Product Quality Engineer

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for a secure, resilient future. With a focus on national security and economic resiliency, we serve critical industries such as defense, aerospace, and automotive powering a high-technology future. Vulcan Elements is building a team of ambitious professionals committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence and Integrity.   About the Role   As a  Product Quality Engineer , you will own the translation and execution of customer product quality requirements from initial development samples through production qualification and ongoing supply. You will ensure that customer drawings, specifications, quality requirements, and acceptance criteria are clearly understood internally; that appropriate inspection and testing are completed; and that objective evidence demonstrates product conformance before customer release.   Sitting within the Commercial Development team, you will serve as the primary technical quality interface between customers and Vulcan's R&D, Manufacturing, Process Quality, and Commercial teams. While Process Quality owns manufacturing process control and capability, you own whether the delivered product meets customer requirements, is supported by the required evidence, and is ready for customer qualification and release.   This role will be located at our Pilot Operations Facility in Durham, NC.   Responsibilities   Customer Requirements & Qualification   Own customer qualification from requirements intake through customer approval, including PPAP, FAI, validation plans, customer-specific requirements, and supporting documentation.   Build and maintain qualification plans for each customer part, including required samples, tests, documentation, owners, dependencies, approval gates, and objective evidence required for customer approval.   Translate customer drawings, specifications, quality manuals, and supplier requirements into defined inspection, test, acceptance, documentation, and traceability requirements; ensure they are incorporated into applicable inspection methods, production control plans, and quality procedures.   Establish and maintain the authoritative record of customer product quality requirements for each part number, including drawing and specification revisions, customer-specific requirements, special characteristics, inspection and testing requirements, approved deviations, qualification status, and required shipment documentation.   Lead quality onboarding for new customers, including supplier portals, quality questionnaires, certifications, process-control evidence, and customer-specific documentation.   Sample, Test & Delivery Execution   Own quality execution of customer sample and qualification builds from build planning through release, ensuring required inspections, tests, and documentation are complete before shipment.   Define inspection requirements, sampling plans, acceptance criteria, and release criteria based on customer drawings, specifications, qualification requirements, and applicable industry standards.   Drive R&D, Manufacturing, Process Quality, Commercial, and external suppliers against qualification requirements and timelines; identify gaps and drive actions required to maintain customer commitments.   Coordinate qualification testing with internal and external labs; ensure required samples are available, review results against customer acceptance criteria, and compile customer-ready test evidence.   Review inspection and test results against customer requirements and disposition product for release, additional evaluation, deviation, or containment.   Define product quality requirements for outsourced manufacturing and testing processes and verify resulting product meets requirements before customer release.   Product Quality & Corrective Action   Own customer-facing quality issues from initial notification through closure, including containment, product disposition, technical customer communication, corrective-action tracking, and effectiveness verification.   Lead customer nonconformance and deviation processes, including Supplier Deviation Requests, 8D responses, CAPAs, returns, and customer-required corrective-action submissions.   Drive containment of suspect product across WIP, finished goods, external processors, and customer shipments; ensure affected material cannot proceed without documented disposition.   Partner with Process Quality, Manufacturing, and R&D to determine root cause and implement corrective actions; ensure actions address customer requirements and are supported by evidence required for customer closure.   Track customer product quality performance, including defects, PPM, returns, deviations, containments, corrective-action aging, and qualification status.   Convert recurring product quality issues into defined changes to inspection methods, product requirements, process controls, supplier controls, or QMS procedures.   Responsibilities and tasks outlined are not exhaustive and may change as determined by the needs of the business   Qualifications   BS or MS in Mechanical, Materials, Manufacturing, Chemical, Industrial Engineering, or related technical discipline.   3+ years of experience in product quality, customer quality, manufacturing quality, supplier quality, or product/production engineering in a hardware manufacturing environment.   Experience translating technical drawings, specifications, and customer requirements into inspection, test, and acceptance criteria.   Experience supporting product qualification, validation, or production release, including review and disposition of inspection and test results.   Demonstrated experience supporting prototype-to-production or new product introduction in a manufacturing environment.   Experience investigating nonconforming product and executing containment, root cause analysis, corrective