Corporate Quality Manager – North America - Vaughan - Vytal Filtration Technologies

Description

Corporate Quality Manager – North America

The Corporate Quality Manager – North America is responsible for developing, deploying, and sustaining a unified Quality Management System (QMS) across all manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States. This leadership role will shape and execute the corporate quality strategy, drive the standardization of quality processes, ensure compliance with ISO 9001 and customer requirements, and champion a culture of continuous improvement. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with site-level quality, operations, engineering, and logistics teams to ensure best-in-class product quality, regulatory compliance, and operational excellence from production through final customer delivery.

Quality Strategy & Systems Leadership

• Develop and execute a unified North American quality strategy that aligns with business objectives, regulatory requirements, and customer expectations across all manufacturing facilities and distribution centers.
• Lead the design, implementation, and ongoing improvement of a robust Quality Management System (QMS) to ensure ISO 9001 compliance, product integrity, and consistent operational performance.
• Drive a shift from quality control to proactive quality assurance and risk mitigation at all levels of the organization.
• Harmonize quality systems, procedures, and policies across all manufacturing sites to ensure consistency and compliance.
• Champion continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Kaizen to enhance quality and operational effectiveness.
• Facilitate cross-site knowledge sharing and lessons learned to embed a culture of quality innovation and accountability.
• Establish and maintain enterprise-wide quality performance metrics, dashboards, and reporting structures to track KPIs, service level agreements (SLAs), and improvement initiatives.
• Oversee the full audit lifecycle, including internal audits, supplier assessments, customer audits, and external third-party certifications (e.g., ISO, CSA), ensuring compliance across all manufacturing locations.
• Standardize inspection protocols, labeling practices, packaging controls, and handling procedures to ensure product conformity, traceability, and customer satisfaction across all sites.
• Support supplier quality management including vendor qualification, incoming inspection strategies, and ongoing performance monitoring.

Operational Quality Management

• Lead and support plant-level Quality in root cause analysis, CAPA, process capability, and customer complaint resolution.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in Operations, Production, Engineering, Sales, and Supply chain to proactively identify and resolve quality-related issues throughout the product lifecycle, from production to final delivery.
• Promote a proactive quality assurance mindset by embedding risk-based thinking, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), statistical process control (SPC), and defect prevention into daily operations.

Customer Focus

• Serve as the senior escalation point for complex customer complaints and systemic quality issues, ensuring timely resolution and preventative action planning.
• Engage with key customers to understand quality expectations, share performance metrics, and lead quality improvement initiatives.
• Coordinate cross-functional responses to customer feedback and audit findings, strengthening customer confidence and satisfaction.

Issue Resolution & Continuous Improvement

• Provide leadership in root cause analysis, non-conformance management, and implementation of corrective and preventive actions (CAPA).
• Champion structured continuous improvement initiatives (e.g., Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen) to enhance product quality, reduce waste, and drive operational excellence.
• Facilitate lessons learned reviews, share best practices, and drive adoption across manufacturing and distribution sites.

Leadership & Culture Development

• Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing network of quality professionals across all sites in North America.
• Deliver training and tools to build quality capabilities across operations, engineering, logistics, and warehouse teams.
• Promote a quality-first culture by modeling accountability, recognizing achievements, and encouraging cross-functional engagement in quality initiatives.

Health and Safety

• Collaborate closely with Health & Safety and integrate quality and safety protocols to reduce risk and enhance operational reliability across manufacturing facilities.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) Integration

• Lead the quality integration of manufacturing processes and systems during mergers and acquisitions by ensuring technical alignment and a seamless transition of standards and practices between merging entities, while identifying and implementing the best quality practices from both organizations to optimize efficiency and performance.
• Drive quality innovation by exploring and implementing new technologies and methodologies, while staying current with industry trends and advancements to maintain Vytal's position at the forefront of quality excellence.

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Science, Quality Management, or a related technical field; a master's degree is an asset.
• Minimum 7–10 years of progressive quality management experience in manufacturing environments, preferably within filtration, industrial manufacturing, or related sectors.
• Proven leadership in managing multi-site quality systems and driving quality excellence across diverse operations.
• Strong knowledge and hands‑on experience with Quality Management Systems (QMS), including ISO 9001 and related regulatory requirements.
• Demonstrated expertise in quality tools and continuous improvement methodologies, including Root Cause Analysis (RCA), CAPA, FMEA, SPC, Lean, and Six Sigma.
• Excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills to work with customers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead audits, manage competing priorities, and drive successful outcomes in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment.
• Skilled in leading change initiatives and implementing process improvements while maintaining focus on results and operational excellence.
• Willingness and ability to travel to manufacturing and distribution sites in Canada and United States.