How does it feel to work on a team driven to make a big impact? Empowering. The Principal Quality Engineer for Design & Operations Quality is a critical leadership role dedicated to ensuring the highest standards of quality for our advanced weapons systems. By bridging the gap between initial design and final production, this role directly contributes to BAE Systems' mission of protecting those who protect us. Through the application of "Right-First-Time" development and continuous improvement, the Principal Quality Engineer ensures that our products meet stringent contractual requirements and achieve customer expectations. This role is pivotal in mitigating program and technical risk, optimizing manufacturing processes, and maintaining the company's reputation for engineering excellence and operational integrity. Key Responsibilities Strategic Project & Quality Management • End-to-End Oversight: Lead Quality Assurance activities for transition to production efforts of moderate complexity, ensuring all technical, performance, and quality requirements are met. • Cross-Functional Coordination: Synchronize quality activities across: • Design Quality: Partner with engineering to embed quality into requirements, design reviews, and validation/verification activities to drive defect prevention. • Production Quality: Directly interface with operations. Support the reporting and troubleshooting of manufacturing deviations and ensure corrective actions are implemented and sustainable. Drive optimization of processes. • Procurement Quality: Oversee supplier non-conformances and issues. • Proposal Development: Support Program Quality with input to quality-specific portions of technical proposals, including influencing the statement of work and developing basis of estimates. • Risk Mitigation: Identify and mitigate program and product level quality risks, ensuring a consistent approach to product and process excellence. Stakeholder Liaison & Governance • Customer Interface: Work directly with Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to foster a collaborative, partnering relationship and resolve corrective actions. • Quality Management System: Ensure programs align with the organization’s Quality Management System (QMS), ensuring consistent application of processes, documentation, and reporting. • Compliance Management: Collaborate with program stakeholders to validate and ensure full compliance with contractual, customer, and regulatory quality standards (AS9100/ISO) across the entire program lifecycle. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement • Culture Change Agent: Drive a culture of "Right-First-Time" development by leveraging APQP Core Tools, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS), and Lean methodologies. • Root Cause Excellence: Lead/Facilitate investigations, using structured root cause analysis, to identify true causes of issues and implement effective corrective and preventive actions. • Metrics Performance: Support Program Quality with the management of quality program-level metrics to monitor quality health. Identify improvement opportunities and ensure the sustainment of improvements is aligned with business objectives. Technical Engineering Oversight • Technical Review: Conduct detailed drawing reviews and interpret fundamental GD&T to ensure producibility and quality. • Test Validation: Support development of test plans and participate in qualification and first article inspection/testing. • Product Transition: Ensure seamless transition from engineering development to full-scale production. Partner with manufacturing teams to optimize processes, reduce risk, and maintain compliance with customer and government requirements. • Inspection: Oversight of receiving, in-process and final inspections.