Calibration Lab Manager Jobs in Austin, TX (NOW HIRING)

We are seeking a visionary leader for the Quality Engineering organization. You will define and deploy the comprehensive quality strategy for our advanced operations, owning the end-to-end quality lifecycle from early development through high-volume production. You will establish the quality management system, build the team, and create the standards and systems that ensure our advanced hardware products meet the highest quality bar.

This is a high-development environment that's evolving rapidly. You will hire and develop a multi-disciplinary team of Quality Control Engineers, Supplier Quality Engineers, Metrology specialists, and Quality Technicians embedded across the product lifecycle.
Key job responsibilities
Quality Systems & Standards
- Build the Quality Management System (QMS) from the ground up, define quality policies, procedures, control plans, and inspection standards that scale from pilot through high-volume production.

- Develop and maintain quality control plans for all processes, right-sized for both pilot line development and high-volume operations.
- Establish standards and processes for Incoming Quality Control (IQC), in-process inspection, and final product acceptance. Define sampling plans, inspection methods, and escalation protocols.

- Own the Material Review Board (MRB) process, assess, disposition, and manage non-conforming material, escapes, and quarantines with clear data-driven decision making.
- Implement and manage quality data systems for tracking defects, yields, escapes, and corrective actions. Use data to identify trends, drive improvements, and report quality performance to leadership.

Design & Process Quality
- Coordinate and facilitate Design FMEAs (DFMEAs) and Process FMEAs (PFMEAs) during product and process development. Ensure cross-functional participation and rigorous risk assessment.
- Influence product and process designs through data-driven arguments, provide quantitative feedback on manufacturability, process capability, tolerance stack-ups, and quality risk to design teams.

- Ensure designs and production processes are entitled to meet quality standards before production release. Lead quality readiness for New Product Introductions (NPI), driving design-for-quality and design-for-inspection principles early in the development cycle.
- Define and execute measurement system analysis (MSA), process capability studies (Cpk/Ppk), and validation protocols to qualify new products and processes.

Supplier Quality & Incoming Quality Control
- Lead the Supplier Quality Engineering function, ensure suppliers complete Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) and meet our quality requirements before parts are released for production.
- Set and enforce IQC standards for all incoming materials and components. Define inspection plans, sampling strategies, and acceptance criteria based on part criticality and supplier performance history.

- Manage supplier quality performance through scorecards, corrective action requests (SCARs/8Ds), and periodic business reviews. Drive supplier improvement and development.
- Lead first article inspection (FAI) and qualification processes for new supplier parts, engineering changes, and sourcing transitions.

- Collaborate with Supply Chain and Process Engineering to assess and mitigate supplier quality risks for new product introductions.
Metrology Lab & Measurement Systems
- Own and operate the metrology lab, manage CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) programming, optical measurement systems, gauge calibration, and precision measurement capabilities.
- Ensure measurement systems are validated (MSA/Gage R&R) and capable of detecting variation at the level required by product specifications.

- Provide metrology support to product development, process engineering, and supplier quality teams for dimensional analysis, root cause investigations, and process capability studies.
- Maintain calibration programs for all production gauges, fixtures, and measurement equipment in compliance with quality standards.
Operations Quality & Root Cause Analysis
- Own quality performance in production, quality technicians execute the control plan, partner with the operations team, and escalate non-conformances through established mechanisms.

- Drive rigorous root cause analysis (RCA) using structured methodologies (8D, 5-Why, Fishbone, fault tree) for internal defects, customer escapes, and supplier quality issues.
- Aggressively manage the escape and quarantine process, rapidly assess impact, contain affected product, govern quarantine inventory, determine disposition, and implement corrective/preventive actions to prevent recurrence.
- Establish quality metrics (DPPM, first pass yield, scrap reduction, escape rate, cost of poor quality) and drive continuous improvement through data analysis and cross-functional problem solving.

- Partner with other teams as their quality interface - ensuring production teams have the quality support, data, and feedback loops to deliver product at standard.
Team Building & Leadership
- Hire and develop the best: build the Quality Engineering organization from the ground up, Quality Control Engineers, Supplier Quality Engineers, Metrology specialists, and Quality Technicians.
- Manage team structure and operating model to support both development (FMEA facilitation, design reviews, qualification) and sustained production (inspection, RCA, MRB, continuous improvement).

- Create training programs for quality technicians on inspection methods, measurement equipment, control plan execution, and non-conformance reporting. Additionally, develop and deliver quality awareness training for operations and production staff to promote best practices, defect recognition, and quality accountability on the production floor.
- Champion a "built right first time" quality philosophy.

Foster a culture of data-driven decision making, relentless root cause analysis, and proactive quality prevention. Integrate quality into the company culture - not just within your team but across operations, process engineering, and design, ensuring quality awareness and accountability are embedded at every level. .