Quality Control Manager

Quality Control Manager
Foundry Manufacturing | £50,000

Are you a hands-on Quality professional who enjoys solving problems on the shop floor rather than from behind a desk? Do you have foundry or heavy manufacturing experience and want the opportunity to shape the future of a growing quality function while working closely with customers, production teams, and senior leadership?

Our client is a successful and rapidly expanding UK manufacturing business supplying high-integrity cast components into demanding industrial sectors worldwide. Following significant growth and continued investment, they are now looking to appoint an experienced Quality Control Manager to play a key role in the transformation of their quality department. This is far more than a traditional quality role. It's an opportunity to become the vital link between customers, production, sales, and quality, helping drive standards, solve problems, and improve performance across the business.

The Opportunity
The business is currently investing heavily in its quality structure, with a new Quality Assurance Manager joining the team and a clear strategy to separate quality process management from product quality ownership.
As Quality Control Manager, you will take ownership of product quality throughout the manufacturing process and lead a team of Quality Engineers and Technicians. Working alongside the QA Manager, Production teams and Directors, you'll be instrumental in reducing defects, improving customer satisfaction, and embedding a proactive quality culture throughout the operation. This is a highly visible position with direct access to senior leadership and the opportunity to influence how quality is managed across the business.

What You'll Be Doing
- Leading day-to-day quality control activities across multiple manufacturing areas.
- Acting as the key liaison between customers, production, quality and sales teams.
- Managing and developing a quality team with direct responsibility for approximately 8-12 personnel and wider influence across a larger team.
- Investigating customer complaints, returns and quality concerns through structured root cause analysis.
- Working directly with production teams to identify, implement and verify corrective actions.
- Driving improvements in casting quality, process control and defect reduction.
- Leading product quality initiatives throughout core making, moulding, melting, pouring, finishing and final inspection operations.
- Conducting internal audits and supporting customer and supplier audit activities.
- Visiting customers where required to understand issues firsthand and strengthen customer relationships.
- Monitoring quality data, trends and KPIs to identify improvement opportunities.
- Supporting continuous improvement initiatives and helping embed best practice throughout the business.

This Is A Hands-On Role
Success in this position will come from being visible, approachable and actively involved in the manufacturing process. We're looking for someone who enjoys spending time on the shop floor, engaging with operators, understanding challenges at source and driving practical solutions. Approximately 60% or more of your time will be spent within the production environment, working closely with teams and supporting improvements where they matter most. If you're looking for a purely office-based quality role, this won't be the right fit.

What We're Looking For
- Previous experience within a Quality Management, Senior Quality Engineer or Quality Supervisor position.
- Strong foundry, castings, metals, heavy manufacturing or similar process industry experience.
- Sound understanding of ductile iron casting processes and quality control principles.
- Proven ability to lead investigations and deliver effective root cause analysis.
- Experience dealing directly with customers and managing quality-related relationships.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels.
- Experience conducting audits and working within ISO quality management systems.
- A proactive, solutions-focused approach with a willingness to get involved and lead from the front.

Desirable Experience
- Qualified Internal Auditor or Lead Auditor.
- Six Sigma Yellow Belt or similar continuous improvement qualification.
- First Aid qualification.
- Experience within high-integrity castings or critical component manufacturing.

Why Join?
- Opportunity to play a leading role in a significant quality transformation programme.
- Join a business experiencing substantial and sustained growth.
- Work directly with senior leadership and have genuine influence on business performance.
- Strong long-term career progression opportunities within the organisation.
- Established support network including a new Quality Assurance Manager and experienced leadership team.
- High levels of job security supported by a strong order book and long-term customer relationships.
- Opportunity to work with globally recognised industrial customers.
- Competitive salary of £50,000 plus benefits.

The Culture
The business prides itself on investing in its people and creating long-term careers. The interview process is designed to be conversational and collaborative, focusing on finding the right individual rather than putting candidates under pressure. For an ambitious quality professional looking to take the next step in their career and make a genuine impact, this represents an outstanding opportunity
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed