Director, Quality - China

At Kids2, we’re really good at what we do. And when we’re great at our jobs, we help parents be great at their jobs.
Parenting is demanding, and that’s where we come in. We want to reimagine how brands can make it easier for early stage parents – not by just selling them products, but by providing holistic solutions that transcend borders, categories and aisles.
No matter our title or department, at Kids2, our job is to create more tiny wins for parents, so they can create bright futures for their little ones. That’s a big task!
We’re serious about what we do, AND we love to have fun. Our team is hardworking, entrepreneurial, and passionate about helping families create millions, if not billions of tiny wins.
SUMMARY
At Kids2, we are committed to delivering safe, compliant, reliable, and high-quality products that meet the expectations of our consumers, retail customers, and global regulatory requirements. The Director of Quality will provide leadership for Quality across China Operations and will be responsible for strengthening quality systems, supplier and manufacturing quality, product compliance, continuous improvement, and overall execution throughout the product lifecycle.
Reporting to the GM, China Operations, this role will lead the China Quality organization and partner closely with Global Product Integrity, Engineering, Sourcing, Manufacturing, Operations, and key manufacturing partners. The Director will establish clear quality standards, drive accountability, identify and eliminate systemic quality risks, and ensure issues are resolved at the source rather than managed downstream.
The Director will be expected to build a proactive, data-driven quality culture focused on prevention, root-cause elimination, speed of response, and continuous improvement while supporting Kids2's growth, cost, delivery, and innovation objectives.
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES AND ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS
• Quality Leadership & Strategy: Develop and execute the China Quality strategy aligned with global Product Integrity and Operations priorities. Establish clear objectives, KPIs, operating rhythms, and accountability across the Quality organization.
• Quality Management Systems: Maintain and continuously improve robust quality management systems, standards, procedures, controls, and documentation across Kids2 China Operations and the manufacturing partner network.
• Supplier & Manufacturing Quality: Lead supplier and factory quality performance, including qualification, audits, process controls, production readiness, in-process quality, final inspection, corrective actions, and ongoing performance management.
• New Product Development & Launch Quality: Partner with Engineering, Product Development, Sourcing, and manufacturing teams throughout the stage-gate process to identify quality and compliance risks early, ensure design-for-quality, validate manufacturing readiness, and support successful product launches.
• Product Safety & Compliance: Partner with Global Product Integrity and Compliance teams to ensure products manufactured in China meet applicable global safety, regulatory, testing, labeling, and customer requirements.
• Risk-Based Quality Planning: Establish risk-based quality plans using tools such as DFMEA/PFMEA, control plans, capability studies, process validation, and lessons learned to prevent defects and reduce launch and production risk.
• Root Cause & Corrective Action: Drive disciplined problem-solving and corrective/preventive action processes for quality issues, consumer complaints, returns, audit findings, and manufacturing defects. Ensure corrective actions address root causes and are verified for effectiveness.
• Consumer & Customer Quality: Translate consumer complaints, product returns, retailer feedback, and field performance into actionable factory and supplier improvements. Partner with global teams to reduce repeat issues and improve consumer experience.
• Quality Metrics & Analytics: Develop and manage a comprehensive quality scorecard including defect rates, first-pass yield, audit performance, CAPA closure, consumer complaints, returns, cost of poor quality, and supplier performance. Use data to identify trends, risks, and priorities.
• Cost of Quality & Continuous Improvement: Identify and execute initiatives that reduce scrap, rework, inspection dependency, returns, warranty exposure, and other costs of poor quality while improving process capability and operational performance.
• Factory & Process Audits: Ensure effective factory, process, and quality-system audits are completed and that findings are prioritized, corrected, and sustained. Escalate material risks to China Operations and global leadership as appropriate.
• Manufacturing Partner Development: Work directly with key suppliers and manufacturing partners to strengthen their quality systems, engineering discipline, process controls, problem-solving capability, and overall quality culture.
• Quality at the Source: Drive a prevention-based approach that builds quality into product design and manufacturing processes, reducing reliance on final inspection and containment activities.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Partner with Engineering, Sourcing, Supply Chain, Product Integrity, Manufacturing, and Commercial teams to resolve quality issues quickly and balance quality, cost, delivery, and business requirements without compromising product safety or compliance.
• Team Leadership & Development: Lead, coach, and develop the China Quality organization. Establish clear roles, expectations, succession plans, technical capability development, and a high-performance culture.
• Global Alignment: Maintain strong communication and alignment with global Quality/Product Integrity leadership to ensure consistent standards, escalation processes, reporting, and execution across regions.
• Technology, AI & Automation: Identify practical opportunities to use digital tools, AI, automation, and advanced analytics to improve quality monitoring, trend detection, audit effectiveness, issue resolution, reporting, and team productivity.
• Responsible AI Usage: Promote responsible and secure use of AI and digital tools, including protection of confidential company, supplier, and product information and appropriate validation of AI-generated analysis.
• Continuous Improvement: Continuously evaluate quality processes, technologies, testing methods, supplier capabilities, and organizational practices to improve effectiveness, speed, and scalability.
• Other Duties: Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE
• Minimum 10+ years of progressive experience in Quality, Product Integrity, Manufacturing Quality, Supplier Quality, Quality Engineering, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 5+ years of experience leading Quality teams in a manufacturing environment; experience managing multi-site or supplier-based Quality organizations strongly preferred.
• Experience within consumer products, juvenile products, toys, durable goods, or another highly regulated consumer-product industry strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with contract manufacturers and suppliers in China and developing supplier quality capabilities.
• Strong knowledge of quality management systems, supplier quality, manufacturing process controls, audits, CAPA, root-cause analysis, and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Demonstrated experience with new product development, production readiness, process validation, and quality planning.
• Strong understanding of product safety, regulatory compliance, and third-party testing requirements in global consumer-product markets.
• Proven ability to lead complex quality investigations and drive sustainable corrective actions across cross-functional and supplier teams.
• Experience developing and using quality metrics, scorecards, and analytics to identify risk and drive performance improvement.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders, suppliers, factories, and cross-functional teams in a fast-paced global environment.
EDUCATION & SKILLS
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Operations, or related technical field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Strong leadership presence with the ability to establish standards, drive accountability, and influence at all levels of the organization.
• Strong knowledge of structured problem-solving and quality tools, including 8D, 5 Why, fishbone analysis, FMEA, control plans, SPC, process capability, and corrective/preventive action.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex quality and manufacturing data, identify trends, and convert findings into actions.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect quality performance to consumer experience, revenue, margin, cost, service, and brand reputation.
• Ability to operate effectively in changing environments with tight timelines, multiple priorities, and significant cross-functional dependencies.
• Outstanding written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Fluency in English required; Mandarin Chinese strongly preferred.
• Ability and willingness to travel frequently within China and periodically internationally.
COMPUTER / TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
• Advanced profic