Field Quality Engineering Manager at Zola Electric

Location: Lagos. Approximately 25% travel time required.

Position

• The Field Quality Engineering manager will lead a team that works to make sure all Zola products meet customer and company quality requirements. He/she will be responsible for championing the Zola core values: Customer, People, Product, and Performance by guiding a team of Engineers and technicians in determining the overall product quality based on evaluation of detailed requirements, customer feedback, and test results.
• The job also involves both technical and people management skills. Technical functions involve designing and troubleshooting processes and products that explore future technologies & test existing products. The candidate will be responsible for guiding both the engineering and technical teams in proper design for testing and quality procedures.
• The Field Quality Engineering Manager will work with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Operations to address and improve: quality, reliability, and manufacture-ability issues. Work will require leadership of cross-functional teams.
• The ideal candidate will have great technical writing skills, people management skills and some experience in lean manufacturing methodology and/or Design for Excellence (DFx). Additional relevant skills are: data collection and analysis, renewable energy knowledge, and proficiency in English plus Swahili and/or French.

Requirements

• Proven 3+ years experience leading a team in an engineering organization
• 5+ years of experience in Electrical Engineering or Electronics Engineering in roles that included testing & troubleshooting complex hardware and software systems
• Experience with project and people management and proven ability to drive issues to closure and influence change
• Hands-on experience in prototyping, troubleshooting, and manufacturing support for embedded systems
• Proven data analysis and reporting skills using tools such as MS Excel, SQL & Looker
• Detail oriented candidate with strong recordkeeping, technical writing and organizational skills
• Experience working with renewable energy technologies (familiarity with AC/DC inverters a plus)
• Proficient with test equipment such as oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, electronic loads, spectrum/network analyzers and other common lab instruments
• Ability to travel locally and overseas as necessary (about 25%+ travel may be necessary)
• Bachelors of science in Electrical, Electronics or Computer engineering.

Technical skills:

• Take lead during new product field testing by setting up a sustainable system to run field testing and provide feedback to the Product Design Engineering team
• Use data analysis tools to track field failure rate and drive resolution through leveraging the cross functional team for in-market products
• Lead the team in providing training for in-market product repair and maintenance processes for debugging and repair of products
• Track and manage Quality Improvement projects to ensure consistent high product quality
• Lead the development of test plans in association with the Product Design Engineering team to validate design intent and product performance

Management skills:

• Train and manage a team of technicians to support field testing and provide workshop repair guidelines for products
• Provide guidance and manage contractors during projects that need to be outsourced
• Lead weekly meetings with different department heads and SMEs to discuss quality issues and utilize quality analysis tools to provide recommendations and drive consensus on product issue resolution
• Lead meetings with the Product Management team to discuss proposed changes to existing product line and determine proper qualification testing requirements to ensure successful product deployment
• Be the point of contact for the Business Commercial team to provide necessary technical support for potential supplier partners during product demonstrations and proof of concept testing.

Additional Relevant Experience:

• Experience in C, Python or other embedded system languages
• Experience with schematic and PCBA design tools such as OrCAD, Altium
• Experience using project management tools such as JIRA, git, Confluence
• Experience working with products through test and reliability standards such as IEC
• Working proficiency in English, Swahili and/or French

Generic Competencies:

• Strategic Thinker
• Communication Skills
• Planning and Organizing Skills
• Time Management Skills
• Self-motivated
• Breakthrough Thinking