Quality Control Engineer

Kraus Hamdani Aerospace (KHA) is an aerospace company specializing in long-endurance unmanned aerial platforms for a wide variety of industries. KHA supports a number of customers to carry out missions involving aerial reconnaissance, survey, communication relay and communications provisioning. Endurance, enabled by effective design, is key to these applications and KHA aircraft utilize cutting-edge aircraft design together with on-board intelligence to deliver value for these customers.
Location: Hayward, CA
Reporting To: Director of Manufacturing
Travel: Approximately 25%, including domestic and international travel as business needs require
About the Role
Kraus Hamdani Aerospace is seeking a hands-on and detail-oriented Quality Control Engineer to support product and manufacturing quality across the development and production of our Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
The Quality Control Engineer will work closely with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and external manufacturing partners to ensure components, assemblies, manufacturing processes, and completed products consistently meet KHA technical and quality requirements. This role will help establish and maintain inspection requirements, manage nonconformances, support root-cause and corrective-action activities, and drive continuous improvement throughout the manufacturing process.
As KHA expands production through external manufacturing partners, this position will also play an important role in establishing consistent quality standards, inspection processes, and controls across the broader manufacturing network. The successful candidate should be comfortable working directly on the production floor as well as with suppliers and contract manufacturers in the U.S. and internationally.
Key Responsibilities
Manufacturing Quality & Inspection
Develop, implement, and maintain quality-control and inspection requirements for components, subassemblies, and completed UAS products.
Ensure inspection requirements are properly incorporated into manufacturing processes, work instructions, and production documentation.
Support incoming, in-process, and final inspection activities, including dimensional, visual, documentation, bench, and functional inspections as applicable.
Review drawings, specifications, Bills of Materials (BOMs), manufacturing work instructions, and other technical data to determine appropriate quality and acceptance requirements.
Partner with Manufacturing and Engineering to ensure production processes consistently produce conforming hardware.
Identify opportunities to improve inspection effectiveness, product quality, process capability, and manufacturing consistency.
Nonconformance & Corrective Action
Review and validate reported nonconformances and ensure affected material is properly identified, segregated, documented, and contained.
Lead or support investigation of nonconforming material to determine the scope and potential impact on other products, processes, or inventory.
Participate in Material Review Board (MRB) activities and coordinate with Design Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering on appropriate dispositions.
Support disposition of nonconforming material, including rework, repair, use-as-is, scrap, or return-to-vendor actions.
Lead or support root-cause investigations and corrective and preventive actions for recurring product or process issues.
Track quality issues through closure and verify that corrective actions are effectively implemented.
Supplier & Contract Manufacturing Quality
Support qualification, approval, and ongoing quality oversight of suppliers and contract manufacturing partners.
Conduct or support supplier surveillance, capability assessments, and quality audits based on supplier risk and production requirements.
Ensure KHA drawings, specifications, inspection requirements, and quality expectations are properly communicated and flowed down to manufacturing partners.
Support First Article Inspection (FAI), process validation, and other production-readiness activities at supplier and contract manufacturing locations.
Monitor supplier quality performance, identify trends, and work with Supply Chain and suppliers to address quality concerns.
Travel to supplier and contract manufacturing locations to support production launches, quality investigations, process validation, and corrective-action activities.
Help establish consistent quality-control practices across KHA's internal and external manufacturing network.
Quality Systems & Process Improvement
Support development, implementation, and continuous improvement of manufacturing quality processes and procedures.
Ensure quality activities and records are completed in accordance with KHA procedures and applicable quality-system requirements.
Develop and monitor appropriate quality metrics to identify trends and areas requiring improvement.
Support statistical process control and other data-driven methods for monitoring critical manufacturing processes where appropriate.
Maintain clear and accurate inspection, nonconformance, corrective-action, and quality records.
Participate in internal and external quality audits as required.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
Work closely with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Manufacturing Test Engineering, Production, and Supply Chain to resolve product and process quality issues.
Provide quality input during new product introduction, manufacturing-readiness, and production-transition activities.
Participate in design, manufacturing, and production-readiness reviews to ensure quality requirements are addressed early in the product lifecycle.
Provide practical feedback to Engineering and Manufacturing regarding recurring quality issues, design concerns, process weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement.
Promote a culture of quality, accountability, and continuous improvement across the organization and external manufacturing network.
Essential Skills & Experience
Professional experience in quality engineering, manufacturing quality, supplier quality, or a related role involving complex manufactured products.
Experience with manufacturing inspection, nonconformance management, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and process improvement.
Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, technical specifications, Bills of Materials, work instructions, and other manufacturing documentation.
Working knowledge of manufacturing quality systems and structured quality-control processes.
Experience developing or applying inspection criteria and acceptance requirements.
Demonstrated ability to investigate technical quality problems and drive issues through resolution.
Strong analytical skills and attention to detail.
Ability to work effectively in a hands-on manufacturing environment and interact directly with production personnel.
Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to clearly document and communicate technical quality issues.
Ability to work independently, take ownership of problems, and collaborate effectively across Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and external partners.
Ability and willingness to travel approximately 25%, with the potential for more concentrated travel during manufacturing launches, supplier qualification, or major quality activities.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent relevant technical experience.
U.S. citizenship.
Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government SECRET security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in aerospace, UAS, aviation, robotics, autonomous systems, electronics, or another complex electromechanical manufacturing environment.
Experience with AS9100, ISO 9001, or comparable formal quality management systems.
Experience with First Article Inspection, including AS9102 or similar processes.
Experience with Material Review Board processes and disposition of nonconforming material.
Experience with supplier quality management, supplier audits, or contract manufacturing oversight.
Experience with corrective and preventive action systems, root-cause analysis, and structured problem-solving methods.
Familiarity with Statistical Process Control (SPC), process capability, and manufacturing quality metrics.
Experience supporting prototype builds, NPI, low-rate production, or transition into higher-volume manufacturing.
Familiarity with inspection and measurement equipment used in mechanical, electrical, or electromechanical manufacturing.
Personal Attributes
Highly detail-oriented with a strong commitment to product quality and safety.
Practical and hands-on with the ability to investigate problems directly on the production floor.
Analytical and methodical when evaluating quality issues and determining root causes.
Comfortable making sound technical decisions based on available data and requirements.
Self-motivated, de