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Koch Industries

Private conglomerate in energy and materials

Quality Assurance Director - Optical Connectivity Solutions

Full-Time
$200k - $275k/yr+ Variable pay
Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
Lisle, IL, USA
In Person
Manufacturing Quality & TestQuality Engineering, Validation, Compliance & Quality Systems

About the job

Requirements
  • Bachelor's degree in engineering, quality, applied science, or a related technical field.
  • Progressive quality leadership experience in a complex product design and manufacturing environment involving optical, electronic, or similarly technical products.
  • Experience leading quality management systems, regulatory compliance, customer quality, product quality, and manufacturing quality across multiple locations.
  • Demonstrated knowledge of ISO 9001 and advanced quality tools, including Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Statistical Process Control, process capability, corrective action, and structured problem solving.
  • Experience communicating directly with customers and leading the resolution of significant customer quality concerns.
  • Experience influencing senior leaders and cross-functional, cross-regional teams.
  • Ability to travel domestically and internationally up to 50% to support customers, design centers, and manufacturing sites.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of a global quality strategy aligned with company requirements, customer expectations, and the goal of zero defects.
  • Partner with regional plant and design center leadership to establish preventive quality practices, strengthen failure avoidance, and improve product and process performance.
  • Lead and maintain quality management systems that meet applicable standards, regulatory requirements, and corporate expectations, including ISO 9001 compliance and company quality system audits.
  • Represent the organization on customer quality matters; lead customer visits and the timely containment, root-cause resolution, and sustained corrective action of customer complaints.
  • Sponsor Lean Six Sigma and continuous improvement initiatives across optical and optoelectronic operations to reduce defects, repeat problems, scrap, and Cost of Poor Quality.
  • Provide quality leadership for new product development and launch planning, including risk identification, qualification, reliability, and production readiness.
  • Apply and advance quality methods including Advanced Quality Planning, Statistical Process Control, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Quality Function Deployment, Team Oriented Problem Solving, machine qualification, and structured corrective and preventive action.
  • Establish operating rhythms and quality review meetings that ensure clear ownership, timely follow-through, and effective corrective and preventive actions.
  • Advise divisional quality and senior business leaders on quality policy, performance, customer concerns, business risk, and improvement priorities.
  • Build organizational capability through talent assessment, selection, development, and succession planning for quality leadership roles.
Desired Qualifications
  • Advanced degree in engineering, quality, operations, or business.
  • Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, ASQ Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence, Certified Quality Engineer, or comparable certification.
  • Leadership experience in optoelectronics, photonics, fiber-optic components, high-speed data communications, medical, or aerospace and defense products.
  • Experience leading quality performance across a multi-site global manufacturing network.
  • Experience with high-reliability products and demanding customer-service environments.
  • Experience developing quality leaders and building succession plans across regions.

About the company

Koch Industries is a large, private, diversified conglomerate that operates in energy, chemical processing, and manufacturing. It started from an innovation that turned heavy crude oil into gasoline and grew through long‑term investments rather than short‑term market moves. The company generates value by refining fuels and producing chemical products, and it operates Georgia-Pacific, a major maker of paper and building products. Its business model relies on reinvesting most earnings back into the company to fund steady, long‑term growth rather than paying out frequent dividends or seeking quick profits. Koch differentiates itself from many competitors by staying privately owned, which reduces pressure from public markets and enables longer‑range planning. The company’s goal is to build scale and durability across its holdings by sustainable, multi‑decade growth rather than rapid, episodic gains.

Company Size

5,001-10,000

Company Stage

Growth Equity (Non-Venture Capital)

Total Funding

$985.2M

Headquarters

Wichita, Kansas

Founded

1940

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Koch raised $224.4 million in equity financing on March 10, 2026, preserving dry powder.
  • Koch's Africa fertilizer foothold expands global phosphate reach from Morocco's Jorf complex.
  • Closed Tacoma gypsum plant concentrates capital into stronger Georgia-Pacific assets and higher-margin lines.

What critics are saying

  • DOJ opened a fertilizer antitrust probe in March 2026, risking criminal charges and damages.
  • Farmers filed class actions in March and June 2026 against Koch Agronomic Services.
  • Georgia-Pacific will close Tacoma's gypsum plant on October 30, 2026, cutting 125 jobs.

What makes Koch Industries unique

  • Private since 1940, Koch reinvests earnings for decades, not quarterly Wall Street optics.
  • Koch Fertilizer expanded into Morocco on June 30, 2026 through Jorf Fertilizers ownership.
  • Georgia-Pacific and Koch Agronomic Services give Koch integrated positions across packaging and fertilizers.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • Dental Insurance
  • Vision Insurance
  • Life Insurance
  • Disability Insurance
  • Health Savings Account/Flexible Spending Account
  • Paid Vacation
  • Professional Development Budget
  • Fertility Treatment Support
  • Parental Leave
  • Adoption Assistance
  • Hybrid Work Options

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-59%

1 year growth

-59%

2 year growth

-59%
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Mar 10th, 2026
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Koch, Inc. : Koch Inc says it has raised about $224.4 million in equity financing - SEC FILING ...

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Amy Steinman Joins Scientific Games' Executive Leadership Team As New Chief Human Resources Officer

ATLANTA, June 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientific Games has named Amy Steinman as the company's new Chief Human Resources Officer and the newest member of the company's executive leadership team. An experienced strategic and hands-on HR professional, Steinman will lead the global lottery company's growing workforce of 3,000 employees in 16 countries through its next era of transformation to serve government-regulated lotteries and partners on six continents.Scientific Games has named Amy Steinman as the global lottery company's new Chief Human Resources Officer. Post this Twenty-five year Koch Industries veteran Amy Steinman was named Chief Human Resources Officer at Scientific Games and newest member of the company's executive leadership team. She'll lead Scientific Games' growing workforce of 3,000 employees in 16 countries through its next era of transformation to serve government-regulated lotteries and partners on six continents.Steinman joins Scientific Games following a 25-year career with Koch Industries, a world-leading, privately held company with 120,000 employees and 11 operating companies, most recently serving as the Koch Industries executive responsible for integrating Infor, a newly acquired multitenant SaaS business, into Koch, overseeing organizational design, talent development and building a values-based, collaborative global culture.Previously, she served in the role of Business Transformation Change Management Executive, developing Koch's change leadership approach for global, enterprise-wide digital and process transformation initiatives. Steinman has also held HR leadership roles at INVISTA and Georgia-Pacific.Pat McHugh, CEO of Scientific Games, said, "Amy is a seasoned, energetic people leader with deep experience working across all areas of HR. She has a track record of building successful, high-performing global teams and industry-specific operating models to create a platform for the organization's growth