Program Quality Manager

Employer description

Looking for an opportunity to make an impact?

At Leidos, we deliver innovative solutions through the efforts of our diverse and talented people who are dedicated to our customers’ success. We empower our teams, contribute to our communities, and operate sustainably. Everything we do is built on a commitment to do the right thing for our customers, our people, and our community. Our Mission, Vision, and Values guide the way we do business.

Your greatest work is ahead!

Leidos’ Defense Mission Assurance is seeking a Program Quality Manager to join our team and serve as the accountable leader for program-level Mission Assurance integration. The Program Quality Manager establishes the program assurance strategy, ensures Product Assurance and Execution Assurance are planned and resourced, and verifies that Program Quality Engineers execute or confirm qualified execution of assurance activities before products are baselined, released, or delivered.

The position leads the program quality team, owns the Program Quality Plan and assurance sampling strategy, establishes and analyzes program quality metrics and Confidence Pulse inputs, and drives corrective and preventive action to verified closure. The Program Quality Manager interfaces directly with the customer and program management, remains accountable for assurance effectiveness rather than serving as the routine executor of assurance activities, and ensures compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and contractual quality requirements.

If this sounds like the kind of environment where you can thrive, keep reading!

Leidos Defense Sector provides a diverse portfolio of systems, solutions, and services covering land, sea, air, space, and cyberspace for customers worldwide. Solutions for Defense include enterprise and mission IT, large-scale intelligence systems, command and control, geospatial and data analytics, cybersecurity, logistics, training, and intelligence analysis and operations support. Our team is solving the world’s toughest security challenges for customers with “can’t fail” missions. To explore and learn more, click here!

Are you ready to make an impact? Share your resume with us today!

Primary Responsibilities.

Product Assurance

·       Ensure Product Assurance is performed on decision-based products, including plans, requirements, designs, test artifacts, verification evidence, acceptance data, supplier deliverables, and other products that drive downstream execution.

·       Ensure Product Assurance is planned, risk-based, performed or confirmed by a qualified role, recorded, and closed before the product is used as a downstream baseline or delivered to the customer.

·       Develop and maintain the Program Assurance Sampling Plan as part of the Program Quality Plan and adjust sampling movement based on assurance evidence and results.

·       Ensure quality clauses and standards identified through Assurance Readiness are flowed into Program Quality Plans, acceptance criteria, supplier controls, inspection strategies, and assurance activities, and coordinate unclear or changing requirements with Contracts and Quality Strategic Planning.

·       Ensure program inspection and Product Assurance sampling strategies, including statistically valid sampling where appropriate, are aligned to customer, regulatory, corporate, product-risk, and configuration requirements.

Execution Assurance

·       Ensure Execution Assurance is performed against Product-Assured, approved, and baselined plans, including the PMP, SEMP, CMP, IMS, test plans, supplier plans, and program-specific quality commitments.

·       Ensure lifecycle reviews, peer reviews, testing, configuration changes, supplier execution, manufacturing or production-readiness activities, and acceptance events occur when planned, meet applicable entry and exit criteria, and leave controlled objective evidence.

·       Ensure Execution Assurance verifies in real time that the program is doing what it said it would do and that objective evidence is complete, controlled, and accessible.

·       Coordinate program quality internal-audit and external-audit readiness, ensure applicable findings are recorded in the Common Audit Database (CAD) or the approved system of record, and verify corrective-action closure with required effectiveness evidence.

·       Maintain the program current-state assurance record in the Program Assurance Tracker and post results to CAD when formal records are required.

Performance Assurance & Reporting

·       Establish, monitor, and analyze program quality metrics, including yield, rework, NCR rates, and escape rates, along with targeted KPIs that drive performance visibility, process health, improvement, and compliance.

·       Ensure assurance results, dispositions, systemic trends, and escalations are recorded in CAD or the approved system of record and are used for Performance Assurance, Predictive Prevention, and monthly Confidence Pulse inputs.

·       Report regularly to senior program leadership on inspection results, KPI performance, audit outcomes, and quality improvement progress.

·       Report program quality risks, corrective actions, and progress to the customer, and serve as a voting member of the program risk board.

Predictive Prevention & Continuous Improvement

·       Analyze KPI trends and inspection data to proactively identify systemic issues, drive root cause investigations, and implement corrective and preventive actions.

·       Identify and escalate predictive program risks before they impact the customer, including conditions where engineering maturity, configuration, or documentation is insufficient.

·       Ensure program corrective actions, nonconformances, audit findings, requirement escapes, and customer concerns receive timely containment, root cause analysis, corrective action, and effectiveness verification.

·       Ensure requirement escapes on delivered product are recorded, classified, reviewed, and closed in accordance with the applicable requirement escape procedure.

·       Ensure improvement actions have accountable owners, due dates, measurable outcomes, and sustained-effectiveness evidence, and report status to the Mission Assurance Business Area Manager.

