Title: Customer Quality Engineer
Reports to: Quality Engineering Lead
Imagine working at the forefront of innovation in fluid-flow technology, with over 1400 colleagues across the globe, and contributing to a legacy of excellence that spans eight manufacturing facilities on four continents. Armstrong Fluid Technology is more than just a leader in our industry; we are a community of the brightest and most creative minds, driven by a shared mission to engineer the future and safeguard our planet.
As a member of our team, you'll dive into an environment that encourages learning and boundary-pushing every day. You'll be part of an agile and dynamic workplace where today's solutions are built for tomorrow's challenges.
In this role, the Customer Quality Engineer is responsible for managing and improving the quality relationship between Armstrong Fluid Technology and assigned customers, acting as the primary quality contact to ensure customer requirements are understood, communicated and achieved throughout the project lifecycle. Working closely with Project Management, Engineering, Production, Procurement and other internal teams, the role takes ownership of customer quality concerns, drives effective problem resolution and proactively identifies opportunities to improve product and project quality, helping to build customer confidence, reduce quality issues and ensure products and solutions consistently meet customer expectations.
Key Accountabilities
Customer Relationship Management
- Take ownership of the quality relationship with an assigned customer or customer portfolio.
- Act as the primary point of contact for customer quality-related matters.
- Develop and maintain effective relationships with customer representatives and key stakeholders.
- Understand customer-specific quality requirements, specifications and expectations.
- Attend customer meetings, quality reviews and project discussions as required.
- Represent the customer's quality interests within Armstrong.
Inspection and Verification
- Oversee and coordinate incoming, in-process, and final inspection activities to ensure adherence to quality standards and customer-specific requirements.
- Optimize quality control efficiency and effectiveness by implementing sound quality sampling methods.
- Dimensional checks against GA/isometrics, bolt torque, gasket type, flow direction, and tagging.
- Oversee NDT coordination (VT, PT/MT, RT/UT as applicable); review reports and close out findings.
- Ensure inspection activities and records provide the required evidence of conformity against the assigned customer's specifications and quality requirements.
- Coordinate and support customer hold and witness points, ensuring inspection readiness and appropriate documentation is available.
Standards, Compliance & Documentation
- Ensure builds conform to specifications, P&IDs, isometrics, and applicable codes (e.g., ISO 9001 QMS, PED/UKCA where applicable, ASME/EN pipework standards, electrical standards), alongside customer-specific specifications and contractual quality requirements.
- Maintain device/heat-number traceability; control calibrated instruments and welding consumables per procedure.
- Create/own ITPs, quality plans, inspection checklists, and weld maps; manage NCRs, concessions, and corrective actions.
- Produce data books/turnover dossiers: MTCs, WPS/PQR/WPQR, welder logs, NDT & pressure test records, electrical test certs, FAT/SAT reports.
- Manage customer quality documentation and deliverables, ensuring requirements are met accurately and on time.
- Coordinate customer concessions, deviations and approvals, maintaining appropriate records and traceability.
Problem Solving & Continuous Improvement
- Lead the NCR Management System (5 Whys, Ishikawa) with measurable effectiveness checks in place.
- Ensure that all SPC defects / first-pass yield / defect Pareto data is used to target chronic issues (e.g., gasket seating, torque scatter, cable terminations).
- Feed manufacturability improvements back to Design (Poka-Yoke, standardization of valves/instrumentation, clearer isos/BOMs).
- Lead investigations into customer quality concerns, ensuring effective containment, root cause analysis and corrective actions.
- Monitor recurring issues and quality trends to drive preventative improvement and demonstrate corrective action effectiveness to the customer.
Collaboration & Customer Leadership
- Coach employees on inspection criteria, pressure-test safety, cleanliness standards, and E&I test methods.
- Participate in daily stand-ups and readiness reviews; provide clear quality status and risk visibility to PMs and Production.
- Host client/third-party inspectors; manage hold/witness points and close comments professionally.
- Act as the key Quality Engineering link between the customer and internal teams, building effective relationships and ensuring requirements and concerns are clearly understood.
- Work cross-functionally to resolve customer quality issues, challenge risks and drive actions to completion.
- Represent Quality at customer meetings, visits, audits and inspections, ensuring appropriate preparation and follow-up.
Product Customer Quality Performance
- Monitor relevant quality KPIs for the assigned customer, including NCRs, first-pass yield, rework, customer complaints, corrective action closure and inspection performance.
- Identify adverse trends and work with internal stakeholders to agree improvement actions before issues escalate.
- Provide regular quality performance updates to both the customer and internal stakeholders, tailored to the appropriate audience.
- Maintain oversight of open customer quality actions and ensure appropriate ownership, timescales and escalation are in place.
- Support lessons-learned activity to ensure customer feedback and previous quality issues are incorporated into future projects and builds.
What We are Looking For
To thrive in this role, you should bring:
Education & Experience
- Level Degree in Mechanical/Electrical/Manufacturing Engineering or similar or equivalent relevant experience within Quality Engineering.
- Solid, hands-on experience in mechanical/electromechanical fabrication or modular plant construction.
- Strong Quality Engineering experience within a manufacturing, engineering or project-based environment.
- Experience working directly with customers on quality matters, including quality concerns, technical queries, inspections or corrective actions.
- Experience managing customer complaints, NCRs and structured root cause/corrective action processes.
- Experience participating in customer audits, project reviews, FATs or third-party inspections would be advantageous.
- Experience supporting customer-specific quality requirements throughout a project or product lifecycle would be advantageous.
Technical Skills
- Ability to read and interpret P&IDs, isometrics, GA drawings, electrical schematics and technical data sheets.
- Competent in precision measurement, pressure testing, torquing methods and electrical test equipment.
- Knowledge of welding quality, material traceability and NDT methods.
- Working knowledge of ISO 9001 QMS, relevant industry standards and project documentation controls.
- Strong root cause analysis and problem-solving capability, including 5 Whys, Ishikawa, SPC and CAPA.
- Ability to interpret customer specifications and translate technical and contractual quality requirements into practical controls and actions.
Soft Skills
- Excellent Strong customer-facing communication and relationship-management skills, with confidence representing Quality and managing challenging conversations.
- Strong influencing and collaboration skills, with the ability to coordinate actions across multiple functions.
- Excellent organisation and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing customer, technical and project requirements.
- High level of ownership and accountability, with a proactive, solutions-focused approach to resolving customer quality concerns.
Why Armstrong Fluid Technology?
By joining us, you’ll become part of a global community dedicated to pushing the boundaries of fluid-flow technology. You’ll have endless opportunities to learn, grow, and make a significant impact on the world. Together, we'll build tomorrow’s solutions today.
