Principal Engineer Quality
Northrop GrummanAbout the role
Description
At Northrop Grumman, our employees have incredible opportunities to work on revolutionary systems that impact people's lives around the world today, and for generations to come. Our pioneering and inventive spirit has enabled us to be at the forefront of many technological advancements in our nation's history - from the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean, to stealth bombers, to landing on the moon. We look for people who have bold new ideas, courage and a pioneering spirit to join forces to invent the future, and have fun along the way. Our culture thrives on intellectual curiosity, cognitive diversity and bringing your whole self to work — and we have an insatiable drive to do what others think is impossible. Our employees are not only part of history, they're making history.Northrop Grumman Mission Systems is seeking a talented Principal Engineer Quality to join our team based out of Baltimore, MD.
What you'll get to do:
Develop, modify, apply, and maintain quality evaluation, control systems, and protocols for processing materials into semi-finished or finished products.
Partner with engineering and manufacturing to establish and uphold quality standards.
Design, analyze, and implement inspection and testing processes and equipment; conduct quality assurance tests, perform statistical analyses to determine cost and responsibility for non-conforming parts.
Audit quality systems, identify deficiencies, and drive corrective actions that meet reliability and documentation requirements; plan, conduct, report, and follow‑up on audits to ensure compliance and continual process improvement.
Identify and remove barriers to quality improvement through root‑cause analysis and corrective‑action planning.
Review contracts/SOWs/drawings to evaluate, interpret and apply company policies, ISO 9000, AS9102, MIL, IPC, and other standards applicable to designs and processes.
Interface with production‑floor roles (inspection, assembly, operations) and communicate clearly with all stakeholders.
Define, classify, and control quality characteristics for products, processes, and services; develop and validate control plans and work‑instruction updates.
Manage nonconformances across the facility; lead cross‑functional containments to ensure product compliance.
Create, use and interpret quality‑control tools (flowcharts, Pareto, control charts) and construct/interpret FMEAs.
Interpret technical drawings and specifications, including GD&T symbols, to verify compliance with design requirements
Apply benchmarking techniques to drive system‑wide quality improvements.
Facilitate team collaboration with brainstorming, conflict‑resolution, and other facilitation tools.
Specialize as needed in design, incoming material, production control, product evaluation, reliability, inventory control, or R&D as they apply to product or process quality.
The ideal candidate must be able to communicate written and verbally in a team environment with the ability to mentor other employees.
Basic Qualifications for the Principal Engineer Quality:
Bachelor of Science Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field with a minimum of 5 years of engineering experience in Quality, Manufacturing, Process, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineering field of work performing technical job functions which can include investigating failures and identifying root causes; Master's Degree in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) field with a minimum of 3 years of engineering experience in Quality, Manufacturing, Process, Electrical, or Mechanical Engineering field of work performing technical job functions which can include investigating failures and identifying root causes.
Experience with Data Analytics and Statistical Analysis methods and techniques.
Ability to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
US Citizenship required.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Microelectronics.
Experience in at least one of the following standards (IPC, J-Std, MIL-STD)
Experience with ISO9001 or AS9100 Quality Management System and AS9102 First Article Inspections (FAI).
Green/Black Belt Certified in Lean Six-sigma.
Certified in Lean and Six-Sigma methodologies.
Certified auditor.
Experi
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