Apqp Program Manager Jobs in Dallas, TX (NOW HIRING)

Role Purpose

This role provides leadership for both Quality and Performance Excellence (PEx) at the plant, ensuring products meet customer requirements while driving continuous improvement across manufacturing and business support functions. The position is responsible for maintaining an effective and capable quality system, translating customer needs into robust product and process requirements, and deploying standardized methods that improve safety, quality, delivery, efficiency, and overall business performance. This role also champions a culture of operational excellence through coaching, capability building, data-driven decision-making, and cross-functional collaboration.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and maintain the plant quality system, including quality documentation, records retention, specifications, measurement protocols, and laboratory activities, to ensure compliance with customer and business requirements.
• Drive customer-focused quality performance by responding effectively to complaints, leading root cause and corrective action efforts, serving as the voice of the customer, and ensuring quality issues are resolved permanently.
• Lead Performance Excellence (PEx) deployment across the plant by coaching teams, driving sustainable improvement projects, and implementing standardized methods that improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and employee efficiency.
• Develop, implement, and sustain the plant's PEx roadmap and annual improvement plans in alignment with manufacturing strategies and key business objectives.
• Partner with plant, division, engineering, innovation, program management, and commercial teams to translate customer needs into meaningful product and process requirements, including APQP, control strategies, and launch readiness.
• Support the development of technical and continuous improvement capabilities across the organization through training, coaching, and mentoring in quality tools, Lean, Six Sigma, DMAIC, and related methodologies, including support for Green Belts and Black Belts.
• Provide statistical analysis, process capability evaluation, and data-driven insights to support decision-making, problem solving, risk reduction, and verification of financial impact.
• Lead or support audits, compliance activities, and corrective action processes, ensuring the plant is prepared for customer quality audits and internal quality reviews.
• Manage departmental priorities, budgets, and spending while continuously improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Quality and PEx functions.
• Act as a cross-functional liaison to ensure customer expectations are understood, communicated, and successfully incorporated into operations, product realization, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering or a related technical field required.
• Minimum 4-5 years of experience in process, manufacturing, quality, or engineering roles, with at least 3 years of progressive responsibility in Performance Excellence, continuous improvement, quality, operations, or engineering leadership within a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated experience leading teams, projects, or departments to achieve continuous improvement goals, step-change performance gains, technical capability expansion, innovation, or organizational change.
• Experience using data collection, analysis, and problem-solving tools such as Excel, Minitab, PI, Access, or similar systems.
• Six Sigma certification - Green Belt

Desired Qualifications

• Master's degree in Engineering, Quality, Operations, or a related field.
• Six Sigma certification (Black Belt), PQA, ASQ/ASQC certification, Lean, or equivalent certifications are preferred.
• Experience in roles such as Quality Engineering, Applications Engineering, Supply Chain, Project Management, Operations, or Performance Excellence.
• Experience with process engineering, multiple manufacturing processes, APQP, PPAP, product quality architecture, and launch readiness activities.
• Experience with SPC systems and data analysis tools such as Minitab, JMP, Tableau, or similar platforms.