Group Quality Assurance Manager

Group Quality Assurance Manager at Composition Brands Group Quality Assurance Manager at Composition Brands in Wyoming, Michigan Posted in 9 days ago.

Type:

full-time

Job Description:

Composition Brands is an independent residential kitchen and outdoor living company with a portfolio of premium and ultra-luxury brands including Viking, AGA, Rangemaster, La Cornue, Lynx, and U-Line. With operations across North America and Europe, the company is focused on long-term brand stewardship, thoughtful design, and scalable growth. To learn more, visit www.compositionbrands.com.

Role Summary:

The Group Quality Manager leads the end-to-end global quality strategy across all appliance platforms, manufacturing sites, suppliers, and contract manufacturing partners. This role ensures product safety, regulatory compliance, reliability, and a consistent premium customer experience while reducing warranty costs and protecting brand reputation in high-volume, long-life products. Serving as the global leader for appliance quality strategy, this position oversees mechanical, electrical, electronic, thermal, and software-related quality throughout the full product lifecycle - from concept development through field performance - across refrigeration, cooking, ventilation, and dishwashing product categories. This role reports directly to the President and is based in the Atlanta, GA area, with approximately 30-50% travel to domestic and international manufacturing sites, suppliers, and contract manufacturing partners.

Responsibilities:

Quality Strategy & Governance Define and deploy a global quality strategy for major appliances aligned with brand, safety, cost, and reliability objectives. Establish standardized quality policies, procedures, and KPIs across all regions and platforms. Act as executive escalation owner for product safety incidents, regulatory actions, recalls, and field campaigns. Lead management reviews and risk assessments at executive level. Quality Management Systems & Regulatory Compliance Own and govern the group QMS aligned appliance-specific requirements. Ensure compliance with

UL, CSA, IEC, CE, NOM, DOE

energy efficiency, EPA refrigerant regulations, and regional safety standards. Lead internal, external, customer, and certification audits, as needed. Ensure effective CAPA systems and sustained corrective actions. Product Development & Design Quality Partner with R D to embed design-for-quality, design-for-reliability, and design-for-compliance. Govern DFMEA, DVP&R, reliability testing, HALT/HASS, and validation plans. Ensure robust design transfer and quality gates from concept through SOP. Approve product and engineering changes impacting safety, performance, or compliance. Manufacturing & Process Quality Standardize quality processes across major appliance assembly lines, including: Critical-to-safety and critical-to-quality characteristics SPC and process capability for key operations Functional, safety, and end-of-line testing Drive defect prevention through error-proofing, in-line controls, and layered process audits. Support new factory launches, line transfers, and capacity expansions. Supplier & Component Quality Define supplier quality standards for critical major appliance components including compressors, sealed systems, gas components, heaters, motors, PCBs, wiring harnesses, insulation, coatings, and structural parts. Oversee supplier qualification, audits, and ongoing performance. Partner with Sourcing to mitigate supply risk and manage supplier change control. Lead resolution of high-risk supplier quality issues. Customer Quality, Field Performance & Warranty Own customer quality metrics including warranty claims, field failures, service call rates, and repeat repairs. Partner with Service, Field Operations, and Retail partners to analyze failure trends. Lead structured root cause analysis and corrective actions for systemic issues. Drive continuous reduction of warranty cost and field campaigns. Cost of Poor Quality & Continuous Improvement Establish and manage Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) across plants and suppliers. Lead cross-functional initiatives to reduce scrap, rework, returns, and warranty expense. Deploy Lean Six Sigma and reliability engineering methodologies.

Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related) 12+ years of quality leadership in major appliance or durable consumer goods manufacturing Strong knowledge of regulations and certification processes Proven success reducing warranty and field failure costs. Ability to lead global, cross-functional teams. Proven ability to influence, manage teams, and deliver change. New product development and release readiness experience. Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent preferred. Experience leading recalls, field campaigns, or regulatory investigations preferred. Experience in global manufacturing and sourcing environments preferred. Experience in lean transformation and development of engaged workforce culture preferred. Reliability testing experience preferred. Experience in sheet metal fabrication, paint, welding, final assembly preferred. Composition Brands is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EOE/M/F/Vets/Disabled) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants.