Manager, Quality & Safety

About MISUMI Americas MISUMI Americas, a division of MISUMI Group, is a leading provider of standard, configurable, and custom manufacturing solutions. By integrating a vast catalog of components with a world-class digital manufacturing platform, MISUMI Americas empowers engineers and procurement teams to accelerate innovation across the entire product lifecycle. With operations in the San Francisco Bay Area and Chicago, the company serves as a vital partner for the most innovative companies in the Americas. The Manager, Quality & Safety is a critical leadership role responsible for building, owning, and continuously improving the quality and safety ecosystems across Misumi Americas.This role directly impacts the organization's ability to deliver consistent, high-quality products to customers by leading a team of Supplier Quality Engineers, stewarding the Quality Management System (QMS), and ensuring manufacturing partners meet rigorous performance standards. Beyond quality, this role establishes and drives a comprehensive Safety Management Program across all Misumi Americas facilities, ensuring full regulatory compliance and a proactive safety culture that protects employees and operations. At a strategic level, this position plays a key role in the integration of Misumi and Fictiv quality systems, processes, and documentation — helping to unify two organizations into a cohesive, scalable operational framework. Areas of Responsibility: Essential Functions QUALITY SUPPLIER QUALITY ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT Directly managing a team of Supplier Quality Engineers (SQEs), including hiring, onboarding, performance reviews, and career development Setting clear goals and expectations for each SQE aligned with organizational quality objectives, and conducting regular 1:1s and performance check-ins Coaching SQEs on effective supplier communication, corrective action follow-through, and audit execution Owning the end-to-end Supplier Quality program, setting strategy and standards that SQEs execute against including manufacturing partner onboarding, ongoing monitoring, and continuous improvement Reviewing and approving corrective action responses (CARs) escalated by SQEs, ensuring root cause rigor and closure effectiveness Establishing and maintaining manufacturing partner quality KPIs and presenting performance trends to senior leadership Undertaking special projects as required QMS Ensuring that the Misumi QMS remains relevant and is bringing value to the organization in supporting both efficiency and effectiveness in our activities, while meeting customer, industry, and regulatory requirements Ensuring that risks and opportunities are continually being identified and addressed, using the QMS as a significant risk management tool Ensuring that Misumi’s evolving QMS remains compliant with the requirements of all internationally recognized standards we are registered to, or claim compliance with Evaluating, recommending and executing any integration of the Misumi QMS and Fictiv QMS Managing internal and external audits to ensure that the Misumi US organization is adhering to our QMS requirements and those of our customers and of the ISO9001 standard Maintaining and publishing audit primers to ensure that all auditees are prepared before external audits Ensuring customer-specific requirements are reviewed and integrated into our QMS Identifying and implementing improvements to business processes, particularly those which are in the scope of Misumi’s QMS Ensuring that QMS documents remain simple but effective, and are updated as processes change Evaluating, recommending and executing any consolidation of document management processes and systems between Misumi and Fictiv e.g. should we standardize on Intellect for internal document control and the Misumi supplier portal for supplier-facing documents? Collaborating with PeopleOps to ensure that training material exists where and when needed, and is delivered with subsequent verification of the effectiveness of the training Reviewing internal and external responses to QMS nonconformances and ensuring they are complete, adequate, and accurate, and that actions taken are verified as being effective Identifying key performance indicators that inform the organization where the QMS is being successful and where it needs attention Owning the delivered quality (claims) KPI and driving improvements Delivering annual quality awareness training Undertaking special projects as required QC Overseeing calibration for Misumi sites by managing external calibration service providers Operating the QC Lab in Schaumburg to support evaluation of customer returns and to support select inspection activities to eliminate escaping defects Undertaking special projects as required SAFETY Establishing a Safety Management Program for Misumi Americas including Misumi and Fictiv facilities in Mexico and the US, in collaboration with existing Safety subject matter experts in Mexico. This should include: Safety documentation Safety training Safety inspections, audits, risk assessments and related improvements Incident investigation (including near misses) and related improvements Safety reporting, including statutory reporting (City, County, State, Federal) Ensuring that job safety analyses are conducted and documented at all Misumi Americas locations and sharing these with other Fictiv global locations as appropriate Developing, leading and evaluating Emergency Response Teams as appropriate at the different Misumi Americas locations Being the US OSHA subject matter expert and liaising with Mexico NOMs subject matter experts Providing safety subject matter expertise to Fictiv operations in China and India Owning safety KPIs and driving improvements Managing safety data sheets for hazardous materials used on site at all Mexico and US locations Ensuring compliance with local environmental codes, including measuring and reporting Controlling subcontractor on-site safety performance Evaluating and recommending the value in Misumi Americas obtaining ISO14001 and/or ISO45001 registration Undertaking special projects as required All employees are expected to maintain and contribute to the QMS. Desired Traits: Distinguished skills, abilities, features, character, and quality. B.S. in Engineering discipline (ideally Mechanical Engineering) A minimum of 5 years working in a quality management role Results-oriented, data-driven, and self-directed, using a process approach and risk-based thinking to make significant changes Excellent verbal and written communication skills allow you to collaborate successfully at all levels in the organization as well as with suppliers and customers Experience of working in a quickly scaling organization with demonstrated agility dealing successfully with unplanned changes Blend of tactical pragmatism with strategic innovation Experience with quality management system audits to the ISO 9001 standard, and knowledge of other quality management standards such as AS9100, ISO 13485, IATF 16949, etc. Physical Demands While performing the duties of this job, the employee routinely is required to sit; walk; talk and hear; use hands to keyboard, fingers, handle, and feel; stoop, kneel, crouch, twist, crawl, reach, and stretch. Travel: Ability to travel 30% annually both domestically and internationally for team meetings, offsites, customer visits, supplier visits, etc. Salary range: The salary range for this role is $125,000 - $140,000 per year, based on experience. Benefits include, but are not limited to: Comprehensive medical and dental coverage 401(k) plan Generous PTO and leave programs We’re actively seeking teammates who: Bring diverse perspectives and experience to our culture and company. Excel at being part of a strong, empathetic team. Thrive in an environment emphasizing respect, honesty, collaboration, and growth. Have an ‘always learning’ mindset that celebrates learning, not just wins. Help us continue to build a world-class organization that values the contributions of all of our teammates We encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups, including but not limited to women, members of the LGBTQ community, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans.