Quality Engineer – Manufacturing
Location: Waukegan, IL
Job Type: Full-Time | On-Site| Direct-Hire
This is a fully on-site position. Candidates must be able to reliably commute to the facility.
About the Opportunity
We're working with an established manufacturing company in Waukegan, IL, looking for a Quality Engineer who enjoys solving problems, improving manufacturing processes, and ensuring products meet customer specifications.
This is a great opportunity for someone with hands-on manufacturing quality experience who understands engineering drawings, inspection processes, and quality documentation.
You'll work closely with production, engineering, customers, and suppliers to improve quality, reduce defects, and support new product launches.
What You'll Be Doing
- Develop and maintain inspection plans for incoming materials, production processes, and finished products.
- Prepare and manage PPAP documentation, submissions, and customer approvals.
- Support APQP, PFMEA, Control Plans, and new product introduction activities.
- Review engineering drawings, specifications, and GD&T requirements.
- Create ballooned drawings and inspection documentation.
- Support First Article Inspection Reports (FAIR) and dimensional validation.
- Investigate manufacturing defects and lead root cause analysis and corrective actions.
- Work with suppliers and customers to resolve quality concerns.
- Review inspection results, identify trends, and recommend improvements.
- Support internal audits, quality systems, and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Review final quality documentation to ensure products meet requirements before shipment.
What We're Looking For
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, Mechatronics Engineering, or a related technical field or relative experience
- Minimum 2 years of engineering experience in manufacturing or an equivalent field.
- Experience with manufacturing quality processes, inspection planning, or product validation.
- Knowledge of PPAP, APQP, PFMEA, and Control Plans.
- Ability to read engineering drawings and interpret GD&T.
- Experience with root cause analysis and corrective action methods.
- Strong mechanical aptitude, attention to detail, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to communicate effectively with production teams, suppliers, and customers.
Preferred Qualifications:
- 3+ years of manufacturing quality engineering experience.
- Experience with metal fabrication, machining, welding, or assembly.
- Familiarity with High QA Inspection Builder.
- Experience with dimensional inspection equipment, CMMs, and precision measuring tools.
- Lean Six Sigma or ASQ certification.
- Experience supporting automotive, aerospace, agricultural, or heavy equipment manufacturing.
Who Would Be a Great Fit?
Someone who doesn't just identify a quality issue but wants to understand why it happened and how to prevent it from happening again.
We're looking for someone who enjoys working directly with manufacturing teams and turning technical quality requirements into practical solutions.
If you enjoy manufacturing, technical problem-solving, and improving product quality, we'd love to hear from you.
Pay: $70,000.00 - $80,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Flexible schedule
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Professional development assistance
- Referral program
- Retirement plan
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
Experience:
- preparing and submitting PPAP documentation: 3 years (Preferred)
- working with APQP, PFMEA, and Control Plans: 3 years (Required)
- reading engineering drawings and interpreting GD&T: 3 years (Required)
- metal fabrication, sheet metal, machining, or industrial : 3 years (Required)
- inspection plans&performing dimensional inspections: 3 years (Required)
Work Location: In person
