Quality & Compliance Manager

Reports to: Head of QHSE UK&I

Location: London - Heathrow

Contract Type: Permanent

Introduction to role

Vanderlande is a global leader in logistics process automation across the airports and parcel sectors. The UK&I Quality, Health Safety and Environment department forms part of our global organisation with a focus on the projects being delivered in the UK and Ireland region. As a Quality & Compliance Manager, you will play a key role in delivering complex engineering projects in a collaborative and supportive environment. You will collaborate with colleagues across engineering project management, customers, and partners to ensure high-quality technical solutions are delivered safely, sustainably, and on time. This role offers the opportunity to develop while contributing to projects with real-world impact. Vanderlande values different perspectives and supports ongoing learning and career development and welcomes applicants from all backgrounds and experiences as we build a diverse engineering team.

Role Responsibilities

• We are seeking an experienced, collaborative and driven Quality Manager to lead and oversee all aspects of quality assurance, auditing and quality control across the UK&I region.
• The role will drive continuous improvement, maintain compliance with standards and regulations, and embed a right first time, preventive quality culture across projects and maintenance contracts.
• You will collaborate with the leadership team, departmental leads and key stakeholders across the value chain to provide visibility of quality risks, performance and progress against objectives and KPIs, ensuring customer satisfaction through the consistent delivery of high-quality products and services.

Your responsibilities and activities will include:

• Develop the regional strategy, objectives and targets in conjunction with regional teams, leadership team and in line with corporate strategy.
• Collaborate with departmental leads to actively promote a right first time culture and ensure that there is sufficient attention on quality deliverables & continuous improvement across the value chain.
• Be the specialist on quality management with oversight of quality critical management topics, risk issues and performance data utilising company provided databases and tooling.
• Co-ordinate key client requirements internally and ensure these requirements are understood and being delivered by relevant teams.
• Engage with key customer quality representatives (in alignment with internal Customer Contract Leads and client facing teams) to understand quality requirements, address concerns and maintain high levels of satisfaction.
• Collaborate with other domain and business function quality managers and the corporate quality team to ensure quality deliverables are clear, effectively communicated and tracked, with a focus on prevention & continuous improvement.
• Organise development & communication of domain specific documents where required to support delivery.
• Actively promote the effective use and improvement of the Vanderlande quality management system processes, templates and company databases and tooling.
• Audit program to check compliance and identify improvement opportunities.
• Own and continuously improve the Quality Management System (QMS) and associated processes and procedures in line with relevant standards (e.g., ISO 9001), regulatory obligations and customer-specific requirements.
• Plan and deliver an internal audit programme to assess compliance with standards and company policies; lead/support external audits, ensuring timely preparation, effective follow-up and closure of findings.
• Ensure quality deliverables are defined, communicated, delivered and reported through each phase of projects and maintenance/service contracts (planning, execution, commissioning, handover and warranty/aftercare as applicable).
• Oversee inspection, testing and verification activities (including review/approval of specifications, work instructions and QC documentation) to ensure products and services meet quality requirements.
• Collaborate with procurement, suppliers and subcontractors/contractors to ensure incoming materials and outsourced processes meet defined quality requirements; support evaluation and improvement of supplier performance where needed.
• Plan and deliver quality training and awareness (including Process Map 2.0 / QMS process deployment), supporting teams to implement quality requirements effectively and consistently.
• Facilitate resources & the support of relevant subject matter experts to enable significant quality issues to be investigated and addressed. Escalate critical topics.
• Collaborate with the corporate quality team for major problem solving and support, and quality reporting towards the Board.
• Use tools such as 8D, 5 Whys, and Six Sigma to address and resolve quality problems and drive continuous improvement activities and be the Domain lead in advising and supporting teams on methodologies.
• Establish, monitor and continuously improve leading and lagging quality KPIs; co-ordinate regional and client quality reports to ensure fact-based visibility for leadership teams and contract leads, including communication and escalation of critical risks.
• Act as single point of contact for systemic issues via corporate quality team (TILs & CILs) and facilitate process for resolution of corrective & preventive actions in the domain in conjunction with relevant departmental managers.
• Tracking & reporting of critical corrective and preventive actions (CAPA) to completion.
• Management of significant risk topics where progress is not in line with expectations (safety / budget / timing).
• Provide day-to-day leadership and (where applicable) line management for quality resources, setting clear objectives, managing performance, supporting recruitment/onboarding, and ensuring the team has the capability and capacity to meet UK&I project and contract needs.
• Mentor and develop the QHSE team and departmental teams on quality & continuous improvement topics.
• Support Department Lead in other activities as required and support corporate quality program / improvements.

Role Qualification and Skills

• Strong leadership and communication skills, with proven experience leading and developing teams (including line management where applicable), managing quality improvement programmes, and influencing at all levels of the organisation.
• Degree qualified with 5-10 years experience in a quality management / technical management discipline, preferably within engineering, construction, manufacturing, engineering, etc.
• Previous experience with automated handling systems preferred.
• Analytical mindset and attention to detail.
• Strong knowledge and practical implementation of QMS standards such as ISO 9001, including experience preparing for and supporting internal and external audits.
• Knowledge of ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 and practical experience in health & safety and/or environmental management is desirable.
• Proficiency and experience in problem-solving techniques (e.g., 8D, 5 Whys, FMEA) and familiarity with quality control methods and statistical tools (e.g., SPC).
• Certification in Six Sigma (Green or Black Belt) or equivalent and experience with Lean Manufacturing or Continuous Improvement frameworks is a benefit.
• Professional qualifications / training in support of skills as per above bullet points.
• Fluent in written and spoken English. Other languages are useful.
• Must hold a drivers licence and be able / prepared to travel.

What we offer

• 28 days annual leave (excluding public holidays)
• Bupa Medical Cover
• YuLife – Wellbeing membership with fast access to GP appointments, promotion of health and wellbeing along with daily quests to gain Yucoins that can be swapped for shopping vouchers
• A challenging work environment with lots of opportunities of career progression.
• Cycle to work scheme
• Yellow Nest is a salary exchange scheme that reduces childcare costs for parents and employers
• Pension with Aviva
• Access to Achievers an award-winning recognition platform that inspires to recognise your coworkers Where points are awarded that can be exchanged for a range of goods and discounts.

Diversity & Inclusion

Vanderlande is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Qualified applicants will be considered without regards to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age marital status or disability status. If you feel there is a barrier that potentially prevents you from applying, we are always happy to discuss or explore, any reasonable adjustments can be made to support your application.