This listing pays about $150,000 a year. Across 34 open senior quality engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $114,500 to $159,500 and the median is $138,000. That is inside the middle half of those listings, 9% above the median.

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About the job

Karman Industries

Karman Industries is a Torrance-based thermal technology company building the backbone for giga-scale AI infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and GE, Karman is moving beyond legacy cooling with the launch of the HPU (Heat Processing Unit)—a new category of thermal architecture designed for the 100kW+ rack era.

The HPU shrinks the exterior mechanical yard by up to 80% while reducing peak energy consumption by 10%+. Unlike traditional systems, the Karman HPU provides zero-water (WUE 0) cooling that ensures high-TDP GPUs and HBM4 memory stay at optimal thermal setpoints without throttling.

Founded in 2024, we’re a fast-growing team of passionate professionals dedicated to making a tangible impact on the future of humanity. We design, build, and test real hardware, and we lead with ownership: you’ll own your work from concept to hardware and help shape how we scale. Our values are Ownership, Performance Excellence, Radical Transparency, and Customer-Centricity.

Join us in our mission to transform the industry and contribute to a more sustainable world.

Senior Quality Engineer

We are building our quality function and this is our first dedicated quality hire. You will design and own our Quality Management System, drive ISO 9001 certification, and embed quality engineering into product development and operations. You will report directly to senior leadership and have broad latitude to set the direction of our quality program.

Key Responsibilities:

QMS ownership

- Build and own the QMS end-to-end: document control, internal audits, CAPA, management review, supplier quality, and certification body liaison

- Lead ISO 9001 stage 1 and stage 2 certification; maintain ongoing surveillance readiness

- Serve as the internal authority on quality standards, requirements, and compliance obligations

Quality controls

- Define inspection criteria, control plans, and acceptance criteria across the product lifecycle

- Own nonconforming material handling, calibration system, and quality metrics dashboard (yield, defect rate, CAPA cycle time, customer complaints)

- Establish customer complaint handling with CAPA linkage; evaluate measurement system adequacy (MSA/GR&R)

Quality engineering

- Embed in product development: design reviews, DFMEA/PFMEA, quality gates, and process validation (IQ/OQ/PQ)

- Drive SPC adoption and structured problem-solving (8D, 5-Why, Ishikawa) on critical processes

- Own the long-term certification roadmap — assess emerging requirements and leverage the QMS foundation to add standards without duplicating systems

- Champion quality culture — provide training, coach teams on tools and standards, foster source ownership.

Basic Requirements

- 5+ years in quality engineering, quality assurance, or quality management

- Hands-on experience building or owning a QMS

- Working knowledge of ISO 9001 requirements and audit process

- Experience writing quality documentation (procedures, control plans, inspection criteria)

- Proficiency with CAPA, root cause analysis, and structured problem-solving methods

- Ability to work autonomously and make decisions without established precedent

- Comfortable operating as an individual contributor and functional owner simultaneously

Preferred Requirements

- ISO 9001 Lead Auditor certification (or equivalent internal auditor training)

- Experience taking an organization through ISO 9001 stage 1/stage 2 certification

- Familiarity with ISO 14001 or experience with integrated management systems (IMS)

- Background in a relevant industry: hardware, manufacturing, industrial, or similar

- Experience with SPC, MSA/GR&R, or statistical quality tools

- FMEA facilitation experience (DFMEA and/or PFMEA)

- Exposure to ISO 45001, IATF 16949, or AS9100 a plus

Compensation bands are determined by role, level, location, and alignment with market data. Individual level and base pay is determined on a case-by-case basis and may vary based on job-related skills, education, experience, technical capabilities and internal equity. In addition to base salary, for full-time hires, you may also be eligible for long-term incentives, in the form of stock options, and access to medical, vision & dental coverage as well as access to a 401(k) retirement plan.

Karman Industries is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Karman Industries is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

Direct applicants only — we are not working with outside recruiters or agencies for this role.