The Customer Quality Engineer (CQE) is responsible for ensuring customer quality requirements are met and for leading the resolution of customer quality issues across the product lifecycle. This role serves as the primary quality liaison between customers and internal cross‑functional teams, driving root cause analysis, corrective actions, and continuous improvement initiatives. The CQE plays a critical role in maintaining customer satisfaction, compliance with quality standards, and sustained product and process performance.
Essential Job Responsibilities
Customer Quality & Issue Management
- Lead customer quality issue resolution, including driving compliance to our QMS and utilization of ETQ and owning final response and closure of RCA.
- Manage customer claims, quality concerns and complaints by ensuring timely containment, RCA, PA verification, response and closure.
- Act as the escalation point for high‑severity or critical customer issues, internal or external, to support overall customer satisfaction.
- Ensure all customer‑specific requirements are clearly understood, documented, and integrated into internal processes and represent voice of customer for related MOC.
- Serve as the gatekeeper in Customer Feedback (ETQ) process, with authority to review, accept, prioritize, and close customer quality requests, including validation of root cause completion and effectiveness, authorize the implementation and verification of corrective action countermeasures, ensuring actions are effectively executed, validated, and sustained to resolve customer quality issues.
Root Cause Analysis & Corrective Action
- Lead structured problem‑solving activities using recognized methodologies or customer specific required methodologies (e.g., 8D, 5 Whys, Fishbone, Is Is Not).
- Coordinate cross‑functional teams to investigate internal and external non‑conformances.
- Ensure root causes are evidence-based and corrective and preventative actions address systemic failure modes.
- Ensure corrective and preventive actions are implemented with the highest sense of urgency and focused to be robust, effective, and sustainably implemented, including for similar technologies or processes.
- In collaboration with the regional cluster quality leader, ensure that RCA findings are shared with applicable PPG sites for lesson learned to ensure risk of similar occurrence is properly addressed at other PPG locations.
Customer Communication & Relationship Management
- Serve as the primary point of contact for customer quality issues in the field and represents PPG professionally during customer reviews, meetings, and audits.
- Provide clear, timely, and professional communication regarding issue status, risks, and resolution plans to manage customer expectations during investigations, escalations, and recovery activities
- Build and sustain collaborative working relationships with customer plant leadership as well as engineering organizations who support quality and production processes.
- Proactively identify potential quality risks and coordinate preventive actions aligned with the PPG plant quality management system.
Quality Systems, Standards & Audits
- Promote compliance with applicable quality management system requirements, including customer‑specific requirements (CSRs) and IATF standards and PPG internal standards(APQP, FMEA, LPA).
- Lead customer specific audits with support of QA manager for customers in escalation status.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives to reduce complaint rates and improve overall quality performance using a data drive approach.
- Partner with Manufacturing, Process Engineering, Supply Chain, Sales, Planning, Technical Laboratories, and Customer Service teams to resolve issues and implement improvements to continuously improve customer satisfaction as reported on customer scorecards.
- Support packaging, handling, storage, logistics, and transportation quality initiatives as required.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- Number and severity of customer complaints
- Repeat complaint rate
- Timeliness and effectiveness of root cause analysis and corrective actions
- Open and past‑due customer action items
- Customer satisfaction feedback and performance scorecards
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, or a related technical discipline, or equivalent experience.
- Experience in technical development, customer quality, manufacturing quality, or automotive engineering.
- Demonstrated knowledge of problem‑solving methodologies and quality tools.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast‑paced, customer‑focused environment.
- The person who will be successful in this role is comfortable driving cross-functional teams without direct authority while creating an atmosphere of collaboration, respect, and a continuous improvement.
- Strong judgment and decision making skills, with the ability to evaluate data, assess risk, and make sound, timely decisions in a customer facing environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Automotive industry and coatings experience.
- Working knowledge of IATF 16949.
- Experience supporting customer and third‑party audits.
Working Conditions & Travel
- Office and manufacturing floor environment.
- 10-15% travel may be required to customer or supplier locations.
About us:
PPG: WE PROTECT AND BEAUTIFY THE WORLD™
Through leadership in innovation, sustainability and color, PPG helps customers in industrial, transportation, consumer products, and construction markets and aftermarkets to enhance more surfaces in more ways than does any other company. To learn more, visit www.ppg.com and follow @PPG on X.
The PPG Way 2030
We are customer champions
Proactive. Bold. Trustworthy. Everything we do starts with our customers. We listen, move fast and don’t stop until we solve their biggest challenges. When our customers win, we all grow.
We act with purpose and speed
Agile. Data-driven. Empowered. We take smart risks to stay ahead of the competition. We work proactively with agility, using quality data to develop solutions that create value.
We are excellent operators
Productive. Collaborative. Accountable. No matter our role, we identify problems, take ownership and always bring solutions. We are both proactive and responsive to drive continuous improvement and deliver results. We support our frontline, the faces of PPG to our customers.
We compete to win
Future-focused. Driven. Ambitious. We are passionate about growing our business and winning with our customers. We deliver results, embrace new technologies and leverage agility and speed as strengths.
We are PPG proud
Strong. United. Passionate. We work safely, act with integrity and value our diverse perspectives. We celebrate achievements and take pride in the positive impact we create together to protect and beautify the world.
At PPG we use AI in the hiring process to make the process more efficient. AI tools do not make hiring decisions. You can learn more by going to https://careers.ppg.com/us/en/candidate-resources.
PPG provides equal opportunity to all candidates and employees. We offer an opportunity to grow and develop your career in an environment that provides a fulfilling workplace for employees, creates an environment for continuous learning, and embraces the ideas and diversity of others. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, pregnancy, race, color, creed, religion, national origin, age, disability status, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
If you need an adjustment due to a disability, please email recruiting@ppg.com.
PPG pay ranges and benefits can vary by location which allows us to compensate employees competitively in different geographic markets. PPG considers several factors in making compensation decisions including, but not limited to, skill sets, experience and training, qualifications and education, licensure and certifications, and other organizational needs. Other incentives may apply.
Our employee benefits programs are designed to support the health and well-being of our employees. Any insurance coverages and benefits will be in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans and associated governing plan documents. Benefits will be discussed with you by your recruiter during the hiring process.
PPG values your feedback on our recruiting process. We encourage you to visit Glassdoor.com and provide feedback on the process, so that we can do better today than yesterday.
