Head of Quality in Minneapolis, Minnesota at Detector Electronics LLC
Job Description
Det-Tronics is a global technology leader in industrial life safety, delivering advanced flame and gas detection, automation control and hazard mitigation solutions that help save lives, protect valuable assets and safeguard critical operations. With more than 50 years of experience, we serve mission-critical environments across offshore and onshore energy, gas turbines, clean energy, and industrial and defense markets. Our engineering expertise, rigorously tested products and global service capabilities help customers address complex safety challenges in some of the world’s most demanding environments. At Det-Tronics, our work has a clear purpose: advancing life safety technology to protect people, preserve assets and support reliable operations around the world.
The OpportunityLead quality where product performance has a direct impact on safety—and help shape what quality can become. As Head of Quality and a member of the Senior Leadership Team, you will set the quality strategy for Det-Tronics, develop a strong organization and bring fresh thinking to how we prevent problems, learn and make decisions.
This role combines strategic leadership with hands-on engagement across supplier, manufacturing and product quality and the quality management system. Bring your curiosity and enjoy the challenge of modernizing how quality works: simplify processes, connect data and put digital and AI tools to practical use. You will build capability across the business and help teams reach sound decisions faster.
Key ResponsibilitiesQuality Strategy and Team Leadership- Translate business objectives into a quality strategy, annual operating plan, budget and resource priorities; deliver measurable results aligned with long-term growth goals.
- Lead, coach and develop the quality team; set clear expectations, strengthen technical and leadership capability, and build succession and development plans.
- Partner with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Product Management and Service to embed quality into daily decisions and resolve competing priorities.
- Own the organization’s quality training strategy in partnership with HR and functional leaders; identify skill gaps and develop role-based learning for onboarding, qualification and ongoing development.
- Create and deliver practical training, digital learning and job aids on quality standards, procedures, problem solving and new tools; coach and verify effectiveness through demonstrated skills and performance improvements.
- Own and continuously improve the quality management system, aligning standardized processes with business needs, ISO 9001 requirements and applicable customer, regulatory and approval agency requirements.
- Lead management reviews and internal and external quality audits; ensure findings are addressed promptly and corrective actions are effective and sustained.
- Strengthen document control, process discipline, traceability, change control and risk management; partner with Engineering and Approvals to maintain product compliance.
- Improve incoming material quality and production first-pass yield; reduce defects, scrap, rework and Cost of Poor Quality through disciplined analysis and improvement projects.
- Provide leadership for supplier qualification, performance management and development in partnership with Supply Chain; ensure effective supplier corrective actions and new part qualification.
- Oversee nonconforming material controls, Material Review Board processes, inspection strategies and corrective and preventive action; verify root causes and prevent recurrence.
- Partner with Engineering and Operations throughout new product development and sustaining activities to address quality risks, establish appropriate quality controls and support production readiness.
- Lead timely containment, investigation and resolution of customer quality issues; communicate clearly with customers and internal stakeholders and turn field and warranty findings into preventive action.
- Reduce warranty costs and repeat issues while improving customer experience, loyalty and relevant feedback measures, including Net Promoter Score.
- Promote a proactive quality culture through Lean and Six Sigma methods, practical problem solving and shared accountability for process and product excellence.
- Establish and review quality dashboards covering first-pass yield, supplier defects, customer complaints, warranty performance, corrective action effectiveness and Cost of Poor Quality.
- Use data to prioritize improvements, validate results and communicate progress, risks and business impact to the Senior Leadership Team.
- Lead a practical digital quality roadmap with IT and business partners; connect quality data, simplify workflows and automate routine reporting so teams can focus on prevention and faster decisions.
- Pilot and scale AI tools for applications such as trend detection, analysis of customer and supplier issues, knowledge retrieval and training content development; validate outputs and measure improvements in speed, quality and usability.
- Be a visible role model for digital adoption: use the tools yourself, encourage experimentation and coach teams to build confidence while protecting data and maintaining human accountability for quality decisions.
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, quality, manufacturing or a related technical discipline.
- 10 or more years of progressive quality experience in manufacturing, including at least 5 years leading quality teams and improvement initiatives.
- Demonstrated leadership across quality management systems, manufacturing quality, supplier quality and customer issue resolution in a technically complex or regulated product environment.
- Experience owning or leading an ISO 9001 quality management system, audits, management reviews and corrective action processes.
- Proven results improving first-pass yield, reducing Cost of Poor Quality and warranty costs, and strengthening customer satisfaction.
- Strong working knowledge of root cause analysis, CAPA, 8D, FMEA, statistical process control, process capability and measurement system analysis.
- Ability to develop people, lead organizational training and influence cross-functional teams; strong judgment, clear communication and a customer-focused approach.
- Experience translating business priorities into plans, budgets, resource decisions and measurable performance goals.
- Demonstrated ability to modernize quality processes using digital tools, analytics or automation, with curiosity and practical judgment about applying AI.
- Experience with industrial fire and gas detection, life safety products, instrumentation, electronics or electromechanical manufacturing.
- Familiarity with product certification, functional safety and approval agency requirements relevant to industrial safety products.
- Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt, ASQ quality certification, or comparable demonstrated expertise.
- Experience with APQP, PPAP, first article inspection, supplier audits and quality planning for new products.
- Experience supporting global customers or suppliers and using ERP systems, Minitab, Excel or Power BI for quality analysis and reporting.
- Experience implementing digital QMS workflows, automated dashboards or AI-enabled quality improvements, with measurable benefits and effective user adoption.
Bring your ideas, curiosity and leadership to products that help protect lives. Work directly with senior leaders and technical teams to build skills across the organization, experiment with better ways of working and turn digital tools into meaningful improvements. This is an opportunity to make quality simpler, smarter and more engaging—and help others do the same.
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