Lead Quality Specialist (Inside IR35)

Role - Lead Quality Specialist (Inside IR35)
Location - Rugby 

Candidates either already need SC clearance or need to be able to obtain it 

Lead Production Quality :
Provide day-to-day leadership of the Production Quality organisation
Lead and develop Quality Engineers, Production Inspectors and Receiving Inspection teams
Establish a high-performance culture built around accountability, coaching and continuous improvement
Build capability through objectives, development planning and performance managementDrive Manufacturing Quality : 
Lead and develop Quality Engineers, Production Inspectors and Receiving Inspection teams
Develop and optimise inspection strategies based on product risk
Support production flow by balancing quality assurance with operational efficiency
Own Operational Governance :  • Lead daily production quality governance
• Own GO / NO GO decision-making processes
• Lead Quality Hold governance and escalation
• Drive Layered Process Audit deployment
• Develop standard work and visual management across production

Purpose  :

Leads all production quality activities across manufacturing, ensuring product conformity, inspection effectiveness, governance, customer confidence and operational quality performance

Production Quality : 

• Production quality performance
• Daily quality governance
• Quality resource planning
• Product conformity
• Inspection strategy
• FAT & pre-FAT readiness
• Customer quality interface

Leadership : QE Inspection team
• Receiving Inspection team
• Quality Engineer team
• Apprentices & graduates
• Daily Quality meetings
• Weekly Quality Review
• Monthly RMR Quality Dashboard
• Production RCA weekly review
RMR Customers :
  • FATs
• Production audits
• Production escapes
• Production complaints
• Production recoveries
Continous Improvement :
  • Inspection improvements
• Lean & Kaizen improvements
• Digital Quality reporting systems
• Process automation
• AI innovation
• Lessons learnt
• Mistake Proofing
• Visual Management

Production Quality Manager : Governance and KPI Ownership

Governance :
  • APQP application
• GO / NO GO process
• Quality Hold process
• Layered Process Audits
• Inspection strategy
• Quality Suite & SAP
• Visual Management
• Technical pack adherence
• Escalations
• Global Audit system
• Quality maturity framework
• Calibration
• Quality documentation control KPI Ownership :
  • Customer Escapes
• Internal NCRs
• Product COPQ
• Inspection OTIF
• Inspection Backlog
• Quality Holds
• First Past Yield
• Audit Finding Completion
• Layered Audit Completion
• Calibration Compliance
• Document Compliance
  Expected outcome: visible ownership across customer escapes, internal NCRs, COPQ, inspection delivery, holds, audits, calibration and document control.   Production Quality Manager : Performance and Capability
Operational performance, compliance, experience and career proposition

Delivery Operational Performance 
  • Customer Escapes
• Internal Escapes
• Product COPQ
• Inspection OTIF
• Inspection Backlog
• Quality Holds
• Production Area Audit Completion
• Layered Audit Completion
• Calibration Compliance
• Documentation Compliance

Lead Continuous Improvement
  • Drive Lean Quality initiatives
• Eliminate recurring defects through structured Root Cause Analysis
• Improve process capability and manufacturing robustness
• Introduce digital quality tools and performance reporting
• Reduce waste and non-value-added inspection activity Compliance & Quality Systems 

  • Maintain compliance with the QMS
• Ensure manufacturing processes comply with internal standards and regulatory requirements
• Support audits
• Drive corrective and preventive action implementation

Build Quality into Manufacturing 
  • Partner with Operations to embed quality at source
• Support Engineering during NPI and manufacturing changes
• Improve defect prevention through robust process controls
• Keep inspection risk-based and value focused

What you'll bring

  •Engineering, Manufacturing or Quality degree / equivalent experience
Manufacturing quality leadership.
•UK security clearance.
•Full UK Passport holder.
ISO 9001, RCA, CAPA, Lean and KPI management
Stakeholder management and problem solving

With over 90 years' combined experience, NES Fircroft (NES) is proud to be the world's leading engineering staffing provider spanning the Oil & Gas, Power & Renewables, Chemicals, Construction & Infrastructure, Life Sciences, Mining and Manufacturing sectors worldwide. With more than 80 offices in 45 countries, we are able to provide our clients with the engineering and technical expertise they need, wherever and whenever it is needed. We offer contractors far more than a traditional recruitment service, supporting with everything from securing visas and work permits, to providing market-leading benefits packages and accommodation, ensuring they are safely and compliantly able to support our clients