Senior Manager, Quality Engineering

PURPOSE:

The Global Quality Management function is responsible for establishing the WWW quality management strategy, driving improvements, building key metrics, and managing both the internal and external stakeholder communications on all quality related topics. This function works side by side with the Global Product Operations team to make sure that all product specs, performance needs, and finished product are manufactured on par with brand performance expectations and eliminate possible issues/defects. This function provides strategic direction to the future of quality at WWW with a lens towards empowering factories with clear accountability and measurables, digitizing quality management systems, generating real time onsite quality reporting, and holding our partners accountable for quality and guiding the factory groups to excel in Wolverine quality. On the execution front, this function is responsible for delivering shoes that meet the brand expectations by working on a hands-on approach in the factories and leading a localized team into the future of quality

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Direct responsibility for quality management at the factory level ensuring all shipments meet brand specifications, technical details are embedded into standard operating processes (SOPs) into product, and factories comply with WWW production and technical requirements.
2. Lead, manage and execute WWWs quality assurance across all factories through various product life-cycle milestones such as Product Tear-down meetings, Product Review, Commercialization(T1-T4), Pre-Production and Manufacturing Quality Inspection.
3. Guide relationships with key strategic partners and engage with senior leadership toward driving the business and proactively managing change within quality to sustain a competitive advantage.
4. Lead/participate in communication with brands on Quality related topics, issue valid and sustainable resolutions in a timely manner, and manage quality claims, investigation through root-cause analysis and implement precise corrective/preventive action with close collaboration with the Product Integrity and Production Operations teams.
5. Lead all Quality continuous improvement activities internally and externally with factory partners.
6. Initiate and lead quality related projects at a country/regional and global scale including Certified Factory Auditor (CFA), Consequences Model, Digitalization of Quality inspection and activities, Factory and Supplier audits, communication and training roll-out, brand updates and sustainable corrective-action plan and improvement.
7. Provide clear guidance to regional quality teams, product operation and factory partners and suppliers during Tear-down meetings in development phase, commercialization, pilot run validation, and manufacturing scaling phases to ensure a successful implementation of new pattern/models, projects and systems and quality process enhancements.
8. Partner with technical inputs and expertise with materials teams to ensure quality mindset is carried through material supply base and jointly solve quality challenges on the materials supplier front.
9. Review current quality metrics, overall KPIs and identify ways to strengthen current approach to quality management in a real time environment and report key findings back through organizational dashboards.
10. Digitize quality management metrics with improved ownership of digital tools and rely less on manual ways to track quality in real time.
11. Provide learnings from quality issues on the back end up through Product Operations / Development to have a Closed Loop of learning to ensure that issues are resolved, changed, and implemented at the front end of Product Creation.
12. Manage and deploy manufacturing initiatives aimed at improving process, quality, speed to market and reduction of costs through lean manufacturing where appropriate, ensure SOPs are adhered too across all manufacturing sites.
13. Support the social compliance program to ensure only factories that meet WWW standards are utilized and those that improve are recognized on a quarterly basis.
14. Effectively coach and develop future leadership talent to ensure there is strong talent bench strength for future positions and that current talent is fully proficient in their current roles.
15. Develop and create best manufacturing best practices and roll out across all factory partners.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED

• A Minimum of 15 years of increased leadership responsibility in managing footwear function in both manufacturing factories and brands including functions development, commercialization, tech, quality and production management
• Experienced in overall footwear manufacturing from design to manufacturing which includes knowledge of materials, components, construction, patterns, outsoles and lasts.
• Highly organized and able to adapt quickly to changing priorities. Process oriented thinker with well-developed commercial understanding of product.
• Highly focused and a clear communicator, able to work closely and communicate effectively with factories globally. Superb communication skills and effectively share information as required ensuring manufacturing strategies are well implemented.
• Strong leadership profile. Ability to effectively lead and coach a complex team across multiple countries.
• Ability to build partnerships across departments and direct teams as well as to work closely across functional areas.
• Strong Understanding of quality 6-sigma concept and tools, Lean principles, total quality management, quality best-practices, smart jigs & tools and manufacturing automation and innovation, and factory efficiencies as well as a vision to guide teams to achieve this with factory partner buy-in.

• KEY COMPETENCIES: Proven management experience including leading, coaching, mentoring, developing, motivating, and building effective local teams.
• Strong and solid foundation on footwear technical knowledge of development, commercialization, manufacturing and quality.
• Energizes and inspires employees with a sense of purpose and direction when executing the functional strategy
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills, ability to lead and manage a team across multiple locations.
• Understands the implications of various risks brought by the changes ahead, implement actions to manage those risks.
• Be a role model to consistently display ethical leadership, integrity, open communication, effective collaboration to demonstrate all organizational values are upheld.
• Be inclusive and actively engage team members with different backgrounds and preferences.
• Effectively breaks down complicated information into logical points, clearly convey messages to influence and persuade leadership within the organization.
• Debates and provides feedback constructively with stakeholders, with an aim to achieve a shared goal.
• Digitally adept to various presentation tools (PPTs, Excel data-analysis), virtual meeting soft-wear (Zoom, MS-Team) and other MS Office tools.
• Familiarity with creation and editing of manuals, SOPs, Policies including English written quality, engineering and technical documentation, memo and guidelines.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Frequently travel and commute to factory base and working in factorys production premises and environment. Some domestic and international travel may be required