Advanced Product Quality Engineer - Sr

Job Description

The Advanced Product Quality Engineer (APQE) serves as the quality engineering representative for new product development and is responsible for integrating preventative, risk-based quality practices throughout the product lifecycle.

Working collaboratively with a cross functional design team and internal and external stakeholders, the APQE evaluates product and process risks and provides recommendations that support balanced decisions across quality, cost, schedule, compliance, and producibility.

The APQE engages early in the product lifecycle to develop program quality strategies, implement manufacturability considerations, create verification strategies and identify production risks before they result in defects, delays, post-delivery defects or design changes. This role supports programs from initial planning and design development through qualification, production readiness, and transition into full rate production.

The Operations Strategic Capability Unit plays a fundamental role in enabling efficient business and program execution - from strategic capital investments, industrial operations, and an efficient supply chain to state of the art manufacturing and test operations and top-notch facilities management.

What You'll Do:

• Perform professional technical work that requires in-depth knowledge and diversified application of quality engineering principles, theories, concepts, practices and techniques.
• Champion the design quality process throughout the product design lifecycle ensuring that program targets are defined, entry and exit criteria is established for major program milestones and program quality strategies have been developed and upheld.
• Ensure that design guidelines, process and factory capabilities, and Design for Excellence (DfX) practices are utilized.
• Participate in and influence design reviews and provide design related feedback on engineering models, test plans and other design records.
• Serve as project owner for AS9145 activities, responsible for accomplishing project activities and meeting program objectives.
• Manage product quality by using systems thinking to align stakeholder requirements, design inputs, and manufacturing constraints ensuring process or product changes do not create unintended downstream consequences.
• Establish and maintain the design feedback loop, utilizing historical test and manufacturing data to optimize new product designs and reduce design iterations.
• Analyze complex program and compliance requirements to determine their exact technical impact, proactively aligning internal engineering teams and external stakeholders while advocating for practical, high-impact quality strategies.
• Lead comprehensive risk assessments, providing data driven input to technical risk and opportunity management processes and actively identifying, tracking, and mitigating technical debt.
• Chair the Material Review Board (MRB) for programs with knowledge of dispositions and compliance with customer flowed requirements; track MRB items.
• Maintain a regular and predictable work schedule.
• Establish and maintain effective working relationships within the department, the Strategic Business Units, Strategic Capabilities Units and the Company. Interact appropriately with others in order to maintain a positive and productive work environment.
• Perform other duties as necessary.

On-Site Work Environment: This position requires regular in-person engagement by working on-site five days each normally scheduled week in the primary work location. Travel and local commute between company campuses and other possible non-company locations may be required.

Working Conditions:

• Work is performed in an office, laboratory, production floor, or cleanroom, outdoors or remote research environment.
• May occasionally work in production work centers where use of protective equipment and gear is required.
• May access other facilities in various weather conditions.

Required Education, Experience, & Skills

• BS degree or higher in Engineering or a related technical field is required plus 4 or more years related experience.
• Each higher-level degree, i.e., Master's Degree or Ph.D., may substitute for two years of experience. Related technical experience may be considered in lieu of education. Degree must be from a university, college, or school which is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Secretary of Education, US Department of Education.
• An ownership mindset with demonstrated capability to drive projects from start to finish.
• Knowledge of the Seven Basic Tools of Quality (fishbone diagrams, checklists, control charts, histogram, pareto charts, scatter diagrams, and flow/run charts) and a background using them as a part of their quality experience.
• Participated in or led the transition of programs from concept to full rate production while ensuring product quality is established and maintained.
• Involvement in reviewing, auditing, and validating MBSE/SysML models for completeness, behavioral consistency, and digital traceability to system requirement.
• Experience applying categorization methods and evaluation tools to assess risk such as failure mode and effects analysis.
• Proven ability to interpret specification requirements in relation to product and process characteristics and technical drawings.

#LI-CC2
A security clearance or access with Polygraph is not required to be eligible for this position. However, the applicant must be willing and eligible for submission, depending on program requirements, after an offer is accepted and must be able to maintain the applicable clearance/access.

Preferred Education, Experience, & Skills

• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE).

Pay Information
Full-Time Salary Range: $97008 - $164914

Please note: This range is based on our market pay structures. However, individual salaries are determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to: business considerations, local market conditions, and internal equity, as well as candidate qualifications, such as skills, education, and experience.

Employee Benefits: At BAE Systems, we support our employees in all aspects of their life, including their health and financial well-being. Regular employees scheduled to work 20+ hours per week are offered: health, dental, and vision insurance; health savings accounts; a 401(k) savings plan; disability coverage; and life and accident insurance. We also have an employee assistance program, a legal plan, and other perks including discounts on things like home, auto, and pet insurance. Our leave programs include paid time off, paid holidays, as well as other types of leave, including paid parental, military, bereavement, and any applicable federal and state sick leave. Employees may participate in the company recognition program to receive monetary or non-monetary recognition awards. Other incentives may be available based on position level and/or job specifics.

About BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems
BAE Systems, Inc. is a defense, aerospace, and security company headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, with more than 40,000 employees worldwide. We serve, supply, and protect those who protect us. As one of the most geographically diverse international defense companies, we deliver a full range of products and services spanning air, land, maritime, space, and cyber, including advanced electronics, intelligence solutions, and dedicated customer support.

Our culture is performance-driven and values-led, built on curiosity, creativity, and collaboration. Purpose isn't a tagline here. It's what drives us. We're developing breakthrough technologies that defend national security and make a lasting impact on our communities and our planet. When you join BAE Systems, you're not just building a career. You're contributing to a mission that truly matters.

This position will be posted for at least 5 calendar days. The posting will remain active until the position is filled, or a qualified pool of candidates is identified.