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Director, Quality

Airbus Americas · Columbus, MS

Level
Director+
Team
Quality
Degree
Required
Experience asked
4+ years
Industry
Aerospace & defense
Posted
Yesterday

The role in 30 seconds

A director-level quality role at Airbus Americas (aerospace & defense) in Columbus, MS. In this high-visibility leadership role, you will direct a team of quality professionals across logistics, assembly, component repair, and final conformity.

They ask for
4+ years · degree required
Tools it names
Lean, Kaizen, Root cause, AS9100, Assembly lines, SAP
Day to day
some off-shift / weekend coverage

Read from the posting. The full description is below.

From the plant jobs report · week of October 19, 2026

Quality Engineer roles in Mississippi: typical posted base $71k–$105k.

Median of the low and high ends of 3 live postings that list pay, out of 8 quality engineer openings in Mississippi, read from manufacturers' own careers sites.

Mississippi plant jobs report →Pay by team and state →What moves pay →

How this role compares

Against 7 other live quality postings in Mississippi.

Experience asked
More than usual (4+ vs 3+)

Similar roles usually ask 3+ years.

Skills these teams ask for most

  • ✓ Root cause 63%
  • ✓ AS9100 63%
  • ISO 9001 63%
  • ✓ Lean 38%
  • ✓ New product launch 38%
  • ✓ Team leadership 38%

✓ = this posting asks for it too. % = share of similar postings that mention it.

It asks for 4+ years. If you're close, apply anyway: requirements are a wish list. Talk to someone doing this work there first.

At a glance

Off-shift / weekend coverageTraining programPromotion path mentioned

Pulled from the posting text. If it's not listed here, the posting didn't say.

How to get in at this plant

Five moves over a week or two. The first one takes ten minutes.

  1. 1

    Pick 2–3 people on the Quality team at Airbus Americas

    Engineers who joined in the last year or two reply the most. Use the team search on this page to find them.

  2. 2

    Send a short, curious note

    One real question about their work. No favors yet. Each person gets a different note, written for this role.

  3. 3

    Turn a reply into a short call

    Questions worth asking about this team:

    • What does a normal week look like on your team?
    • Which standards drive the work here: ISO 13485, IATF 16949, AS9100?
    • How much of the job is customer complaints versus prevention?
    • How does off-shift and weekend coverage work?
    • How did you land the job? What stood out in your interviews?
  4. 4

    Apply with someone vouching for you

    If the call went well, ask whether they’d pass your résumé to the hiring manager. Send your résumé link, apply that day, and let them know.

  5. 5

    Bring proof to the interview

    One page of before-and-after numbers from projects you led: scrap, OEE, cycle time, cost. Plant managers hire on results.

This plant: Airbus Americas in Columbus

1 other open role at this site.

Full description from Airbus AmericasAs posted on their careers site.Show

Qualifications

Build and finance comprehensive onboarding and recurrent training programs covering aviation safety, specialized processes (NDI, composites, dynamic components), and regulatory requirements.

Show full description ↓
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Job Description

Are you ready to steer quality operations for a global leader in vertical flight?

Airbus Helicopters is seeking a visionary, results-oriented Site Quality Director to lead our site-level Quality Management System (QMS) and daily operational integrity. Reporting directly to the VP of Quality, you will serve as the operational anchor for aviation safety, manufacturing excellence, and regulatory compliance across FAA, EASA, TCCA, and AS9100 standards.

In this high-visibility leadership role, you will direct a team of quality professionals across logistics, assembly, component repair, and final conformity. We are looking for a strategic change-maker who can embed a "First Time Right" mindset, harmonize site practices with global Airbus standards, and bridge the gap between engineering, regulatory bodies, and frontline operations.

Your working environment

On the eastern border of Mississippi you’ll find Columbus, home to our Helicopter manufacturing and assembly lines and Center of Excellence for the entire North America region. It’s here that we produce the UH-72A Lakota Helicopters for the U.S. Army in addition to the H-125 aircraft for civil and commercial customers.

How we care for you

  • •Financial Rewards: Competitive base salary, incentive compensation which may include profit sharing schemes, retirement savings plan and the ability to participate in an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”)
  • •Work/Life Balance: Paid time off including personal time, holidays and a generous paid parental leave program.
  • •Health & Welfare: Comprehensive insurance coverage including medical (traditional and high-deductible health plans), prescription, dental, vision, life, disability, Employee Assistance Plan (“EAP”) and other supplemental benefit coverages.
  • •Individual Development: Upskilling and development opportunities through our global Leadership University, including unlimited access to 10,000+ e-learning courses focusing on ways to develop your employability, certifications, career path as well as the opportunity to participate in accelerated development programmes and both national and international mobility.

Your Challenges

  • •Sustain Regulatory & Quality Certifications: Maintain, uphold, and expand site compliance for FAA, EASA, and TCCA repair station and production certificates, certified personnel, and AS9100 QMS credentials.
  • •Drive Executive QMS Governance: Administer the site Quality Management System, collaborating directly with the Executive Committee to embed strategic quality objectives into the business planning cycle.
  • •Standardize Operational Inspections: Supervise and enforce rigorous inspection standards across supply chain, logistics, receiving, in-process assembly, quality gates, and final aircraft conformity for components, aerostructures, and rotorcraft.
  • •Mitigate Quality Escapes & Risk: Identify and eliminate operational and airworthiness risks to safeguard customer flight safety, business continuity, delivery schedules, and operating costs.
  • •Lead and Develop Personnel: Directly manage, mentor, and evaluate a team of 3–5 exempt supervisors/engineers and 10–25 non-exempt inspectors, directing career progression, staffing, and technical competence.
  • •Establish & Track SQCDP KPIs: Implement robust enterprise metrics tracking Safety, Quality, Cost, Delivery, and People (SQCDP) to systematically capture non-conformances, process capability, and customer complaints.
  • •Manage Financials & Quality Budget: Direct departmental budgeting, manage financial forecasts, analyze cost variances, and allocate capital for advanced measurement tools, calibration, and ergonomic work environments.
  • •Execute Root Cause & Corrective Action (RCCA): Drive practical problem solving (PPS), Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA), and structured RCCA workflows to resolve manufacturing anomalies and prevent recurrence.
  • •Harmonize Global Airbus Standards: Coordinate with international Airbus Helicopters facilities to standardize quality procedures, digital architectures, and enterprise systems (including SAP, MES, and non-conformance portals).
  • •Champion Safety and "First Time Right" Culture: Spearhead a proactive, psychological safety culture anchored by "First Time Right" execution and a robust "Speak Up / Listen Up" mindset across all shifts and departments.
  • •Direct Internal & External Audits: Lead preparation, execution, and reporting for internal, regulatory (FAA/EASA/TCCA), and customer audits, ensuring all corrective action milestones are closed transparently.
  • •Collaborate on Design & New Product Introduction (NPI): Partner with design engineering and certification teams to support new product development, configuration integrity, obsolescence management, and manufacturing build cycles.
  • •Reduce Cost of Non-Quality (CoNQ): Lead enterprise continuous improvement, Lean, and Kaizen initiatives to eliminate scrap, minimize rework, reduce the Cost of Non-Quality, and improve delivery reliability.
  • •Optimize Workload & Production Flow: Coordinate with operations and program management to balance inspection staffing and shift priorities against critical flightline and customer delivery schedules.
  • •Oversee Technical Training &

Your Boarding Pass

  • •Must possess a Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace/Aviation/Industrial Engineer/Engineering related field o

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