Director, Product Quality – High Tech Consumer Electronics
Posted in Adam Zak, Lean Executive Search, Lean Leader Opportunities, Operational Excellence on November 2nd, 2009 by LeanThinker – Comments Off
Director, Product Quality in high-tech consumer electronics, for the creator of one of the hottest consumer electronic devices of the century (yes, this one), based in Silicon Valley, California
Why You Want this Position
- You crave the excitement of working with the visionary team which created the hottest consumer electronics gadget of the century. And, there’s more to come!
- You are obsessed with excellence and quality. This company is already attaining a level of world-class quality metrics that other consumer electronics makers would die for. Your mission: take your passion for quality and make it even better!
- You thrive in a fast-paced, entrepreneurial start-up environment where your daily decisions make a direct, clearly visible impact on the operational and financial performance of the company. You relentlessly pursue your personal and professional expectations for performance and results.
- You hunger for meaningful work with an exceptionally talented team, where it’s all about clear and open communication, genuine collaboration, and exceeding customer expectations - across the whole business, delivering lasting customer satisfaction.
Introduction - Our client creates highly engaging and innovative consumer-centric electronic product solutions. The business has grown rapidly in size, scale and scope but still retains, at heart, the start-up mentality which has fueled its wild success. Because of this outsized growth rate our client needs to scal-up the systems, process and procedures (and their functional leadership) so vital to support the company’s continued advancement into new products and global markets. Hence this new position, Director, Product Quality.
The position will be based in the Silicon Valley, California metro area and will report remotely to the company’s Vice President, Global Supply Chain, who is based in Hong Kong. All product design, development and support functions are performed in California, while manufacturing is currently done on a contract basis in Shenzhen, China. Our client is the wholly-owned subsidiary of highly successful and profitable Fortune 500 parent company, which is also located on the West Coast.
The Role - Define, lead and take ownership of the product quality organization. Develop world-class quality thinking and the programs, systems, principles and processes through which quality manifests itself throughout the company. The results of this effort will be threefold: exceed customer expectations in every way; reduce total warranty costs across all product lines, and; build the culture and supporting structures to ensure continuous improvement in both.
What Your Bring to the Table
- You have demonstrated both deep-dive, hands-on experience in shop-floor quality problem solving, and 30k-foot strategic-level quality issues perspective and sophistication.
- You have demonstrated the ability to rapidly and scientifically assess and deal with day-to-day quality correction, while simultaneously anticipating, developing and implementing the quality philosophies, infrastructure, and practices critical to the company’s future success.
- You offer a proven track record driving operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives, focused on product quality, utilizing Lean Manufacturing (Toyota Production System) and Six Sigma methodologies.
- You have outstanding communications skills. This enables you to interact with senior management executives and influence their decision-making, as well as to effectively partner with other exceptionally talented people broadly across the organization.
- You have recently worked in a high-volume 3C (computer, communication, consumer), fast-moving product lifecycle electronics organization and have extensive on-the-ground experience in mainland China.
- Chances are your resume will include the names of other word-class consumer electronics companies such as Apple, Palm, Philips, Sony, Nintendo, Nokia, Cisco and more.
Travel – Because even the best video communications technology has its limitations, the Director, Product Quality should expect to travel frequently, at times on very short notice, to China.
Compensation - Excellent base salary, sign-on bonus and restricted stock units (RSUs). Equity awards consist of stock in our client’s parent company and are historically a major, continuing preferred form of executive compensation.
Connect with Us - Please connect with me in whatever way is most convenient for you. We share no information about you with anyone outside our firm until we’ve agreed on this with you.
Adam Zak, Principal +1 (847) 304-5301
