Quality Engineer

Title:

OVERVIEW

QUALITY ENGINEER

Position Summary

The Quality Engineer provides assurance that the quality management system is adequate, effectively implemented and enables the delivery of expected results. This provides assurance that requirements are met to achieve the effective and efficient delivery of our mission at best value for our customers, as well as identifying improvements and facilitate delivery of quality improvements that deliver sustained benefit.

To plan, evaluate, verify, and certify quality, proposing and embedding improvements where necessary to ensure delivery is effective, minimises the cost and/or consequence of failure and meets customer, stakeholder and/or PPP specifications and requirements.

Deploying quality assurance and control activities to support right first-time delivery for their area.

Deploying quality improvement plans in accordance with relevant objectives. Using, capturing and sharing learning from experience to support improvement in quality performance

Key Responsibilities

Establishing management systems:

• Develop, maintain, improve – and provide coaching on the use of – local management systems to enable effective delivery.

• Verifying that quality requirements are adequately specified and complied with at a project, facility/operations level, within Sellafield Ltd and in the supplier chain.

Planning for quality

• Interface and engage with key stakeholders to promote a joined-up approach to quality and safety across Sellafield.

• Assess the ability of suppliers to meet specified requirements and participate in Evaluation Boards as necessary.

• Engage with relevant disciplines / functions to translate requirements and expectations, taking consideration of risks and opportunities and learning from experience (LFE); contribute to supplier opening up meetings.

• Work collaboratively with integrated teams to prepare and implement quality plans and inspection plans, including co-ordination of surveillances required to monitor quality standards in line with specifications.

• Review and accept relevant documentation including supply chain quality submissions.

• Define quality and lifetime record strategies for a project, operation, activity or contract to ensure a demonstrable audit trail that the product/service meets the required specifications.

• Promote the SL Quality Policy and support the development of healthy quality culture. This includes Right First Time delivery and ownership of quality in the line, so that quality is understood to be a critical enabler to Nuclear Safety, Environment and good overall operational delivery.

• Assist in the delivery of the appropriate Nuclear Safety Education Package where required Applying quality assurance and control

• Define and implement QA/QC activities (including measuring, monitoring, verification, validation and certification) to deliver the expected results;

• Provide coaching on quality tools and practices to guide others on how to achieve the best outcome and achieve right first time.

• Analyse QA/QC outputs (e.g. using appropriate statistical techniques and root cause analysis) to determine products or services conform to requirements; engage with integrated teams to determine potential solutions.

• Liaise with the quality control and technical service providers to deliver objectives.

• Communicate quality performance to management to enable effective decisions and appropriate mitigating actions.

Monitoring, measuring, auditing and reviewing

• Develop and implement the audit / assurance and surveillance programme; take responsibility for planning and carrying out assessments for their area.

• Test that specification requirements are accurately cascaded within the appropriate area of the business e.g. Operations project and the associated supply chain.

• Use and develop appropriate tools and techniques (including key performance indicators/dashboards) to monitor quality performance and measure processes effectiveness.

• Provide oversight and assurance of the quality management system, including advice to users on quality matters.

• Support the facilitation of 3rd party certification audits. Driving continuous improvement

• Identify, capture and share LFE and best practice to promote continual improvement of Quality Performance

• Apply improvement tools and techniques, and structured methodologies to analyse problems and implement solutions to provide benefits to the business.

• Investigate quality related concerns and events, and identify appropriate corrective/preventive action, escalating quality issues to management.

• Identify and implement quality improvements and influence management to implement changes.

• Promote and monitor the close out of actions taken to address performance gaps and evaluate effectiveness of change/ improvement.

Authorities:

For their area of responsibility;

• Accepts/rejects quality plans and other quality related documentation on behalf of SL.

• Accepts/rejects Lifetime Quality records on behalf of SL.

• Raises any quality deviation or non-conformance as an event to trigger investigation and learning.

Dimensions:

• Roles will be assigned to specific areas of the site and specialise in quality processes relevant to that area (e.g. verification or certification)

The Person

Knowledge & Experience

• Graduate in relevant discipline OR professional qualification (e.g. CQI Diploma (Level 5)).

• Membership of the CQI or other relevant professional body.

• Lower level qualifications MAY be considered and accepted for candidates with substantial professional work experience in quality related roles.

• Operational or Project experience within Sellafield or in an environment with similar complexity and risk, sufficient to understand and review end to end processes and propose quality improvements.

• Ability to form effective working relationships with Stakeholders

• Relevant security clearance level to access and inspect areas of site within area of responsibility (if applicable).

Essential Skills

• Understanding of the implications of poor quality for Sellafield Ltd and its wider stakeholders;

understanding and promoting of the behaviours that drive quality.

• Able to understand and interpret both customer and stakeholder requirements (including, where required, legislation and standards).

• Able to plan for effective quality delivery, taking consideration of risks and opportunities and learning for experience and to define and implement QA/QC activities.

• Able to work collaboratively with integrated teams to prepare quality plans and inspection plans and define requirements for life time records.

• Able to engage effectively with all levels of the PPP organisation and suppliers, to provide coaching, education and challenge and to act as an effective interface between all parties. 

• Able to use – and coach on – QA/QC tools and techniques to meet specified requirements and ensure right first time.

• Able to use and develop appropriate tools and techniques (including audits, key performance indicators/ dashboards to support trending) to monitor quality performance and measure processes effectiveness.

• Ability to analyse QA/QC outputs to determine products or services conform to requirements and to communicate to management to enable effective decisions and appropriate mitigating actions.

• Proven ability to promote continual improvement, recognising the key considerations and approaches necessary to enable effective change.

• Able to develop, maintain and improve management system arrangements and promote procedural adherence to support right first time quality delivery

Desirable skills

• Knowledge of ISO 9000 and other management system standards.

• Understanding of key obligations and requirements relevant to PPP and Sellafield’s mission.

• Understanding of key business processes relevant to PPP, their interdependencies and interactions and how they affect performance.

• Proven ability to apply improvement tools and techniques and structured methodologies to analyse problems and implement solutions to support the business.

• Understanding of the ‘prevention, appraisal, failure’ (PAF) model and cost of Failure.

• Trained Auditor.

• Experience of working with the supply chain and of supply chain quality requirements, and ability to support commercial processes including evaluation boards and supplier assessments.

• Conducting Investigations

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