Associate Director, Quality (Key Customer)

We’re looking for people who put their innovation to work to advance our success – and their own. Join an organization that ensures a more secure world through connecting and protecting our customers with inventive electrical solutions. The Associate Director of Quality, Key Customer is a strategic quality leader responsible for shaping and delivering the Data Center Solutions quality strategy while serving as the primary quality owner for a critical, high impact customer. This role ensures products, processes, suppliers, and quality systems consistently meet or exceed customer, regulatory, and enterprise requirements. The role spans enterprise quality strategy and governance, multi-site operational execution, and deep customer partnership. The Associate Director of Quality drives quality excellence across Data Center Solutions business units, manufacturing sites, and supplier networks, serving as both a strategic advisor to leadership and hands on leader during critical issues, audits, and growth initiatives. This position acts as a gatekeeper for growth—ensuring quality systems, talent, and processes scale effectively with business expansion—while embedding a strong culture of prevention, accountability, and continuous improvement. WHAT YOU WILL EXPERIENCE IN THIS POSITION: Enterprise Quality Strategy & Governance Develop and deploy a unified Data Center Solutions quality vision, strategy, and governance model aligned with enterprise objectives. Establish and harmonize quality standards, metrics, policies, and procedures across sites and segments. Provide regular quality performance insights, risk assessments, and recommendations to executive leadership. Champion a consistent, enterprise-wide quality culture focused on prevention, transparency, and operational rigor. Customer Centric Quality Leadership Serve as the primary quality point of contact for a strategically critical key customer. Build trusted, collaborative relationships with customer quality, engineering, procurement, and leadership teams. Represent the organization in customer audits, business reviews, escalations, and governance forums. Translate customer requirements into internal quality strategies, priorities, and execution plans. Own customer quality key performance indicators, including PPM, complaints, corrective actions, audit outcomes, and field performance. Quality Management Systems (QMS) & Compliance Lead the enterprise QMS framework to ensure compliance with ISO 9001 and all applicable customer and industry standards. Drive QMS alignment and integration with digital quality systems and enterprise platforms. Oversee global internal, supplier, and customer audit programs, ensuring timely and effective closure of CAPAs. Ensure disciplined change management, validation, and documentation practices across the organization. Product & Process Quality Excellence Drive structured problem solving and root cause analysis to resolve chronic and systemic quality issues. Partner with Engineering, Operations, Logistics, and Supply Chain to embed quality into product design, NPI, and manufacturing processes. Lead and govern APQP, PPAP, FMEA, SPC, control plans, and validation activities. Strengthen inspection strategies, control plans, and risk-based verification processes. Supplier Quality & External Partnerships Develop and lead the enterprise supplier quality strategy in partnership with Sourcing and Procurement. Oversee supplier qualification, audits, NCR/CAPA management, and ongoing performance monitoring. Direct incoming quality control (IQC) and receiving inspection strategies to reduce escapes while optimizing dock to stock cycle times. Collaborate with suppliers and engineering teams during NPI to ensure production readiness and specification compliance. Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement Lead large scale, data driven continuous improvement initiatives using Lean, Six Sigma, and related methodologies. Establish and manage enterprise dashboards for defects, cost of poor quality (COPQ), audit performance, and customer metrics. Identify and deploy digital quality tools to advance analytics, monitoring, and predictive quality capabilities. Proactively identify operational and quality risks and drive mitigation plans. Leadership & Talent Development Lead, develop, and scale a high performing, multi-site quality organization across manufacturing, supplier quality, and corporate functions. Coach and mentor site and segment quality leaders, building depth, capability, and succession strength. Influence cross-functional leaders without direct authority to ensure alignment and accountability. Serve as a trusted quality authority and advisor across the enterprise. YOU HAVE: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Science, or a related technical field. Master’s degree preferred. 12+ years of progressive experience in Quality, Operations, or Engineering, including multi-site and/or global leadership. Demonstrated success leading enterprise-wide quality initiatives and complex customer quality relationships. Deep expertise in Quality Management Systems, standards, and regulatory requirements (e.g., ISO 9001). Proven ability to lead multi-functional, geographically distributed teams. Exceptional analytical, structured problem solving, and root cause analysis skills. Strong executive presence with the ability to translate complex quality data into actionable business insights. Professional quality certifications (CQE, CQM/OE, CQA) preferred. Six Sigma Black Belt or higher preferred. Experience leading supplier quality organizations and global supply bases. Advanced knowledge of enterprise quality systems and digital quality platforms. WE HAVE: A dynamic global reach with diverse operations around the world that will stretch your abilities, provide plentiful career opportunities, and allow you to make an impact every day nVent is a leading gl