Quality Assurance Manager

PURPOSE STATEMENT

This individual will play a versatile, hands-on role in identifying and translating business requirements into user stories and drive solutions as part of the Smart Factory roadmap by partnering with technology development teams. In this role, you will provide leadership and guidance to maximize the value of the priority Smart Factory products across our United States and Canada manufacturing facilities. As part of the Smart Factory Agile Team, this individual will work within the Agile Scrum methodology to facilitate the creation of products with the Scrum Development Team. This is a remote position but must be able to travel to manufacturing sites and offices up to 50% as needed.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES/OUTCOMES

•    Works closely with key stakeholders and customers throughout the organization to uncover business needs, establish goals, and create a vision for Smart Factory products within a Value Domain. May provide perspective and influence the scope and direction of initiatives.
•    Leads stakeholder analysis, definition of requirements, and technology evaluation for priority Smart Factory use cases and technologies that enable Total Productive Manufacturing (TPM).
•    Partners with cross-functional team members in creating and maintaining the feature list (backlog items) and supports prioritizing them by considering business needs, feature value, and risks. Participates in Agile Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, and Sprint Reviews.
•    Holds a primary role in inspecting and evaluating product progress through each Sprint and product iteration. The Product Owner makes the judgment call on the performance, deciding if the team needs to revisit work or if they can move on to the next step.
•    Leads regular demonstrations of product progress, both to sponsors and to plant users. Coordinates the testing of product features and seeks feedback to improve functionality.
•    Creates solution-focused user stories with complete descriptions and acceptance criteria, that are tied to project value drivers.
•    Serves as the primary communicator between manufacturing customers and the development team. This is done by establishing the vision of a product with the development team and leading that team to build the best product possible. 
•    Develops and coordinates plant rollout schedules, communication plans, and change management strategy to implement Smart Factory use cases across sites. Develops TPM training materials to drive adoption and coaches plant users on usage and best practices.
•    Reports out frequently on product purpose and progress to leadership at all levels and other stakeholders. Is an active contributor to Agile Program Increment Planning Readouts and Inspect and Adapt ceremonies.

•    Is available to the development team to answer any questions team members have regarding the customer's needs and the customer's views of how the team is implementing a product feature.
•    Oversee vendor and third-party partnerships to facilitate the seamless execution of digital projects, adhering to project requirements.
•    Research and stay up to date on program best practices, recommending those which will benefit the organization.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS/EXPERIENCE

  ↵

•    Strong cross-cultural agility, business acumen, and strong leadership/ influencing skills - proven track record of acting as a valued partner to senior leadership
•    Experience in manufacturing Operations required
•    Experience with Lean/Six-Sigma or TPM required
•    Proficient with Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Project required
•    Bachelor’s degree in engineering, business, or related preferred
•    Working knowledge of the Agile Scrum methodology preferred
•    Must have excellent communication skills as they are primarily responsible for sharing the product vision with the development team
•    Strong presentation skills both in developing presentation slides and content, and sharing product progress and purpose
•    Able to influence the scope and direction of initiatives across multiple levels of leadership
•    Ability to understand technical challenges and make educated trade-offs with the team
•    Able to foster collaboration and act as a team member