Quality Engineer

CONFIDENTIAL QUALITY ENGINEER — ELGIN, IL

Salary: $75–95K + Annual Bonus

Industry: Industrial / Commercial Equipment Manufacturing

Type: Full-Time, Onsite

A well-established and rapidly evolving commercial equipment manufacturer in the Elgin, IL area is seeking a Quality Engineer to build and own a brand-new quality function. This is a newly created role and a highly strategic hire as the company transitions from shared responsibility for quality to a formalized, modern Quality Management System (QMS).

With decades of product legacy and several senior team members approaching retirement, this position offers a rare opportunity to step into a stable organization on the cusp of significant modernization and growth, with the runway to become the internal quality expert long-term.

This exclusive opening is urgent and high priority.

Why This Opportunity Is Unique

• Greenfield ownership: Build a QMS from the ground up—or significantly re-define it—without needing prior “from scratch” experience.
• High visibility: Work directly with the General Manager and partner across procurement, engineering, production, and service.
• Strong growth path: As the business evolves and senior staff retire, this role will naturally expand in scope and responsibility.
• Modernization underway: The company is implementing new tools, including AI-assisted manufacturing analysis, to identify and reduce quality issues.
• Close-knit culture: Highly collaborative environment with strong communication and a team-first mindset.
• Competitive benefits: PTO, paid holidays, medical/dental/vision, life insurance, and more.

What You’ll Do

As the Quality Engineer, you will be the driving force behind elevating product reliability, reducing repetitive issues, and shaping the future of the company’s quality practices.

Your core responsibilities will include:

• Developing and improving the Quality Management System (QMS).
• Leading incoming, in-line, and outgoing inspection activities.
• Performing root-cause investigations and implementing corrective actions for non-conformances.
• Partnering with procurement on supplier quality issues and performance improvement.
• Conducting component and finished good evaluations.
• Supporting factory audits and internal process audits.
• Collecting, analyzing, and reporting quality KPIs to identify trends and issues.
• Maintaining defective material and managing vendor-related quality concerns.
• Collaborating with engineering, service, and shop floor teams to ensure quality throughout the product lifecycle.

This role is ideal for someone who is data-driven, loves improving systems, and thrives in a hands-on manufacturing environment.

Who They’re Looking For

Must Have:

• 3–5 years of Quality Engineering or QA/QC experience.
• Experience improving QMS systems (does not have to be from-scratch).
• Hands-on experience in fire article inspection, non-conformances, RCA, and corrective actions.
• Engineering degree (Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, or Electrical preferred).
• Ability to read engineering drawings and wiring diagrams.
• Experience in sheet metal or metal fabrication environments preferred (med device also considered).

Nice to Have:

• Experience building or launching a full QMS framework.
• Supplier quality or procurement quality exposure.
• Background with combustion-based products (ovens, heaters, furnaces, boilers, etc.).

Not a fit if:

• You are entry-level or have minimal quality engineering exposure.
• Your experience is exclusively in food or chemical manufacturing.

Ideal Candidate Traits

• Strong analytical mindset; comfortable working with data and KPIs.
• Naturally collaborative and communicative with cross-functional teams.
• Comfortable spending time on the shop floor to investigate and resolve issues.
• Motivated by solving recurring problems and improving processes.

Interview Process

1. Technical phone screen (30 minutes) with the General Manager
2. 2-hour onsite interview with plant leadership

Please apply if interested, and recruiter will reach out.