Product Quality Engineer

Mill is a waste prevention technology company reimagining what it means to eliminate waste, starting with food. We build smart systems and infrastructure for homes, businesses, and municipalities that transform food scraps from landfill-bound waste into valuable resources, including chicken feed. Tens of thousands of Mill’s residential food recyclers are already helping households divert millions of pounds of food scraps every year, paving the way for our upcoming launch of Mill Commercial-the industry’s first end-to-end solution for managing, understanding, and preventing food waste in commercial environments (e.g. grocery, restaurants, food services). At Mill, we are passionate about building easy-to-use, beautifully designed technologies that keep food in the food system and out of landfills.

This role is based in Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX. 

About the Role:

As Mill’s Product Quality Engineer you will be responsible for ensuring that Mill’s hardware products are manufactured to the highest quality standards as our customers will expect. The Product Quality Engineer owns the Quality planning architecture and translates engineering intent into executable Quality standards for mass production. In this role, you will partner closely with the operations and engineering teams to establish meaningful quality metrics and drive Mill’s manufacturing and supply chain partners to achieve targets. This is a hands-on role and includes managing third party partners to ensure end to end product quality coverage. 

Responsibilities:

• Own the quality workstream for hardware NPI from prototype builds through PVT and mass production readiness.
• Apply deep understanding of Mill Hardware Quality and Manufacturing processes to lead the development of Quality Control Plan (QCP), inspection criteria, and acceptance standards for each development phase of the program.
• Establish quality processes throughout the manufacturing supply chain including first article inspections, in-process quality control, final quality control at our manufacturing partners. 
• Define and execute qualification test plans in partnership with the Mill Product Design and Systems Engineering; document pass/fail criteria, sample sizes, and objective evidence packages.
• Work closely with the Mill Product Design and Operations team to build Quality into the product. Participate and Lead DFM reviews, DFMEA/PFMEA risk analysis and help enforce actions for overall Quality improvement.  
• Be the on-site quality lead at the Contract Manufacturer (CM) for each development build - the first point of contact for any quality issue arising on the production floor. Drive real-time defect triage, escape containment, and issue escalation during active build phases. Review and approve CM build readiness prior to each build.  
• Track and report build quality metrics (yield by station, defect Pareto, escape rate, NCR count) to the cross-functional team on a daily or weekly cadence.
• Lead the design and development of gauges and inspection fixtures and eventual deployment at various manufacturing partners.
• Establish audit procedures applicable for each phase of the NPI product development phase and eventually for Mass Production. 
• Execute the review and approval of first article samples and product qualification activities in alignment with Mill Engineering.
• Travel estimated around 50% during peak NPI periods and Mass Production Launch.

Qualifications:

• 8+ years experience in Product Quality, Supplier Quality, NPI quality, or Manufacturing Quality Engineering roles. Preferred experience in industries serving consumer electronics or similar Contract Manufacturing roles. 
• Demonstrated knowledge of quality, reliability, supplier management, statistical analysis (SPC, Cpk/Ppk) and auditing techniques. Ability to use Minitab or equivalent analysis softwares.
• Hands-on experience across all NPI build phases: proto, EVT, DVT, PVT - or equivalent New Product to Mass Production Launch.
• Professional working level English (B2 or higher.) 
• Exceptional program management, communication and teamwork skills.
• Ability to operate in dynamic, fast-paced environment with minimal supervision.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to represent quality status and risk to Leadership.
• Engineering degree (MS or BS in Engineering) in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.