Quality Engineering Lead

Swarm Aero is redefining air power, building the largest swarming UAV and the most versatile swarming aircraft network in the world. The company is moving quickly to launch the first aircraft designed specifically for swarming, as well as the Command & Control software to mobilize swarms of thousands of heterogeneous autonomous assets and empower human operators to achieve superhuman results. The team has created and exited multiple startups, negotiated defense deals worth billions of dollars, and designed and built 30+ novel aircraft, with aerospace experience from Scaled Composites, Airbus, Archer Aviation, Blue Origin, and Boom Supersonic. We’re building a new kind of aircraft, and we’re building the factories to produce it. We’re hiring a Quality Engineering Lead to help turn early builds into a repeatable, high-rate manufacturing operation where quality is designed in from the start. This is a chance to shape the floor while the decisions still matter. You’ll work across design, manufacturing, materials and processes, and operations to define how quality works across the company. You’ll be our first quality hire, building the team, the system, and the certifications from the ground up. What you’ll do - Build and lead the Quality Engineering department: hire the team, set priorities, and define how quality engages with every part of the build - Design and implement our quality management system, and lead the company through ISO 9001 and AS9100 certification - Define quality control processes and procedures across the company, from incoming material through final acceptance - Integrate quality requirements into production processes and workflows alongside Manufacturing Engineering and Materials and Process Engineering - Establish supplier quality requirements, including source inspection, first article inspection (AS9102), and supplier qualification - Stand up the core quality toolkit: nonconformance and material review, corrective and preventive action, root cause analysis, and configuration of quality records - Identify bottlenecks early, test improvements on the floor, and use production data to improve throughput, quality, and predictability - Partner directly with the people designing and building the aircraft to solve problems before they become permanent features of the manufacturing and quality processes What you bring - Quality engineering experience in aerospace, automotive, composites, or another complex hardware manufacturing environment - Hands-on experience establishing facility certifications such as ISO 9001, AS9100, and/or Nadcap - Experience with composite materials and processes, including the inspection methods used to verify them - Experience building and leading a quality engineering team - Working knowledge of core quality tools such as SPC, FMEA, root cause analysis, and first article inspection - The judgment to put structure in place where it helps, without slowing down the team doing the work Especially valuable - Standing up quality for a new facility or a greenfield production line - Scaling composite production from prototype to rate - Supplier quality experience across a growing, multi-tier supply base - ASQ certification (CQE or CMQ/OE) Requirements - Must be a U.S. person due to ITAR requirements - Able to work on-site in Fayetteville, AR You’ll have unusual ownership here. The choices you make will shape how we build our first aircraft and the hundreds that follow. ITAR requirement To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Swarm Aero is an equal opportunity employer. We value diverse backgrounds and experiences and make employment decisions without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, or disability. What We Offer - Meaningful equity in a high-growth defense technology company - Competitive base salary commensurate with experience - Medical, dental, vision, and 401k - PTO and paid sick leave - Monthly wellness stipend - Daily catered lunch (office) - Paid parental leave - Direct impact on a critical national security mission - A world-class team of engineers and operators solving genuinely hard problems