Technical Lead

For more than 30 years, SQA Services has been a leader in providing managed supplier quality services — including audits, assessments, corrective actions, inspections, remediation, and engineering — to manufacturers across all industries. We deliver these services by deploying experienced quality professionals across the United States and in 90+ countries to support client and supplier sites on demand.

Overview

SQA Services is seeking a Technical Lead – First Article Inspection & Metrology to support two supplier readiness assessments at a casting supplier and a custom worm gear manufacturer.

The Technical Lead will evaluate the suppliers’ ability to reliably verify product design characteristics through First Article Inspection (FAI), CMM programming, dimensional metrology, measurement systems, calibration, and MSA. You will work alongside an SQA commodity SME at each supplier and contribute technical findings to the final assessment report.

Key Responsibilities

• Support Requirements Consumption Reviews (RCR) covering product definition, GD&T, critical/key characteristics, and inspection/test plans.
• Lead reviews of First Article Inspection Reports (FAIRs) for completeness, characteristic accountability, ballooning, and linkage to material and special-process certifications.
• Evaluate FAI trigger and delta-FAI practices.
• Review CMM programs for datum/alignment structure, GD&T interpretation, program validation, revision control, probe qualification, and operator competency.
• Evaluate measurement systems where CMMs are not used, including equipment suitability, resolution, gauging methods, and environmental controls.
• Review MSA / Gauge R&R studies for critical characteristics, along with calibration status, traceability, and recall controls.
• Evaluate commodity-specific measurement capabilities, including casting dimensional inspection and gear inspection methods such as gear analyzers, single-/double-flank roll testing, and contact-pattern checks.
• Identify and assess FAI and measurement-system gaps based on risk to product specifications.
• Provide technical findings and report sections to the SQA commodity SME for the consolidated assessment report.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, metrology, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent education and 10+ years of directly related experience.
• 7+ years of dimensional metrology, quality engineering, or precision inspection experience.