Staff Quality Engineer

Confidential client. Search led by VoltForce.

Location: San Leandro, CA (on-site)

Job Type: Full-time

About The Company

VoltForce is working with an early-stage materials-inspection company on the search for a Staff Quality Engineer. Our client helps manufacturers make better, safer, and more reliable micro- and nano-scale materials, the building blocks of critical sectors like energy storage, semiconductors, aerospace, and power systems. As demand surges and production grows more complex and faster, small undetected variations during manufacturing lead to waste, lower performance, higher cost, and safety risk, leaving manufacturers with little visibility into the quality of what they produce.

The company's platform changes that. It non-destructively probes materials during production, pairing a novel sensing approach with physics-informed machine learning to capture real-time signals that conventional measurement techniques cannot access. Those signals give manufacturers rare visibility into how materials behave as they are made.

The company turns that hidden data into actionable intelligence, helping manufacturers reduce variability and increase yield and performance. The platform can run as a standalone tool or integrate directly into production lines, it is already in early deployment with leading global manufacturers, and the first commercial product is on the way.

Role Overview

Our client is seeking a Staff Quality Engineer to establish and scale quality practices that support exceptional product quality across the organization. In this role, you will help ensure the reliability and performance of the company's products while building the processes needed for dependable product deployment and long-term operational excellence.

Working closely with engineering teams across every phase of product development, you will drive verification and validation testing, strengthen documentation practices, and analyze quality metrics to assess product and process performance. You will also define and evolve practical quality systems that bring rigor, traceability, and consistency as the company grows.

This position is well suited for a self-driven quality leader who has a clear vision for effective quality practices, is comfortable navigating complex technical products, and can bring structure to areas of ambiguity without slowing the pace of development. You will guide quality strategy from concept through commercial release, design and execute robust test approaches, and contribute at a high level in a collaborative, fast-moving engineering environment.

What You'll Do

Design, execute, and analyze quality tests across hardware, firmware, and software to ensure product performance, reliability, and conformance to requirements
Inform verification and validation strategy and execution for the company's standalone commercial tool, including system-level test planning, validation readiness, support for product release, and process validation
Establish and implement foundational quality systems, including QMS processes, SOPs, work instructions, templates, and controlled documentation practices
Develop and maintain traceability between requirements, risks, test methods, test results, and product quality evidence
Support process validation activities for manufacturing, assembly, calibration, and test processes, including development of validation plans and acceptance criteria
Apply statistical methods to evaluate product and process performance, including test method effectiveness, repeatability, process capability, and variation analysis
Drive root cause investigation, nonconformance resolution, and corrective and preventive actions for product and process quality issues
Contribute to design reviews, risk assessments, inspection strategies, and quality planning from concept through commercial release
Help create scalable quality practices that are appropriate for a startup environment and can grow with the company
Support quality needs across the company's broader product portfolio beyond the standalone commercial tool as products mature and expand

What We're Looking For

B.S. in Engineering, Physics, or a related technical field with 8 to 12 years of relevant industry experience
Prior direct experience in product engineering, design engineering, systems engineering, or manufacturing engineering
Experience supporting products from concept through development, verification and validation, manufacturing readiness, and commercial release
Working knowledge of ISO 9001 and QMS documentation practices and contributing to audit readiness
Experience working with requirements and test management tools (e.g., Jama or similar)
Experience working with contract manufacturers, including both designing and executing test protocols at the contract manufacturer's site
Strong statistical background, including experience with DoE, gauge R&R, multi-variate analysis, and use of statistical analysis software such as JMP or Minitab
Familiarity with quality frameworks and tools such as FMEA, CAPA, NCR, control plans, MSA, and document control systems
Experience with manufacturing transfer, pilot builds, process development and validation, and new product introduction (NPI)
Ability to implement practical quality systems, documentation structures, and standard operating procedures in a startup or other fast-paced environment
Strong problem-solving skills and experience with root cause analysis, corrective actions, and structured decision-making
Strong written and verbal communication skills, particularly in documenting quality evidence and communicating technical findings clearly across disciplines

Nice to Have

Experience with software quality engineering, including test automation, software verification, or quality control for data processing and analysis workflows
Experience with metrology, instrumentation, imaging systems, or other technically complex capital equipment
Familiarity with advanced manufacturing environments such as batteries, semiconductors, electronics, energy, or industrial automation
CQE (Certified Quality Engineer) or CRE (Certified Reliability Engineer) certification
Show more Show less