Manufacturing Principal Engineer - Customer Quality

About the role

This Manufacturing Principal Engineer position drives rapid response and effective resolution of key customer quality issues from the manufacturing side. It leads cross-functional coordination so that containment, root cause analysis and sustainable corrective actions are delivered on time, improving customer satisfaction and product quality.

Key responsibilities

• Act as the primary manufacturing interface for customer quality concerns, complaints and escalations, running a fast response mechanism (for example 24-hour containment, 48-hour initial analysis, regular updates).
• Evaluate major quality incidents quickly, including risk assessment and containment decisions.
• Lead structured problem solving using methods such as 8D, 5 Whys and Fishbone, coordinating Production, Process Engineering, Quality and Supply Chain teams.
• Ensure containment actions, root cause identification and permanent corrective actions are implemented and closed on schedule.
• Serve as technical liaison with customer quality and engineering teams, prepare 8D and RCA reports, and take part in customer meetings, audits and site visits.
• Drive process improvements that raise yield, stability and reliability, promote error-proofing and standardized work, and set up controls and early-warning mechanisms.
• Lead lessons learned, update PFMEA and Control Plans, support quality risk assessment during new product introduction, and define and monitor customer quality KPIs such as complaint rate, PPM and 8D closure time.
• Work with Supplier Quality Engineering on supplier issues and support Procurement and R&D in quality-related technical evaluations.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree or above in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, process engineering or a related field.
• Minimum 5-8 years of experience in manufacturing, process engineering or quality engineering.
• At least 2-3 years supporting key customer quality issues or working in customer-facing roles.
• Experience in HVAC industry manufacturing preferred.
• Experience leading cross-functional problem-solving or improvement projects.
• Fluent in English, written and spoken.

Required skills

• Hands-on experience with structured problem-solving methods (8D, 5 Whys, Fishbone)
• Familiarity with products, manufacturing processes and quality systems and standards
• Failure analysis and manufacturing process optimization