MERITUS are recruiting for a Operations Quality Assurance Engineer to join our Defence and Space client at their Stevenage site.

OPERATIONS QUALITY ASSURANCE ENGINEER - INSIDE IR35 - -32 PER HOUR - 6 MONTHS - LIKELY EXTENDED - 1 STAGE INTERVIEW PROCESS

An opportunity has arisen for an Operational Quality Assurance Engineer to join a highly specialised defence and space manufacturing environment in the UK.

The Quality function plays a critical role in ensuring that customer and regulatory requirements are met across the full spacecraft production lifecycle, including manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test.

This position sits directly within the production environment and is responsible for driving quality standards, preventing defects, and ensuring compliance in complex, high-value hardware programmes.

• Take full ownership of quality assurance activities within a designated production area
• Conduct critical inspections and witness key manufacturing and integration operations
• Drive a proactive quality culture, influencing production teams to prevent non-conformances
• Lead the management and reduction of non-conformance and cost of poor quality (CoPQ)
• Maintain oversight of build reconciliations, open points, and outstanding work orders
• Perform ongoing quality surveillance to ensure adherence to product and programme requirements
• Track and manage actions arising from inspections across all production phases
• Support root cause analysis and internal review boards (e.g. NCR, MRB/IRB activities)
• Review and improve quality documentation, procedures, and production processes
• Initiate and conduct process audits where required
• Review manufacturing instructions and engineering drawings for technical and quality compliance, supporting correction of issues where identified
• Act as a quality authority within the production environment, ensuring standards are upheld and challenged where necessary

• Engineering apprenticeship and/or relevant technical qualification
• Minimum 3+ years experience within aerospace, defence, or space manufacturing environments
• Strong understanding of quality assurance / product assurance in regulated industries
• Proven experience in hardware inspection within complex assemblies
• Ability to influence stakeholders on the shop floor and drive behavioural change around quality
• Strong communication skills - able to clearly articulate findings and challenge where required
• Experience working within structured production or cleanroom environments
• Flexibility to support shift patterns, on-call, or site-based requirements

• Knowledge of space or ECSS quality standards
• Exposure to continuous improvement / Lean methodologies
• Experience working with 3D engineering drawings / digital manufacturing tools (Catia, 3DX)
• Familiarity with composite or advanced materials
• Previous involvement in ESA or equivalent regulated programmes