Quality Program Leader

Introduction to the Job

ASML US, including its affiliates and subsidiaries, bring together the most creative minds in science and technology to develop lithography machines that are key to producing faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient microchips. We design, develop, integrate, market and service these advanced machines, which enable our customers - the world’s leading chipmakers - to reduce the size and increase the functionality of their microchips, which in turn leads to smaller, more powerful consumer electronics. Our headquarters are in Veldhoven, Netherlands and we have 18 office locations around the United States including main offices in Chandler, Arizona, San Jose and San Diego, California, Wilton, Connecticut, and Hillsboro, Oregon.

ASML Wilton, Connecticut is seeking a Quality Program Leader to serve as the organizational leader for quality across the Wilton Factory. This role is a key leadership position within the Quality organization, responsible for establishing quality direction, strengthening factory-wide quality governance, owning the Wilton Factory Quality Management System, ensuring audit readiness, and driving sustained improvement in product quality, process capability, defect prevention, and measurable factory quality outcomes.

This leader will ensure that quality is understood, owned, and executed as a factory-wide priority, translating business, customer, supplier, and process performance signals into prioritized actions that improve quality performance and strengthen the Wilton Factory quality culture.

Role and Responsibilities

This is a critical leadership role within the Wilton Factory, responsible for enterprise-level quality leadership, factory quality governance, Quality Management System ownership, audit readiness, and end-to-end alignment of quality priorities across the Wilton value stream.

Wilton Factory Quality Leadership

• Serve as the organizational quality leader for Wilton Factory, setting direction, priorities, governance, and expectations for quality performance across factory operations.
• Lead, develop, coach, and performance-manage a team of direct reports, setting clear expectations, fostering strong engagement, building capability, and ensuring individual and team performance supports Wilton Factory quality priorities.
• Lead the development and execution of the Wilton Factory quality strategy, ensuring alignment with business priorities, customer expectations, global quality standards, and operational performance goals.
• Own the Wilton Factory Quality Management System, ensuring it is effective, current, compliant, and embedded into daily operations, standards, controls, and leadership routines.
• Ensure Wilton Factory maintains strong audit readiness for internal, customer, regulatory, and certification-related audits, including effective preparation, response, corrective action, and sustainment.
• Translate quality performance signals, customer feedback, supplier input, factory data, and risk indicators into clear priorities, improvement roadmaps, and measurable outcomes.
• Establish and monitor measurable factory quality outcomes such as defect reduction, escape reduction, first-pass yield improvement, repeat issue prevention, audit finding closure, process capability improvement, and corrective action effectiveness.
• Partner closely with Manufacturing, Engineering, Supply Chain, Supplier Quality, Customer Support, and global Quality to ensure alignment on containment, root cause, corrective action, prevention, and sustainment.
• Provide regular executive-level reporting on factory quality performance, systemic risks, improvement progress, audit readiness, QMS health, and strategic quality priorities.

Factory Quality Governance & Cross-Functional Alignment

• Establish and sustain effective quality governance across Wilton Factory, ensuring quality priorities are visible, owned, and actively managed across functions.
• Collaborate with Manufacturing, Engineering, Supplier Quality, Supply Chain, Customer Support, and Operational Excellence to address systemic quality gaps impacting factory performance.
• Ensure effective quality handoffs, learning loops, and corrective action sustainment between suppliers, Wilton operations, downstream factories, and customer-facing organizations.
• Strengthen factory participation in global quality forums, cross-sector quality initiatives, and enterprise-level improvement routines.

Quality Management System & Audit Readiness

• Own and continuously improve the Wilton Factory Quality Management System, ensuring quality requirements, procedures, controls, records, and governance routines are clear, effective, and consistently followed.
• Lead audit readiness for Wilton Factory by establishing preparation routines, internal assessment practices, leadership review mechanisms, and corrective action governance.
• Ensure audit findings, nonconformities, and systemic gaps are addressed through timely root cause analysis, robust corrective action, effectiveness checks, and sustained prevention.
• Use QMS performance, audit trends, nonconformance data, and corrective action effectiveness to identify systemic risks and strengthen factory quality controls.

Quality Strategy, Six Sigma & Data-Driven Improvement

• Own and deploy quality improvement strategy and Six Sigma methodology within the Wilton Factory to address chronic quality issues, defect drivers, escapes, audit findings, and process instability.
• Identify and prioritize high-impact improvement opportunities using factory performance data, customer signals, supplier inputs, process capability data, QMS performance, audit trends, and risk-based thinking.
• Define measurable outcomes for key quality initiatives, including expected improvements in defects, escapes, repeat issues, process capability, corrective action effectiveness, yield, cost of poor quality, and audit performance.
• Mentor and coach teams on DMAIC, root cause analysis, quality planning, and sustainment practices.
• Ensure that lessons learned from quality events and improvement projects are institutionalized across the factory and embedded into standards, controls, QMS documentation, and daily management routines.

