customers, suppliers, partners and targeted departments of the organization.

Responsibilities

• Quality Planning & Compliance
  • Develop and Implement Quality Assurance plans, review and approval of all drawings, specifications, and manufacturing operation documents to understand and translate engineering and system-level functional requirements into inspection requirements for inspectors
  • Lead and manage Quality Assurance requirements – including all contractual flow-downs on contractual products in support of manufacturing, procurement, test, and customer returns areas
  • Ensure compliance to industry standards (e.g. AS9100)
  • Monitor compliance to contractual requirements and documented procedures and assure compliance of deliverable end items. Report regularly on progress and recommend recovery/mitigation plans to both Quality and Program management
  • Participate in all aspects of product development (project reviews, design verification, and risk assessments) and be the primary customer interface with respect to managing all required source inspections and audits. Serves as primary interface with DCMA and customer quality representatives
• Manufacturing & Assembly Support
  • Monitor and audit fabrication, assembly, and integration processes to verify adherence to specifications and cleanliness standards
  • Apply SPC as necessary to analyze product & process performance to recommend and implement improvements in targeted areas of the organization. Continuously evaluate program process capability, control plans, analysis of out-of-control conditions and audits with the objective of improving process performance and capability
  • Test and Validation Oversight
  • Support environmental, vibration, and thermal vacuum testing to ensure system integrity
  • Review test data and drive root cause analysis on anomalies or non-conformances
• Supplier & Material Quality
  • Evaluate and qualify suppliers of optical, structural, and electronic components
  • Must be able and willing to travel as required
  • Perform incoming inspection and quality control of high-precision components (e.g., optics, coatings, hardware)
• Documentation & Reporting
  • Generate quality documentation including inspection reports, nonconformance reports, first article inspection reports, and final acceptance documentation
  • Maintain traceability from raw material to final assembly, in line with configuration management and flight certification requirements
  • Facilitate Material Review Board (MRB) functions and disposition of all non-conformances as the chair of the MRB team, including dimensional, performance, cosmetic, and workmanship issues

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor of science - engineering (engineering, physics, or optical sciences)
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in Quality Assurance Engineering
• Working knowledge & experience:
  • with Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing
  • in AS 9100 & ISO 9001 in addition to other industry-specific standards and regulations
  • supporting optical, mechanical and electrical products in a manufacturing environment
  • utilizing metrology equipment (i.e., CMM, autocollimators, interferometers, measure scopes)
  • preparing Inspection and Manufacturing Operation instructions
  • Cost of Quality and specifically the Cost of Non-Conformance; has used Cost of Quality metrics and trends to identify opportunities for improvement and waste reduction
  • with configuration management tools (e.g., Windchill, Teamcenter) and ERP systems
• Analytical problem-solving skills - understands problem solving methods (i.e., 8D, root cause analysis, Fishbone, Sologic, 5 Why) and the associated statistical tools used to analyze problems; can solve problems of typical scope and complexity
• Excellent team player, interacts well with other technical departments (Receiving Inspection, Manufacturing Engineering and Design Engineering)

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior experience in a high-reliability environment with Electro/Mechanical/Optical equipment
• MS Office…