A Product Assurance Engineer is required for a long term contract assignment based out of Bristol or Stevenage (some work from home available).
Applicants will need to have worked in a UK defence engineering environment.
Technical & Domain Expertise
* Defence Standards & Compliance: Strong understanding of AQAP 2105, DEF STANs, AS9100D, and other defence/quality assurance regulations.
* Product Assurance & Quality Planning (QP): Experience developing and implementing Quality Plans (QP), ensuring alignment with contract requirements.
* Risk Management & Analysis: Expertise in risk assessment methodologies (eg, FMEA, DFMEA) to drive informed decision-making.
* Verification & Validation (V&V): Knowledge of test planning, qualification activities, and validation processes for defence-related R&D projects.
* Configuration & Change Management: Understanding of requirements traceability, configuration control, and impact assessment in complex R&D environments.
Responsibilities
1. Leadership in Bid Work & Quality Planning (QP):
o Lead quality assurance input into bid and proposal work, ensuring product assurance requirements are considered from the outset.
o Develop and maintain Quality Plans (QP) aligned with AQAP 2105, tailoring them to the needs of each R&D project.
o Work closely with engineering, programme management, and commercial teams to define achievable quality objectives and constraints during bidding.
o Ensure that quality, compliance, and risk management strategies are embedded in the bid phase to mitigate potential project risks early.
2. Risk-Based Product Assurance & Decision-Making:
o Champion a risk-based approach to product assurance, supporting R&D teams in making informed decisions about acceptable risks.
o Facilitate risk identification workshops, employing methodologies such as FMEA, DFMEA.
o Guide engineering teams in making trade-off decisions between innovation, compliance, and acceptable risk levels.
o Ensure that risk management activities are properly documented and aligned with contractual and regulatory expectations.
3. Design & Development Assurance:
o Ensure compliance with AQAP 2105, leading quality and assurance activities throughout the R&D life cycle.
o Conduct Design Assurance Reviews, ensuring requirements verification and validation against defence standards.
o Drive independent quality assessments to challenge and validate design assumptions, safety margins, and performance criteria.
o Support the definition and execution of verification and validation (V&V) plans, ensuring product reliability and functional integrity.
Leadership & Decision-Making
* Bid & Proposal Engagement: Ability to define quality assurance strategies during bid work, influencing teams to balance innovation, compliance, and risk.
* Risk-Based Decision Making: Ability to guide engineering teams in making trade-offs between acceptable risks, technical feasibility, and compliance.
* Stakeholder Management: Strong skills in influencing senior leadership, engineers, programme managers, and regulatory bodies.
* Supplier & Customer Assurance: Ability to assess supplier quality, review technical documentation, and represent product assurance in customer engagements.
Communication & Reporting
* Technical Writing & Documentation: Ability to write, review, and present risk assessments, quality plans, and compliance reports.
* Presentation & Governance: Experience preparing and delivering assurance reports to executives, customers, and regulatory auditors.
* Cross-Functional Collaboration: Ability to work across engineering, safety, legal, procurement, and programme management teams to ensure alignment.
Problem-Solving & Continuous Improvement
* Root Cause Analysis (RCA) & CAPA: Strong analytical skills to drive problem investigations and corrective/preventive actions (CAPA).
* Process Improvement: Ability to implement lessons learned and best practices in product assurance, ensuring ongoing improvement.
* Adaptability & Critical Thinking: Comfortable navigating uncertainty in R&D, making evidence-based recommendations to reduce risk.
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