Quality Assurance Manager

Career Area:

Manufacturing

Job Description:

Your Work Shapes the World at Caterpillar Inc.

When you join Caterpillar, you're joining a global team who cares not just about the work we do – but also about each other. We are the makers, problem solvers, and future world builders who are creating stronger, more sustainable communities. We don't just talk about progress and innovation here – we make it happen, with our customers, where we work and live. Together, we are building a better world, so we can all enjoy living in it.

Role Definition

Oversees the administration, assembly line Quality, training of members, Lean Initiatives execution and continual improvement of quality management systems at a facility level.

Responsibilities

• Developing quality assurance strategies, processes, guidelines and control plans which assure quality and reliability of manufactured products.
• Recruiting, developing, and leading staff to accomplish personal and organizational goals, adhere to policies/procedures and promote a culture of quality right the first time and continuous improvement.
• Communicating adherence to customer requirements, product or service specifications, and ensures that their expectations are met to achieve high customer satisfaction rates.
• Managing process to achieve compliance for internal quality audits and coordinate external on-site audits; analyzing all product development and manufacturing procedures to identify deviations from quality standards and recommend and implement corrective actions.
• Driving change based on data; reviewing reports to review with quality assurance, production, management, and engineering personnel to solve quality issues.
• Manage the team and its responsibilities to ensure Calibration of tools on time, Incoming Quality of parts, Reactive Supplier Quality with no line downtime.
• Manage and continuously improve the content and delivery of training of Operating Technicians to foster a safety and quality culture
• As part of Lean initiatives, generate a plan and execute the Lean Assessment for the facility
  
  

Degree Requirement

Engineering Degree with 14 to 16 years of experience or Engineering Diploma with 16 to 18 years of experience

Skill Descriptors

Planning: Tactical, Strategic: Knowledge of effective planning techniques and ability to contribute to operational (short term), tactical (1-2 years) and strategic (3-5 years) planning in support of the overall business plan.

Level Working Knowledge:

• Contributes to short-term operational plans.
• Anticipates and adapts to plan changes.
• Monitors progress of work against plan as required to meet objectives.
• Reports variances and makes agreed-upon corrections.
• Under guidance, develops tactical plan for own direct responsibility.
  
  

Quality Management: Knowledge of quality management methods, tools, and techniques and ability to create and support an environment that meets the quality goals of the organization.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Interprets results of quantitative and statistical tools and explains results to others.
• Communicates key benefits of a quality management process.
• Conducts and directs quality reviews.
• Develops expertise in quality assurance tools, techniques, and standards.
• Develops quality assurance processes based on Six Sigma, ISO 9000 or Baldrige principles.
• Develops programs for motivating employees to meet or exceed quality goals.
  
  

Collaborating: Knowledge of collaborative techniques; ability to work with a variety of individuals and groups in a constructive and collaborative manner.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Demonstrates experience engendering collaborative processes that lead to problem solving and the achievement of business goals.
• Establishes shared goals to foster collaboration.
• Ensures that everyone can access the same data and provide input into how business is conducted.
• Redesigns physical areas to allow for collaboration and private time.
• Deemphasizes divides; focuses on collaboration across generations, functions, regions, and levels.
• Implements methods for people to come together on the fly to make decisions, solve problems, and develop products/services.
  
  

Influencing: Knowledge of effective influencing tactics and strategies; ability to impact decisions within and outside own organization.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Achieves influence and impact even when holding a position contrary to the majority.
• Discards examples of persuasive arguments lacking substance or impact.
• Leads and presents collaborative assessments that persuasively influence decision makers.
• Advises on techniques to build rapport and commitment to common purpose.
• Determines and leverages the decision-making style of the individual or group being influenced.
• Delivers well-received presentations of cost, benefits, risks, and other considerations.
  
  

Problem Solving: Knowledge of approaches, tools, techniques for recognizing, anticipating, and resolving organizational, operational or process problems; ability to apply knowledge of problem solving appropriately to diverse situations.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Ensures capture of lessons to be learned from a problem-solving effort.
• Organizes potential problem solvers and leads problem resolution efforts.
• Uses varying problem-solving approaches and techniques as appropriate.
• Contributes to standard practices for problem-solving approaches, tools, and processes.
• Analyzes and synthesizes information and devises alternative resolution strategies.
• Develops successful resolutions to critical or wide-impact problems.
  
  

Quality Risk Management: Knowledge of processes, tools, and techniques for Quality Risk Management; ability to implement the quality assurance process of assessment, control, communication, and review of risks to the quality of products.

Level Working Knowledge:

• Documents the key steps of a unit-specific risk management process and associated procedures.
• Explains and analyzes quality indicators and metrics relevant to own unit or function.
• Highlights Quality Risk Management issues throughout the product life cycle.
• Participates in a crisis management team to address quality issues.
• Understands overall business objectives to effectively mitigate risks associated with quality.
  
  

Lean Manufacturing: Knowledge of the philosophy, principles and implementation approaches of lean manufacturing; ability to integrate and implement lean manufacturing philosophy into existing production and management processes.

Level Basic Understanding:

• Cites examples of benefits and risks associated with implementing lean principles.
• Describes basic tools for observing existing processes and identifying waste.
• Cites industry or company examples of successful and unsuccessful lean implementations.
• Identifies key lean principles and highlights of the lean manufacturing process.
  
  

Root Cause Analysis (RCA): Knowledge of the concepts, principles and techniques of root cause analysis (RCA); ability to use a structured approach to identify the causes of undesirable consequences in a manufacturing environment and the changes needed to prevent recurrences.

Level Extensive Experience:

• Investigates a broad range of problems, determines causes, and finds resolutions.
• Recommends candidates for root cause analysis in spite of chaotic organizational conditions.
• Develops corrective action based on RCA results.
• Uses RCA techniques such as Re-enactment, Comparative Re-enactment, Re-construction.
• Guides others to recognize repeat situations even when they are distributed over time or happen to different people.
• Works with a variety of RCA approaches such as safety-based, production-based, process-based, failure-based, and systems-based.
  
  

This Job Description is intended as a general guide to the job duties for this position and is intended for the purpose of establishing the specific salary grade. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as an exhaustive summary of all responsibilities, duties and effort required of employees assigned to this job. At the discretion of management, this description may be changed at any time to address the evolving needs of the organization. It is expressly not intended to be a comprehensive list of “essential job functions” as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Relocation is available for this position.

Posting Dates:

November 25, 2025 - December 4, 2025

Caterpillar is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Qualified applicants of any age are encouraged to apply

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