Senior Quality Manager - Complex Defence Technology, Scaling Startup

Senior Quality Manager | Arkeus | Gold Coast, QLD

Have you built a Quality Management System from scratch and taken it all the way to certification? Have you been the sole quality professional in a growing manufacturing business, rolling up your sleeves to make quality part of how the business operates?

Arkeus is looking for a hands-on Senior Quality Manager to own and evolve our QMS as we scale our defence technology manufacturing operations across Queensland and Melbourne.

We build AI-powered sensing systems for defence and national security, combining precision hardware, optics, embedded software and real-time AI.

What we're looking for:

• Proven experience building, implementing and maintaining an ISO 9001 QMS from the ground up, including achieving certification.
• Experience as the standalone quality lead in a smaller or growing organisation, able to own the entire quality function.
• At least 5 years' quality experience in manufacturing or a regulated industry.
• Strong experience with audits, non-conformances, corrective actions, document control and quality metrics.
• A practical, startup-minded approach, with the ability to influence and embed quality across engineering, manufacturing and operations.

Defence or aerospace manufacturing experience and AS9100D knowledge are highly desirable.

Experience across hardware and software quality is a bonus.

You'll maintain our Melbourne certification, lead the Gold Coast site through its first ISO 9001 certification, and help shape our roadmap towards AS9100D.

This is an opportunity to build the quality foundations of a growing Australian deep-tech company, with real ownership and influence.