Quality Manager Manufacturing & Product Quality

Quality Manager | Manufacturing & Product Quality

Cleveland, Ohio | On-Site | Full-Time | Direct Hire

About the Opportunity

Ashton North is partnering with an established, growing manufacturer in the Cleveland area to identify an experienced Quality Manager who enjoys being directly involved in manufacturing operations, developing people, and delivering measurable improvements.

This organization has experienced significant growth and continues to strengthen its manufacturing processes, quality practices, and operational capabilities.

We're looking for someone who understands that quality isn't just about audits, documentation, or meeting standards. It's about being present in manufacturing, identifying problems, working with people to solve them, and making sure improvements become part of how the business operates every day.

This is a hands-on leadership opportunity for someone who enjoys both the technical and people sides of manufacturing quality.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of approximately 5 to 6 Quality Engineers, with additional quality technicians supporting manufacturing operations.

• Work directly with manufacturing, engineering, and operations teams to identify and resolve product quality issues.

• Spend approximately 50 to 60% of your time engaged with production teams and manufacturing processes.

• Drive measurable improvements in scrap, material review board (MRB) activity, nonconformances, and corrective action closure times.

• Lead root cause investigations using structured problem-solving methodologies such as 5 Why, 8D, and FMEA.

• Establish consistent quality metrics, reporting practices, communication routines, and accountability across manufacturing operations.

• Develop and improve product quality processes, documentation, and controls to support consistent manufacturing performance.

• Partner with engineering and operations on new product introductions and manufacturing process improvements.

• Support customer quality requirements, complaint resolution, and product acceptance activities.

• Identify opportunities to strengthen manufacturing quality through continuous improvement and practical process changes.

• Help build a quality culture where problems are addressed, corrective actions are completed, and improvements are sustained.

What We're Looking For

• Experience leading manufacturing quality teams, preferably including Quality Engineers and Quality Technicians.

• Strong background in product quality, manufacturing quality engineering, or production quality management.

• Experience in aerospace, automotive, medical device, or other technically demanding manufacturing environments.

• A technical or engineering-related degree, or a combination of relevant technical education and substantial industrial experience.

• Demonstrated results improving scrap, nonconformances, production quality, or corrective action effectiveness.

• Experience using structured root cause analysis and corrective action methodologies.

• Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, quality controls, and process improvement.

• Ability to work effectively with production personnel, engineers, and operational leadership.

• Experience developing team members, establishing accountability, and improving communication.

• Comfortable working in a growing, evolving manufacturing environment where flexibility and personal initiative are important.

Experience That Would Be Particularly Valuable

• Injection molding, molding, plastics, composites, or mechanically oriented manufacturing processes.

• Experience implementing or improving manufacturing inspection systems, process controls, or manufacturing execution systems (MES).

• Familiarity with Power BI, SQL, or other tools used to visualize manufacturing quality performance.

• Experience with PPAP, APQP, FMEA, and configuration or change management.

• Lean manufacturing, Kaizen, or Six Sigma experience.

• Quality certifications such as CQE, CQM, or Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.

• Experience in highly regulated manufacturing environments with demanding customer quality expectations.

What Success Looks Like

The right person will establish clear expectations and communication across the quality team, strengthen manufacturing quality processes, and create more consistent execution.

Success will be measured through improvements in scrap, nonconformances, MRB performance, corrective action closure times, team effectiveness, and customer quality performance.

Just as importantly, this person will help ensure that improvements aren't temporary fixes but become repeatable, sustainable practices.

Why This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to make a meaningful impact within a growing manufacturing organization.

You'll have the chance to develop a quality engineering team, influence manufacturing performance, and help establish the processes and practices that support the next stage of the organization's growth.

If you're a quality leader who enjoys being on the manufacturing floor, solving challenging problems, and seeing the results of your work, we'd welcome a conversation.

Ashton North, LLC is managing this search on a confidential basis. Additional company information will be shared with qualified candidates at the appropriate stage of the recruiting process.