Customer Quality Specialist

Job Summary:

We are looking for a talented Customer Quality Specialist to join our team for our location in Starkville, MS. In this role, you will serve as the on-site quality lead and primary point of contact for all customer quality matters, providing hands-on, real-time support during engine builds to quickly identify, contain, and resolve quality issues without disrupting production. You will coordinate closely with cross-functional teams across the customer site and plant to ensure timely and effective responses, while also supporting Safe Launch and Value Package Introduction (VPI) activities to confirm product and process readiness. This position plays a critical role in verifying build readiness, driving adherence to IATF 16949, APQP, PPAP, and customer-specific quality requirements, and ensuring customer expectations are consistently met. This role will be onsite in Columbus/Starkville, Mississippi, and requires strong problem-solving skills, clear communication, and a proactive, customer-focused mindset.

In this role, you will make an impact in the following ways: 

• Understanding Customer Expectations: Develops a strong grasp of customer requirements and quality expectations to ensure products and processes align with their needs.
• Resolving Customer Quality Issues: Leads the implementation and closure of action plans for customer concerns, including those related to product performance, supply chain reliability, or internal processes.
• Prioritizing Using Customer‑Centric Metrics: Applies customer-focused quality metrics to identify, evaluate, and prioritize issues that have the greatest impact on the customer experience.
• Building External Relationships: Develops and maintains productive partnerships with external stakeholders and supports the creation of key quality communications; in some cases, communicates directly with customers.
• Driving Process Improvements: Contributes to ongoing improvement initiatives by identifying opportunities, proposing enhancements, and supporting cross-functional efforts to strengthen quality performance.
• Leading Continuous Improvement Work: Identifies problems, prioritizes corrective actions, and leads or participates in Six Sigma or continuous improvement projects to drive measurable results.
• Supporting Quality Strategy Execution: Helps advance the vision and strategic direction of the Customer Quality organization, ensuring alignment with performance metrics, goal tree initiatives, and long-term quality objectives.
• Enhancing Organizational Effectiveness: Collaborates across teams to reinforce best practices, elevate quality standards, and support a culture of accountability and continuous improvement throughout the organization.

To be successful in this role you will need the following: 

• Customer Focus: Builds strong relationships with customers and consistently delivers solutions that reflect their needs, expectations, and long‑term success.
• Action Oriented: Tackles new opportunities and challenging issues with urgency, high energy, and a proactive mindset that keeps work moving forward.
• Collaborative Leadership: Partners effectively across teams and functions, building trusted relationships and aligning others around shared objectives and quality outcomes.
• Effective Communication: Delivers clear, thoughtful, and audience‑appropriate communication across multiple channels, ensuring alignment and shared understanding at every level.
• Quality & Problem‑Solving Expertise: Applies structured problem‑solving methods, data‑driven analysis, and quality planning practices to identify root causes, prevent recurrence, and influence decisions that balance customer, business, and technical priorities.

Education, Licenses, Certifications: 

• College, university, or equivalent degree required, Engineering or a related technical or scientific subject preferred. 
• Green Belt Certification preferred. 
• This position may require licensing for compliance with export controls or sanctions regulations. 

Experience: 

• Minimum of 2 years of relevant experience.

• Serve as the on-site quality lead and primary point of contact for customer quality issues
• Provide real-time support during engine builds to resolve quality issues; lead containment actions to prevent production disruption
• Coordinate cross-functional response between customer site and plant
• Support Safe Launch and Value Package Introduction (VPI) activities
• Verify product and process readiness during builds
• Ensure adherence to IATF 16949, APQP, PPAP, and customer-specific requirements

This role will be onsite in Columbus/Starkville, Mississippi.