·       Drive continual improvement initiatives that enhance product conformity, reduce rework, and strengthen mission assurance.

Leadership & Team Development

·       Lead the program quality team and ensure compliance with AS9100, ISO 9001, and contractual quality standards.

·       Provide hands-on leadership, mentoring, and development to program quality staff, and coach and train the team to align with the corporate Quality Management System and Defense Sector requirements.

·       Ensure Program Quality Engineers actively inspect products or confirm full inspection by a qualified role, and verify execution in real time to prevent failure before it occurs.

·       Translate strategy into clear direction and priorities, develop successors, delegate meaningfully, and address performance issues promptly.

·       Conduct one-on-one status meetings with direct reports no less than every other week, with reasonable exceptions for travel and leave.

·       Oversee team use of Artificial Intelligence tools in accordance with applicable policy and procedure, and ensure AI output that informs a decision, finding, record, or deliverable is verified by a qualified human before use.

·       Address escalated quality issues in a timely manner and surface systemic issues with proposed solutions.

·       Foster a program quality culture committed to excellence and Leidos values.

Program Interfaces & Deliverables

·        Interface directly with customers and program management as the program quality authority.

·        Collaborate with Operations to ensure production readiness for contract delivery, and partner with Engineering, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain teams to achieve first-pass yield and product reliability objectives.

·        Collaborate with Manufacturing Quality, Supplier Quality, and Compliance Quality teams, and coordinate with the Site Compliance Manager on ISO/AS certification readiness, program evidence, and finding closure for program activity performed at certified sites.

·        Serve as a stakeholder for quality throughout the business lifecycle, including new business capture, procurement, and program execution.

·        Own and deliver program quality products, including the Program Quality Plan, Acceptance Criteria Matrix, Assurance Readiness package, monthly Confidence Pulse, program risk and quality dashboard, baselined checklists for engineering reviews, delivery evidence packages, and Quality Status Reports.

Basic Qualifications.

·       Bachelor’s degree in Quality Management, Engineering, Industrial Management, Business Administration, or related field preferred.

·       8+ years of experience in quality engineering, program quality, or quality systems management within the defense, aerospace, or regulated manufacturing industry, including 3+ years leading or managing a quality team.

·       Experience owning program-level quality planning, including quality plans, acceptance criteria, and inspection or sampling strategy.

·       Working knowledge of:

AS9100 and/or ISO 9001Government contract quality requirementsContractual quality clause flowdownConfiguration management and baseline controlInternal quality management systems·       Experience with root cause analysis, corrective and preventive action, and verification of effectiveness.

·       Experience establishing and reporting quality metrics and KPIs to program leadership and customers.

·       Experience supporting internal and external audits and closing findings with objective evidence.

·       Ability to interpret contracts, specifications, drawings, technical documents, and regulatory requirements.

·       Ability to interface directly with Government or prime customers and program leadership.

·       Key Competencies

Program Quality PlanningProduct & Execution AssuranceQuality Metrics & KPI AnalysisRoot Cause & Corrective Action ManagementRisk-Based Decision MakingCustomer & Program InterfaceSupplier & Manufacturing Quality CoordinationConfiguration & Evidence ControlTeam Leadership & MentoringData Integrity & Confidentiality·       Excellent analytical, organizational, and communication skills.

·       Ability to manage multiple program deadlines in a fast-paced environment.

·       Strong attention to detail and evidence accuracy.

·       Ability to obtain security clearance.

Preferred Qualifications

·       ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE).

·       ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE).

·       ISO 9001 or AS9100 Lead Auditor certification.

·       Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt.

·       Experience supporting DoD contracts or prime contractors.

·       Familiarity with AS9102 first article inspection and APQP or AS9145 practices.

·       Familiarity with ERP/MRP and PLM systems, preferably Windchill.

·       Experience with quality data analytics and dashboard reporting tools such as Power BI.

·       Experience serving as a voting member of a program risk board.

·       Security clearance eligibility or active clearance preferred.

If you’re looking for comfort, keep scrolling. At Leidos, we outthink, outbuild, and outpace the status quo — because the mission demands it. We’re not hiring followers. We’re recruiting the ones who disrupt, provoke, and refuse to fail. Step 10 is ancient history. We’re already at step 30 — and moving faster than anyone else dares.

Original Posting:October 20, 2026

For U.S. Positions: While subject to change based on business needs, Leidos reasonably anticipates that this job requisition will remain open for at least 3 days with an anticipated close date of no earlier than 3 days after the original posting date as listed above.

Pay Range:Pay Range $92,300.00 - $166,850.00

The Leidos pay range for this job level is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. Additional factors considered in extending an offer include (but are not limited to) responsibilities of the job, education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, as well as internal equity, alignment with market data, applicable bargaining agreement (if any), or other law.