Vice President of Quality Management

Overview

Description POSITION DESCRIPTION : As Vice President of Quality Management at Hanwha Q CELLS America, you are responsible for developing and implementing a comprehensive global quality strategy to ensure the delivery of high-quality, safe, reliable and compliant energy solutions. You will lead the end-to-end quality, reliability, and product release assurance for AC modules, microinverters, and energy storage systems (ESS) that combine complex electro-mechanical, embedded firmware, and cloud / mobile software technologies. This is a senior executive leadership role charged with architecting and executing a world-class quality management system across design, NPI, manufacturing, deployment, and customer lifecycle. You will lead cross-functional quality efforts across firmware / software (mobile + embedded), hardware, and manufacturing operations, ensuring full integration and accountability across all product dimensions. You\'ll oversee quality operations both domestically and offshore / nearshore development centers and distributed engineering teams, implementing an integrated QA discipline for complex, distributed product systems. This position reports to the Chief Product Officer (or another management personnel that the President of the Company may designate). This role is based in Santa Clara, San Francisco, Bay Area, Irvine, CA, or remote, and working hours are Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 5:00pm (with flexibility to adjust to 9:00am to 6:00pm as needed). Overtime and weekend work may be required as needed. This position is expected to travel up to 20% of the time for on-site support at partner manufacturing facilities and field sites for quality audits, troubleshooting or customer support.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Champion a culture of quality throughout the organization, promoting continuous improvement, proactive problem-solving, and accountability. Define and lead a comprehensive quality roadmap that unifies hardware, embedded firmware, cloud infrastructure, and mobile apps under a cohesive strategy aligned to corporate OKRs, warranty exposure, and customer expectations.
• Software Quality Leadership: Build and lead a structured quality program for embedded firmware, cloud-connected platforms, and mobile apps (iOS, Android). Deploy software QA metrics, regression testing, automation, CI/CD validation gates, and release readiness reviews across hybrid teams.
• Offshore Manufacturing and Development Team Oversight: Drive quality across global partners, including manufacturing sites (e.g., Jabil, Flex) and offshore software development teams. Develop and implement rigorous quality planning, supplier audits, and integrated software + hardware validation plans.
• Cross-Functional Quality Collaboration: Work across engineering, product management, customer service, and operations teams to align quality deliverables and maintain accountability across the value chain. Translate customer incidents / VOCs into product and process improvement opportunities.
• Digital & Predictive Quality Systems: Leverage data analytics and software telemetry from mobile apps, embedded logs, and fleet systems to drive predictive insights. Implement dashboards to track in-field performance, software crash trends, and end-to-end defect rates.
• Execution Excellence & Integrated Quality Management: Oversee processes ensuring all products and services meet customer expectations and regulatory requirements. Establish and operate an integrated QA system across mechanical, electrical, embedded, and mobile software components; ensure system-level thinking and interdependency validation between HW-FW-SW.
• Quality Testing, Product Release and Exit Gate: Oversee inspection and testing programs in labs and field sites to verify conformance. Manage testing protocols, analyze data, and set exit criteria and risk sign-offs for product release; participate in stage-gate and launch governance as a go/no-go gating factor.
• Field Quality & Warranty Governance: Own field failure analysis, warranty risk modeling, VOC-based quality improvement. Monitor telemetry data, lead RCCA investigations, and translate issues into design/process corrective actions.
• IE & External Certification Engagement: Lead interactions with independent engineers, banks, and third-party reviewers. Prepare technical documentation to support product bankability and certifications (UL, IEC, ISO, NFPA, etc.).
• Continuous Improvement & Culture Building: Cultivate zero-defect, continuous-improvement culture. Lead lessons-learned reviews, Six Sigma / Lean initiatives, and quality culture programs. Introduce best practices from leading innovators.
• Risk Management: Identify and mitigate risks related to product quality, safety, environmental impact, and regulatory compliance; develop risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans.

Qualifications

• Bachelor\'s degree in Electrical, Mechanical, Software, or Systems Engineering (Master\'s or MBA is a plus).
• 20+ years in product quality, reliability engineering, or systems QA, including 10+ years leading multidisciplinary HW/SW/FW teams.
• Proven experience with embedded systems and mobile/cloud software QA. Quality leadership in electromechanical products (e.g., solar inverters, ESS, EVs, IoT).
• QA of Renewable system components: AC modules, micro inverters, ESS. Embedded firmware testing (unit/integration/system-level for real-time controls, Battery Management Systems, etc.).
• Integrated system testing: Mobile & cloud QA (test automation, CI/CD validation, usability, OTA updates).
• Software development lifecycle (SDLC) integration with ISO-9001 and quality gates. Experience managing quality across offshore development centers and partners. Ability to maintain one team culture across distributed QA teams across multiple time zones.
• Proficient in: Reliability engineering & FA tools (HALT/HASS, FMEA, Weibull, root cause methods). Quality frameworks: ISO 9001, UL, IEC, NFPA 855, ISO 26262 or ASPICE (preferred). QA tools: Jira, Zephyr, TestRail, Jenkins, Python/R, Tableau/Power BI.
• Demonstrated success supporting product certifications, independent engineering reviews, and customer audit engagements.
• Excellent communicator with ability to articulate risk, root cause, and roadmap to C-suite, engineers, and external partners. Strategic thinker with customer-centric mindset, data-driven rigor, and urgency to improve rapidly.

Hanwha Q CELLS America Inc. ("HQCA") is a Qcells company with a global footprint in solar PV. Headquarters: Irvine, CA. HQCA continues to expand in North America with distributed energy solutions, solar sales and financing, and EPC services.

Privacy notice : The salary range is required by the California Pay Transparency Act and may differ depending on location. This description includes salary-related information to comply with state law. Actual compensation is influenced by factors including but not limited to skill set, education, licenses and certifications, and experience. The target CA salary range is provided for CA positions only and is not a job offer. You may view privacy rights by reviewing Qcells\' Privacy Policy or by contacting HR for a copy.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or veteran status.

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