Job Description Summary

The Senior Manager, Technology & Quality is a hands-on, enterprise-minded leader who will elevate Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost (SQDC) outcomes at the NGS joint venture Nicalon fibers operation in Toyama, Japan. As a secondee from GE Aerospace, you will bring a customer-driven mindset, respect for people, and continuous improvement rigor to strengthen the plant's Quality Management System, mature manufacturing technology, and build team's capability. You will lead with unyielding integrity, ensuring compliance to AS9100/ISO 9001, and deploy lean principles consistent with GE Aerospace's FLIGHT DECK behaviors to reduce defects, stabilize processes, and accelerate new product introduction.

Job Description

Company Overview:

Are you ready to see your career take flight? At GE Aerospace, we believe the world works better when it flies. We are a world-leading provider of jet engines, components, and integrated systems for commercial and military aircraft. We have a relentless dedication to the future of safe and more sustainable flight and believe in our talented people to make it happen.

Location: NGS Advanced Fiber Co., Ltd., Toyama, Japan 
Function: Manufacturing Technology and Quality Operations senior leadership role reports to NGS Joint Venture President with strong functional linkage to the parent company GE Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Technology and Quality.

Role Overview:

Process Stability, Yield, and Flow:

• Champion manufacturing process control, continuous improvement and problem-solving using lean, Six Sigma, Statistical Process Control (SPC), and visual management to eliminate waste, reduce variability, and improve first-pass yield.

• Drive process capability (Cp/Cpk) process control plan rigor, and mistake-proofing (poka-yoke) across raw materials through final acceptance.

• Partner with operations and maintenance departments to stabilize material flow; protect the bottleneck, reduce Work In Progress (WIP), and improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Technical Authority and Shop-Floor Enablement:

• Serve as site subject matter expert for Nicalon product family of silicon carbide fiber manufacturing processes, process controls, testing, and specifications.

• Lead complex troubleshooting and containment with speed; convert learnings into preventive controls and updated standard work.

• Ensure effective metrology, calibration, and lab methods aligned to customer and specification requirements.

Quality Management System (QMS) Leadership:

• Own the plant-wide QMS: maintain, improve, and simplify to ensure robust compliance to AS9100/ISO 9001 and relevant regulatory and customer requirements.

• Embed standard work and layered process audits to verify process adherence and product conformity.

• Lead change control, document control, and configuration management with discipline and speed.

People Leadership and Culture:

• Lead, coach, and develop process and quality engineers, analysts, and lab technicians; build a technical talent strength that can scale with future capacity expansion.

• Foster a culture of safety, respect, transparency, and kaizen; recognize wins and develop talent through Gemba-based mentoring.

• Align objectives and key results to SQDC and cascade daily management routines.

Customer and Supplier Collaboration:

• Act as primary interface for customer quality topics; own and drive structured problem solving, rapid response, and verification of effectiveness.

• Qualify and develop suppliers; align incoming material quality plans, specifications, and performance management for on time quality delivery.

• Ensure robust process change and qualification processes where applicable and clear traceability throughout the Nicalon process value stream.

Audit, Compliance, and Risk Management:

• Plan and lead internal audits; ensure readiness for external/customer audits and regulatory assessments.

• Manage nonconformances, corrective and preventive actions (CAPA), and risk tools (FMEA, control plans).

• Maintain disciplined records and traceability that withstand audit scrutiny.

New Product Introduction (NPI) and Technology Maturation:

• Partner with operations department and customers to industrialize new grades and products with quality built-in: Design for Manufacturing (DFM), Design for Quality (DFQ), Process Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (PFMEA), control plans, Measurement System Analysis (MSA), process capability at launch.

• Lead validation and qualification plans; ensure manufacturability at scale with stable Safety, Quality, Cost and Delivery.

Data, Insights, and Operating Rhythm:

• Establish and maintain leading and lagging KPIs with transparent tiered dashboards.

• Analyze trends in Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ), scrap, rework, customer complaints, and escapes; translate insights into targeted kaizen and capital/automation cases.

• Run a crisp operating cadence: daily tier meetings, weekly SQDC reviews, and monthly leadership updates with clear actions and owners.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Ideal candidate brings deep expertise and experience in advanced materials (high‑performance fibers, polymers, ceramics), proven leadership of cross‑functional teams in a joint‑venture environment, 3+ years of experience in AS9100/ISO 9001, and a track record of stabilizing materials processes to meet stringent aerospace safety and quality requirements while driving zero‑defect quality, problem solving, and continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in engineering (Chemical, Materials Science, Mechanical, Aerospace) or related technical field required; Master's degree is highly preferred.

• A minimum of 8+ years in manufacturing process engineering and/or quality control within a production environment, preferably in adjacent high‑performance fiber industries (such as SiC fiber or carbon fiber). Global or joint-venture experience is considered a plus.

• A strong working knowledge of materials processing; quality management systems (AS9100/ISO 9001); SPC; MSA; PFMEA/DFMEA; control plans; 8D; 5 Whys; and structured problem solving is desired.

• Certifications: Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and quality control experience is highly preferred.

• Tools: Proficiency with Minitab, JMP or equivalent statistical software; experience with quality systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Customer-Driven: Start with the customer, protect the end-user, and design for zero defects.

• Respect for People: Develop others, listen at the Gemba, and lead with humility.

• Continuous Improvement: Bias for action, standardize then improve, and make problems visible.

• Integrity & Compliance: Do the right thing, the right way, every time.

Travel and Language:

• Travel: Up to 20% for customer, supplier, and joint venture network visits.

• Language: Applicants must be Japanese citizens or permanent residents of Japan. Strong verbal and written communication in English are preferred to work effectively in a bilingual Japan–U.S. joint venture collaborations. 

At GE Aerospace, we have a relentless dedication to the future of safe and more sustainable flight and believe in our talented people to make it happen. Here, you will have the opportunity to work on really cool things with really smart and collaborative people. Together, we will mobilize a new era of growth in aerospace and defense. Where others stop, we accelerate.

Additional Information

Relocation Assistance Provided: Yes

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