Principal Quality Engineer _ Electronics
Merck KGaA has closed or removed this posting -- see current similar openings below.
About this opportunity
Principal Quality Engineer
You will be leading the next generation Formulations materials to enable the innovation to the digital age. This position is located in Shizuoka Japan.
Your Role:
Quality sustaining:
Manage and influence the site cross-functional groups (e.g. Operations, QC, Engineering, and Facilities) in dispositioning through rigorous risk review of abnormal events
Manage SPC health of the process and product with disciplined analytics and effective CAPA (corrective preventative action)
Influence rigorous risk review of changes to prevent and mitigate/minimize impact(s) to our customers
Lead the cross-functional team in structured problem solving to resolve customer issues and defects with robust, effective CAPAs
Site Leadership:
Lead and influence the quality culture at the site to a predictive and preventative-minded quality mindset
Lead and influence the quality culture to respond and prepare at the speed expected by our semiconductor customers.
Lead quality related audits at the sites result in rooting out common sources of variation.
Be the voice of the customer to the site and business partners
Be accountable to the business in maintaining quality performance and drive continuous improvement at the sites by driving collaboration with the tolling manufacturer(s) and global functional groups.
Identify sources of variation and inform cross-functional groups to mitigate quality variation to our customers
Identify and be persistent influence of continuous improvement opportunities to improve material and manufacturing innovation to meet our customers’ pace of scaling
Product and Process Development:
Contribute and support to the advancement of global quality related projects, process improvements with Lean and/or Six Sigma, and internal/customer related data-driven process optimization projects.
Support new product introduction by leading risk assessments and ensuring process controls are in place to prevent escapes to customers
Willing and able to travel to visit global manufacturing sites (and customer sites as needed) throughout globe to benchmark best of the best.
Able and willing to support cross-site quality development across multiple geographies and time-zones on an as needed basis.
Who You Are:
Minimum Qualifications:
Minimum of bachelor’s degree in engineering, Chemistry, Physics, Material Science, or other technical discipline
10 yrs or more in chemical manufacturing, process engineering, analytical chemist, and/or semiconductor fabrication experience
Must be a native Japanese speaker with excellent English orally and written.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience within Semiconductor industry – preferably fab process engineering experience
Demonstrated ability to motivate others and work collaboratively with multiple internal stakeholders
Demonstrated success in contributing to the advancement of projects, project teams, and process improvements
Exhibits positive persistence in stakeholder management.
Exhibits resilience in the face of adversity and tough, difficult issues and transforms into opportunities of learning and effective, preventative actions.
Excellent time management and organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple activities and projects.
Strong attention to detail
Demonstrated tolerance of ambiguity and the flexibility to reach consensus and mutual agreement on a path forward to resolve issues.
Demonstrated safety and quality-oriented process engineering approach to process control systems to mitigate and prevent variation to our customers.
Moderate to Advanced Statistical knowledge (SPC, t-test, ANOVA, single and multivariate statistical modelling)
Proficient with data science/statistical software including JMP, Palantir Foundry, and/or visualization tools such as Tableau.
Python and JSL scripting
Experience in quality tools for problem solving (5Whys, segmentation, Model Based Problem Solving), FMEAs, continuous improvement (CI) activities, management of change, and document control systems.
Experience with process improvement, data automation, and data digitization.
Excellent communication skills – oral and written – additional language capabilities: Mandarin, Korean, German, French, or Italian are a plus
Ability to work with people from various backgrounds/cultures
Experience with ISO9001 Quality Management Systems
ISO9001 or IATF 16949 Internal Auditor Certification
Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification
SAP experience
Job details
How this role compares
Computed from every other active Quality role in our database, not just this employer's listings.
We currently track 191 comparable Principal Quality roles across 53 biopharma companies.
Salary context
51 of 191 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)
Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.
Where these roles are based
Top locations among the 191 comparable roles
+ 23 more countries
Seniority mix
191 of 191 peers have a known seniority level
Therapeutic area mix
0 of 191 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden
No peers with a known therapeutic area yet.
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How we calculate "similar"
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Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.
0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.