Customer Quality Engineer (CQE)

Education

Bachelor's Degree in:

· Mechanical Engineering

· Electrical Engineering

· Manufacturing Engineering

· Industrial Engineering

· Quality Engineering

· Related Engineering Discipline

Experience

Required:

· Minimum 5 years of experience in Automotive Customer Quality.

· Tier 1 automotive supplier experience.

· Experience supporting OEM customers.

· Customer-facing quality experience.

· Manufacturing environment experience.

Technical Skills

Strong knowledge of:

· APQP

· PPAP

· PFMEA

· Control Plans

· SPC

· MSA

· GD&T

· Statistical Analysis

· Process Capability

· Root Cause Analysis

· Lean Manufacturing

· Six Sigma

Key Competencies

· Excellent verbal and written communication

· Strong customer service orientation

· Professional presentation skills

· Negotiation and conflict resolution

· Analytical problem-solving

· Leadership without direct authority

· Organization and time management

· Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

· Customer PPM

· Customer Complaint Response Time

· 8D Closure Time

· Corrective Action Effectiveness

· Warranty Claims

· Customer Scorecard Performance

· Launch Quality Metrics

· Internal PPM

· Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)

· Audit Results

· Customer Satisfaction

Preferred Certifications

· ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE)

· Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt

· AIAG Core Tools Certification

· IATF 16949 Internal Auditor

· VDA 6.3 Process Auditor (preferred)

Customer Relationship Management

· Serve as the primary quality contact for assigned OEM customers.

· Build strong working relationships with customer quality, engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing teams.

· Attend customer meetings, launch reviews, quality reviews, and plant visits.

· Communicate customer concerns internally and ensure timely resolution.

· Support customer scorecard improvement initiatives.

Customer Complaint Management

· Receive, document, and manage customer complaints.

· Coordinate immediate containment activities within 24 hours of notification.

· Lead cross-functional investigation teams.

· Verify suspect product containment at customer and manufacturing locations.

· Coordinate replacement, sorting, and recovery activities when required.

· Provide timely status updates to customers.

Corrective Action (8D)

Lead customer corrective actions using structured methodologies including:

· 8D Problem Solving

· 5 Why Analysis

· Ishikawa (Fishbone) Analysis

· Fault Tree Analysis

· Pareto Analysis

· DOE (Design of Experiments)

Responsibilities include:

· Root cause identification

· Corrective action implementation

· Verification of effectiveness

· Prevention of recurrence

· Customer submission and approval of 8D reports

Launch Quality Support

Support all new product launches by:

· Participating in APQP activities

· Reviewing PFMEA and Control Plans

· Supporting PPAP submissions

· Attending Run-at-Rate events

· Monitoring launch quality performance

· Supporting Safe Launch activities

· Driving rapid response to launch issues

Manufacturing Support

Work closely with production teams to:

· Investigate internal quality issues

· Reduce scrap and rework

· Improve First Pass Yield

· Verify corrective action implementation

· Improve process capability (Cp/Cpk)

· Support layered process audits

Customer Visits

Represent the company during:

· Customer audits

· Quality reviews

· Management meetings

· Launch readiness reviews

· Warranty investigations

· Plant visits

· Technical discussions

Warranty & Field Quality

· Analyze warranty returns and field failures.

· Coordinate teardown and failure analysis.

· Work with engineering to identify root causes.

· Implement corrective actions to eliminate repeat failures.

· Track warranty trends and report findings to management.

Quality System Compliance

Support compliance with:

· IATF 16949

· ISO 9001

· AIAG Core Tools

· Customer Specific Requirements (CSR)

· Internal Quality Procedures

Participate in:

· Internal Audits

· Process Audits

· Product Audits

· Customer Audits

· Certification Audits