Head of Quality (Sr. Director)

Company Overview Driven by our vision of the affordable, reliable, net-zero carbon grid of the future, Mainspring has developed a new category of power generation — the linear generator — that delivers local, scalable, and fuel-flexible power to help accelerate the transition to the net-zero carbon grid.
The unique combination of attributes offered by Mainspring’s linear generator enables applications on both the commercial and utility sides of the meter for the $816B global electricity equipment market.
We serve a wide range of Fortune 500 customers across markets and industries as well as top-tier utilities and other gridside providers.
We are looking to build relationships with people who share our values: Pragmatic Optimism.
Building a new category of world-class power generation requires the optimism of ambition and creativity, balanced with practicality to solve problems efficiently.
The challenges that arise are opportunities for growth.
Excellence without Ego.
We bring expertise and commitment to creating the best customer experience, from sales to deployment and service, just as we apply deep technical rigor to building and delivering world-class products.
We strive for excellence and behave as leaders with the humility to acknowledge our challenges, both collectively and as individual contributors.
Proactive Collaboration.
The integration and cross-disciplinary nature of Mainspring’s business requires intentionally seeking out others who bring different skills, perspectives, and priorities.
Our culture of inclusion and respect extends beyond our team to interactions with our partners and customers.
Mainspring is based in Menlo Park and has partnered with top-tier investors and utilities such as Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, NextEra, and American Electric Power.
More information can be found at www.
mainspringenergy.
com.
Responsibilities As the Sr.
Director of Quality, you will be the company’s Quality leader, lead Mainspring’s quality team, and a critical enabler during a high-growth phase of the company as we scale up our manufacturing.
Your leadership will drive quality throughout the value chain: (1) During product development, Design-for-Manufacture (DFM) and support for manufacturing process selection.
(2) Supplier selection and qualification (3) Mainspring’s part qualification (Production Part Approval Process, PPAP), (4) Inspection and validation.
(5) Manufacturing and installation process control, error-proofing, visual management, product and process audits, and test gate strategy.
(6) Field/customer Quality oversight and improvement.
(7) Continual improvement in all these areas.
Success requires the ability to not only envision the future of our QMS, but the ability to lead its development.
Lead our Supplier Quality Engineering team to achieve supplier and part qualifications on time, and Manufacturing Quality to ensure manufacturing controls are appropriate Develop and ensure execution of a Quality Plan (e.
g.
APQP phases 4-5 or similar) with our contract manufacturers Develop internal and supplier auditing and quality control methods and policies for product, process and system at incoming inspection and in-process.
Deploy best practices to our contract manufacturers (CMs) and develop transparent dashboards for reporting from our CMs Work closely with CM Quality Leadership, be in the loop for escalation of issues/quality alerts, critical 8Ds etc.
and lead/sponsor critical 8Ds at MSE Lead the development and improvement of our quality-related policies and business processes, and including the specification of IT systems to support those business processes Ensure regulatory compliance and documentation to ensure continued product certification Oversee our DFM process and drive improvements on critical parts Drive continual improvement along every step of Mainspring’s value chain Grow/hire the best talent and develop the team’s resources to meet evolving demands Qualifications B.
S.
in Engineering (mechanical, materials or electrical preferred) or equivalent; advanced degree a plus 12+ years experience in hardware manufacturing and 5+ year track record successfully leading an ISO-9001-compliant quality management team in a hardware manufacturing environment.
Experience executing and tracking (KPIs) supplier and part qualifications (PPAP) and audits.
Strong understanding of quality control methods in manufacturing; knowledge of incoming inspection of precision parts a plus Principled and transparent decision-making along with excellent communication skills both verbal and written; and clearly possesses leadership presence.
Experienced with Root Cause and Corrective Action methodologies Some experience within and developing a lean/continuous improvement culture is a plus.
The Bay Area salary wage for this role is $225k- $240k + pre-IPO stock options + benefits.
This position is on-site in Menlo Park, CA.
The salary will be adjusted based on the experience of the employee.
Does your experience not meet all of our posted requirements? Studies have shown that some people are less likely to apply to positions unless they meet every listed requirement.
At Mainspring, we are committed to building a diverse, inclusive, flexible, and collaborative environment, so if you want to help us transition the world to clean and affordable electricity, and don’t meet all posted requirements for a particular role, we’d still love to hear from you.
Mainspring can sometimes be flexible enough to shift responsibilities for the right person, or otherwise identify open or upcoming roles that may better fit your professional background.
In more traditional words, Mainspring Energy, Inc is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.
This compensation and benefits information is based on Mainspring Energy's estimate as of the date of publication and may be modified in the future.
We generally do not negotiate on salary once we have made an offer.
The level of pay within the range will depend on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant prior experience and/or education, or particular skills and expertise.
New hires joining the company tend to be paid within the starting base pay range noted above, with opportunities to increase pay over time based on development of additional skills, competencies, and company-specific knowledge.