Director of Quality

Modus Advanced, Inc.

Location: Livermore, CA (headquarters) with regular travel to Carlsbad, CA (approximately 25%)

Salary: $170,000–$210,000, plus annual bonus eligibility

Position Type: Full-Time (M-F), Salary, Exempt

Reports To: Chief Operating Officer

Direct Reports: Sr. Quality Engineers, Quality Engineers, and Quality Inspectors across both sites

Position Overview

Join the Modus Advanced team as Director of Quality and own the system that makes everything else possible: the quality management system that earns our customers' trust and keeps their products moving. You will lead quality across our Livermore and Carlsbad sites during a period of 20–25% annual growth.

At Modus Advanced, one day matters. Our components go into patient life-support systems, defense platforms, and spacecraft where failure is not an option. We hold AS9100, ISO 9001, and ITAR and treat those certifications as a floor, not a ceiling. This is a build role, not a caretaker role. Your job is to build the systems, staffing, and workflows that let quality keep pace with production, so that parts move through inspection on time and quality is never the reason a customer waits.

What Success Looks Like

Within your first year, both sites operate under one unified QMS, quality metrics are visible and acted on at every level, and customer escapes are trending down. Just as important, inspection throughput keeps pace with the shop: work-in-process does not pile up at quality, first article and final inspection turnaround times are measured and met, and the quality team is staffed, cross-trained, and scheduled to support on-time delivery rather than gate it.

The key differentiator from a Senior Quality Engineer: A Senior Quality Engineer designs quality strategy and leads complex investigations. You set direction for quality across the company, build the team and the systems that execute it, own the budget, and represent Modus to customers and registrars at the executive level. You are not the bottleneck through which every decision flows; you build the capacity so decisions are made well without you. You are accountable for outcomes, not activities.

Key Responsibilities

Quality Systems

• Own the QMS across both sites (AS9100, ISO 9001, customer-specific requirements); serve as management representative and lead registrar and customer audits

• Design the inspection workflow, capacity model, and scheduling that move parts through quality at the pace production requires; own inspection turnaround time and quality-caused delivery delays as core metrics

• Own internal audits, management review, and the CAPA system; hold department leaders accountable for closure

• Own company quality metrics (escapes, cost of poor quality, first-pass yield, inspection cycle time) and make them actionable

• Lead advanced quality planning for new programs (APQP, FMEA, control plans, contract requirements flow-down) and own supplier quality

Team Leadership

• Build and develop the quality organization across both sites: Sr. Quality Engineers, Quality Engineers, Quality Inspectors, and team leads

• Build the systems that run the team without you: clear ownership, delegated disposition authority, cross-training, and standard work so throughput does not depend on any one person

• Set scorecards and progression paths consistent with the Modus Expectations Framework; hire and coach for Peakuilibrium

• Own the quality budget, including metrology capital, calibration, and software, and report performance to the leadership team with clear priorities

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering on DFM, process validation, and capability so quality is built in, not inspected in

• Partner with Operations to make quality practical on a high-mix, low-volume floor with frequent changeovers

• Partner with Sales and Sales Engineering on quote-stage quality requirements review so we commit only to what we can deliver

• Represent Modus at the executive level with Partnership Accounts on escapes and corrective action commitments

Required Qualifications

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, or a related technical field

• 10+ years in precision manufacturing quality, including 5+ years leading a quality function with direct reports and budget ownership

• Aerospace, defense, space, or medical device experience required; multi-site and high-mix, low-volume experience strongly preferred

• At least one full AS9100 certification cycle as management representative

• Must be a U.S. Person as defined under ITAR

Technical Skills and Certifications

• Expert in AS9100, ISO 9001, and AS9102; working knowledge of ISO 13485 and of ITAR, DFARS, and CMMC requirements for quality records

• Working knowledge of CMM and advanced metrology; experience building quality workflows in an ERP or QMS platform

• Expert in 8D, DMAIC, CAPA, APQP, FMEA, SPC, and process capability; reads advanced GD&T

• ASQ CMQ/OE or CQE and AS9100 lead auditor strongly preferred; Six Sigma Black Belt preferred

Leadership Attributes

• Systems thinker who builds structures that scale rather than fixes that hold until the next problem

• Executive presence with customers, registrars, and the leadership team

• Balances uncompromising standards with the realities of a fast-growing shop floor; understands that quality which slows delivery without adding assurance is a failure of the system, not a feature of it

• Thrives where processes are still catching up to the business; owns outcomes, not explanations

Physical Requirements

• Manufacturing environment with varying temperatures, noise, and chemical exposure with appropriate PPE

• Approximately 25% travel between Livermore and Carlsbad, plus occasional customer and supplier visits

• Extended standing and walking during audits and floor engagement; ability to lift up to 25 pounds

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary with annual bonus eligibility

• Health, dental, and vision insurance; 401(k) with company match; paid time off and holiday pay

• Professional development, certification support, and tuition reimbursement

• A seat at the leadership table as a $35M company becomes a $55M company, with the mandate and budget to build the quality function the right way

• Direct collaboration with a deep engineering team (more than 10% of Modus staff) across CNC machining, form-in-place gasket dispensing, converting, and coatings

Our Commitment to Excellence

At Modus Advanced, quality is not a department and it is not a checkpoint. It is the discipline that keeps a defect from reaching a patient and the system that keeps parts moving to the customers who depend on them. If you have built quality systems that scale and teams that deliver, and want to do it at a company where one day matters, we want to talk to you.

Ready to lead quality at Modus Advanced? Apply today.

Modus Advanced is an equal opportunity employer. This position requires access to ITAR-controlled technical data; candidates must be U.S. Persons as defined under 22 CFR 120.62.