Sr. Manager, Quality

Vulcan Elements is manufacturing American rare-earth permanent magnets for critical defense, aerospace, automotive, and industrial applications. We are building a team committed to Mission Focus, Technical Excellence, and Integrity. The Senior Manager, Quality will build and lead the Quality organization for Vulcan Elements' Benson manufacturing facility. This leader will establish the plant Quality Management System, lead ISO 9001 certification, stand up the analytical laboratory and production quality capabilities, and ensure Benson is prepared to qualify and release commercial product. The role spans the complete value stream—from incoming materials and metallurgical processing through machining, coating, magnetic characterization, dimensional inspection, and finished-product release. The Senior Manager will work closely with R&D, the pilot facility, Manufacturing Engineering, Operations, Commercial, and customers to transfer product and process knowledge into capable, repeatable commercial quality controls. This role begins in Durham, NC and is expected to move to Benson, NC upon completion of new facility. Responsibilities Build and lead the Benson Quality organization, including quality engineering, laboratory, metrology/inspection, and supplier quality capabilities. Establish the plant Quality Management System and lead Benson through ISO 9001 certification, with systems scalable to automotive and aerospace customer requirements. Establish effective processes for nonconformance and product disposition, corrective action, traceability, calibration, audits, change control, and continuous improvement. Own the buildout and readiness of the Benson analytical laboratory and production inspection capability for product commissioning, qualification, and full-rate manufacturing. Define required laboratory and metrology equipment, technical requirements and acceptance criteria; partner with Procurement and Engineering to place equipment POs and manage vendors through installation, calibration, training, and acceptance. Partner with R&D and the pilot facility on analytical and test-method development, and own their validation, transfer, control, and implementation for commercial production. Lead the cross-functional development and release of process flows, PFMEAs, Control Plans, inspection/test plans, sampling strategies, MSA, and reaction plans for critical material, process, and finished-part characteristics. Serve as the Quality lead for pilot-to-commercial technology transfer, ensuring critical material attributes, process parameters, test methods, specifications, and lessons learned are incorporated into commercial manufacturing controls. Work closely with Commercial and customer teams to translate customer drawings, specifications, and qualification requirements into measurable manufacturing controls and acceptance criteria. Ensure manufacturing processes and measurement systems demonstrate appropriate capability…