Director of Quality, Asia

The Director of Quality, Asia is a newly created senior leadership role responsible for setting the strategic direction, execution, and continuous improvement of quality systems across Asia manufacturing sites. This role ensures products, processes, and operations consistently meet regulatory requirements, industry standards, and customer expectations. The Director partners closely with Operations, Engineering, Supply Chain, Regulatory, and Commercial teams to drive a culture of quality excellence and operational performance. This role can be based in Singapore or Malaysia, Shah Alam. 

Responsibilities

Regional Quality Strategy & Governance  

• Develop and execute a quality strategy aligned to corporate operational goals and global quality objectives.

• Provide strategic leadership and governance across all Quality functions within Asia manufacturing.

• Establish and monitor KPIs, quality objectives, and performance dashboards to improve organizational visibility and accountability.

• Own and continuously strengthen the regional Quality Management System (QMS), ensuring alignment with applicable ISO standards, customer-specific requirements and relevant industry standards.

• Lead internal and external audit readiness and response activities.

• Oversee product quality, process capability, and quality engineering activities at all regional sites.

• Drive a robust quality governance framework, including management reviews, internal audits, external certification audits and regulatory compliance.

• Partner with global and regional leadership to align quality objectives, address systemic risks and support business growth

   

Customer & Supplier Quality

• Lead customer escalation resolution and ensure rapid, high‑quality responses.

• Oversee supplier quality function, and improvement activities in partnership with supply chain management organization.

• Strengthen relationships with key customers, and suppliers regarding quality performance.

• Serve as the senior regional escalation point for critical customer quality issues, leading cross-functional teams to deliver timely, effective and sustainable resolutions.

• Build strong partnerships with key customers, understanding their quality expectations and driving continuous improvement in customer satisfaction.

• Oversee Supplier Quality Management, working closely with Supply Chain and Procurement to strengthen supplier qualification, performance monitoring, risk management and improvement initiatives.

• Drive supplier development and corrective action programmes to improve incoming material quality and supply chain reliability.

Operational Excellence & Continuous Improvement

• Champion Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and other continuous improvement methodologies to drive measurable improvements in quality, productivity and operational performance.

• Lead regional quality transformation initiatives, harmonising processes, standardising best practices and improving operational consistency across manufacturing sites.

• Leverage data analytics, automation and digital quality management solutions to enhance process visibility, predictive quality management and decision-making.

• Collaborate with Engineering and Operations to support new product introduction, process changes and manufacturing scale-up while maintaining robust quality controls.

   

Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, coach and develop a high-performing regional Quality organisation comprising Quality Managers, Quality Engineers and technical specialists across Singapore and Malaysia.

• Build a strong leadership pipeline through talent development, succession planning, capability building and knowledge sharing.

• Establish clear performance expectations, accountability and development priorities across the regional Quality teams.

• Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous learning and uncompromising commitment to quality.

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Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality Management or a related technical discipline. A Master's degree or MBA would be an advantage.

• 10–15+ years of progressive experience in Quality leadership within semiconductor, precision engineering, advanced manufacturing or related industrial manufacturing environments.

• At least 5 years of experience in senior Quality leadership positions, ideally overseeing multiple manufacturing sites or regional operations.

• Proven track record in developing and executing regional Quality strategies to strengthen QMS and drive measurable improvements in manufacturing quality performance.

• Strong technical knowledge of QMS, ISO standards, customer-specific requirements, audit management, CAPA, root cause analysis and process improvement methodologies.

• Experience leading customer quality engagements, managing complex escalations and driving supplier quality performance in a manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated success in driving Lean, Six Sigma, operational excellence and defect-reduction initiatives, with measurable business outcomes.

• Proven ability to lead, influence and develop diverse, geographically distributed teams within a matrixed, multinational organisation.

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, negotiation and executive presentation skills.

• Professional certifications such as Certified Quality Engineer (CQE), Certified Quality Manager (CQM), Lean Six Sigma Black Belt or equivalent is preferred.

• Exposure to semiconductor equipment manufacturing, critical fluid delivery systems, precision machining, welding, assembly or other complex manufacturing processes is preferred. 

Why Join Ichor? 

• Competitive Rewards & Benefits – AWS, quarterly variable bonus, employee stock purchase plan, medical, dental, optical benefits, and shift allowance where applicable. 

• Be Part of the Semiconductor Industry – Support advanced semiconductor manufacturing through innovative products, precision manufacturing and critical technologies. 

• Learning & Development – Build your skills through hands-on experience, on-the-job learning, training and education upgrading support. 

• Career Opportunities – Take on new challenges and build your career with a global organization that recognises and rewards your contributions. 

• People & Culture – Be part of an inclusive workplace that values innovation, collaboration, operational excellence, honesty, reliability and employee wellbeing.