Global Head of Quality, Motion Traction Europe

Position: Global Head of Quality, Motion Traction (Location: Europe)
Location: Germany

At ABB, we help industries run leaner and cleaner—and every person here makes that happen. You’ll be empowered to lead, supported to grow, and proud of the impact we create together. Join us and help run what runs the world.

This position reports to:

Global Operations Manager__At ABB, we help industries outrun - leaner and cleaner. Here, progress is an expectation - for you, your team, and the world. As a global market leader, we’ll give you what you need to make it happen. It won’t always be easy, growing takes grit. But at ABB, you’ll never run alone. Run what runs the world.

As part of our strategic growth agenda, we are hiring a new Global Head of Quality for our Motion Traction Division.

This role is open globally, and preferred locations are set close to our main Motion Traction locations in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, and Poland.

The work model is hybrid and regular presence in our factories and suppliers' location will be expected, with the ability to travel up to 30% of the time.#LIhybrid

To support the continued growth of our Motion Traction business and the increasing expectations of our customers, we are looking for a Global Head of Quality who will elevate quality into a true source of competitive advantage across our global organization.

This is a high-impact leadership role for a technical quality leader who wants to shape the future of quality in a complex, engineered-to-order environment. Beyond defining strategy, you will be expected to build a lasting quality culture, one that is owned by every function, every site, and every team involved in delivering reliable, high-performance solutions to our customers.

As a member of the divisional leadership team, you will lead a global network of quality professionals and act as a key connector across Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, R&D, Project Execution, and Customer-facing teams. You will bring people together around a shared ambition: preventing issues before they occur, solving problems at the root cause, and continuously raising the standard of performance across the full value chain.

This role calls for a leader who combines strong technical credibility with the ability to influence, engage, and mobilize people in a global matrix organization. You will need to move confidently between strategic transformation and operational detail, from quality governance, supplier performance, and closed-loop quality systems to shopfloor engagement, customer feedback, and data-based decision making.

Success in this role will depend on your ability to create ownership rather than control. You will empower teams to identify risks early, strengthen prevention over detection, and embed accountability for quality into everyday decisions. By doing so, you will help build a culture where quality is not a department or a process, but a mindset that enables customer trust, operational excellence, and sustainable growth.

For a technical leader who is motivated by impact, complexity, and global collaboration, this is an opportunity to shape quality at scale, driving measurable improvement today while building the capabilities, systems, and culture that will define the future of Motion Traction.

Key Responsibilities Set and execute the global quality strategy in line with business priorities, ABB quality standards, and QMS requirements.

Lead the global Quality organization and strengthen a consistent, prevention-focused quality culture across regions.

Build and sustain a robust closed-loop quality process from product development through customer feedback.

Drive global standards for supplier quality, production quality assurance, testing, and outgoing inspection.

Lead data-driven quality governance, including analytics, risk identification, non-conformance management, and prevention initiatives.

Partner with Engineering, R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, and Customer teams to resolve issues systematically, prevent recurrence, and improve quality performance.

Oversee global quality processes, audits, governance models, and continuous improvement frameworks.

Embed quality early in product and process development through structured planning, APQP/PPAP where…