Job Description:

About the Role:

We are looking for an exceptional Head of Quality to join our founding leadership team and build a world-class quality organization for a rapidly scaling consumer products business.

This role will be responsible for defining and driving the company's quality strategy across Product Quality, Supplier Quality, Manufacturing Quality, Packaging Quality, Customer Experience, Compliance, and Continuous Improvement.

As the first quality leader in the organization, you will build the systems, processes, governance frameworks, supplier standards, testing mechanisms, and quality culture required to support the company's next phase of growth.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise with business acumen and has a proven track record of improving product quality, reducing customer complaints, lowering return rates, and building scalable quality organizations within leading consumer brands.

Key Responsibilities:

Quality Strategy & Governance:

- Develop and execute the company's end-to-end quality strategy.

- Establish quality standards, operating procedures, and governance mechanisms.

- Build scalable quality systems capable of supporting rapid business growth.

- Define and monitor organization-wide quality KPIs.

- Partner with founders and business leaders to make quality a key competitive advantage.

Supplier Quality Management:

- Establish supplier qualification, onboarding, and audit frameworks.

- Create supplier quality scorecards and performance review mechanisms.

- Drive supplier quality improvement initiatives.

- Ensure vendors consistently meet quality, reliability, and compliance standards.

- Build strong partnerships with manufacturing and sourcing teams.

Product Quality & Validation:

- Define product specifications, acceptance criteria, and quality benchmarks.

- Establish testing, validation, and reliability assessment processes.

- Ensure quality requirements are integrated into product development and sourcing decisions.

- Drive product consistency and reliability across all categories.

Manufacturing Quality:

- Implement incoming, in-process, and final inspection systems.

- Develop manufacturing quality standards and process controls.

- Reduce defects, rework, and quality failures.

- Lead root cause analysis and corrective action initiatives.

- Improve first-pass yield and overall production quality.

Customer Quality & Returns Reduction:

- Own product return rate reduction initiatives across all channels.

- Analyze customer complaints, product returns, and warranty claims.

- Establish feedback loops between customers, product teams, and manufacturing partners.

- Identify recurring quality issues and implement preventive solutions.

- Improve customer satisfaction through superior product quality and reliability.

Compliance & Quality Systems:

- Lead internal and external audits.

- Ensure compliance with relevant quality standards and regulatory requirements.

- Manage certifications, documentation, and quality records.

- Establish quality assurance frameworks across the organization.

Continuous Improvement:

- Drive Lean, Six Sigma, and operational excellence initiatives.

- Implement preventive quality programs.

- Improve process capability and product consistency.

- Reduce Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) through structured interventions.

- Build a culture of continuous improvement and accountability.

Team Building & Leadership:

- Build and lead the quality organization from the ground up.

- Hire, mentor, and develop high-performing quality professionals.

- Establish clear roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations.

- Foster strong cross-functional collaboration across Product, Operations, Supply Chain, and Customer Experience teams.

Key Business Outcomes:

The successful candidate will be expected to:

- Significantly reduce product return rates.

- Reduce customer complaints and warranty claims.

- Improve product quality, reliability, and durability.

- Establish best-in-class supplier quality programs.

- Improve product ratings and customer satisfaction.

- Build scalable quality systems capable of supporting rapid growth.

- Reduce quality-related operational costs.

- Create a proactive quality culture across the organization.

Candidate Profile:

Must-Have Experience:

- 12-18+ years of experience in Quality Leadership roles.

- Strong experience across Supplier Quality, Product Quality, Manufacturing Quality, and Customer Quality.

- Proven track record of reducing return rates and customer complaints.

- Experience building quality systems and teams from scratch.

- Strong understanding of consumer products manufacturing and supply chains.

- Experience working directly with founders, leadership teams, and cross-functional stakeholders.