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

• Provide strategic leadership for SPC deployment, maturity, and effectiveness within Wilton manufacturing.
• Ensure SPC is used consistently to monitor process capability, detect variation, and prevent defects before impacting customers.
• Partner with Manufacturing, Engineering, and global SPC competence teams to align on standards, tooling, and best practices.
• Drive regular KPI deep dives and ensure action plans are in place and executed.

Continuous Improvement & Problem Solving

• Lead cross-functional problem-solving efforts for complex factory, supplier, and customer quality issues.
• Promote and coach structured problem-solving approaches such as 8D, A3, Lean Six Sigma, and other ASML standard methodologies.
• Influence behaviors and culture to reinforce quality ownership, accountability, defect prevention, and customer focus across all levels of the factory.
• Up to 10% travel annually within the US and internationally

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree required (Master’s preferred) in Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Optical, Quality, Mechatronics or a related scientific and/or technical field
• 10+ years of progressive experience in quality engineering, manufacturing or operational excellence in a high-tech manufacturing environment
• 5+ years of experience in a leadership role managing direct reports and leading quality priorities across cross-functional teams
• Demonstrated experience leading factory-wide or organization-wide quality strategy, governance, Quality Management System ownership, audit readiness, and improvement initiatives across organizational boundaries
• Strong background in Statistical Process Control, Six Sigma, quality systems, audit management, and structured problem solving
• Proven experience defining, tracking, and improving measurable quality outcomes such as defect reduction, escape prevention, process capability, audit performance, corrective action effectiveness, and repeat issue prevention
• Proven ability to influence without authority and lead cross-functional, cross-site improvement efforts
• Six Sigma Black Belt strongly preferred; ASQ CQE or CMQ/OE a plus
• Fluent in English with strong written and verbal communication skills

Skills

Working at the cutting edge of tech, you will always have new challenges and new problems to solve – and working together is the only way do that. You will not work in a silo. Instead, you will be part of a creative, dynamic work environment where you will collaborate with supportive colleagues. There is always space for creative and unique points of view. You will have the flexibility and trust to choose how best to tackle tasks and solve problems.

To thrive in this job, you will need the following skills:

• Strong quality leadership mindset with the ability to set direction, align stakeholders, and represent factory quality priorities across the organization
• Demonstrated people-leadership capability in team engagement, performance management, talent development, and coaching, with the ability to build accountability, strengthen capability, and support employee growth.
• Data-driven, analytical thinker with the ability to translate quality performance insights into action and measurable factory outcomes
• Strong working knowledge of Quality Management Systems, audit readiness, audit response, corrective action governance, and effectiveness verification
• Influential leader capable of driving alignment across functions, sites, and leadership levels
• Results-oriented with a strong sense of ownership, accountability, and urgency for quality outcomes
• Effective communicator at both technical and executive levels
• Skilled in facilitating complex problem-solving, governance routines, audit preparation routines, and cross-functional decision-making
• Able to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution
• Proactive, resilient, and comfortable challenging the status quo when needed

Other Information

• This position is located on-site in Wilton, Connecticut.  It requires onsite presence to attend in-person work-related events, trainings and meetings and to further ensure teamwork, collaboration and innovation

The current base annual salary range for this role is currently:

Pay scales are determined by role, level, location and alignment with market data. Individual pay is determined through interviews and an assessment of several factors that that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, relevant education and experience, certifications, abilities of the candidate and pay relative to other team members.

The Company offers employees and their families, medical, dental, vision, and basic life insurance. Employees are able to participate in the Company’s 401k plan. Employees will also receive eight (8) hours of vacation leave every month and (13) paid holidays throughout the calendar year. For more information, please contact the Recruiter or click on this link Compensation & Benefits in the US.

All new ASML jobs have a minimum application deadline of 10 days.

This position requires access to controlled technology, as defined in the United States Export Administration Regulations (15 C.F.R. § 730, et seq.). Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to access such controlled technology prior to beginning work. Business demands may require ASML to proceed with candidates who are immediately eligible to access controlled technology.

ASML is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values and respects the importance of a diverse and inclusive workforce. It is the policy of the company to recruit, hire, train and promote persons in all job titles without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We recognize that inclusion and diversity is a driving force in the success of our company.

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