Senior NPI Product Quality and RMA Engineer

Job Title

Senior NPI Product Quality and RMA Engineer

Role Summary

This engineer owns Product Quality responsibilities across New Product Introduction (NPI) and Return Material Authorization (RMA) channels. The role represents Quality throughout the product lifecycle — from early development through high-volume manufacturing and customer return analysis — to ensure reliability, manufacturability, outgoing quality, and timely issue resolution.

The position requires technical depth in failure analysis, cross-functional leadership to influence design/process decisions, and the ability to drive data-driven corrective actions and systemic quality improvements.

Experience Level

Senior — typically 5–10 years of relevant experience in NPI Product Quality, RMA, or Product Test Engineering.

Responsibilities

Primary duties include serving as the quality owner for new product launches and managing return analysis and corrective actions.

• Serve as Quality Engineering representative on NPI core teams to ensure product, supplier and customer RMA readiness for new launches.
• Collaborate with QRE, Packaging, PTE, Systems, Design and other teams to apply lessons learned and preventive actions upstream in development.
• Lead technical and business teams to resolve escalated quality issues in high-volume manufacturing, including factory excursions and disposition of non-conforming material.
• Perform technical evaluation of customer-returned devices at system and device levels using diagnostic tools and tests.
• Analyze failure signatures and drive root-cause investigations to identify corrective and preventive actions.
• Track actions, schedules and owners to meet targeted RMA analysis cycle times; initiate internal corrective actions where applicable.
• Act as conduit between customer, Product Core Team and Branch CQE to represent customer perspective and improve satisfaction metrics.
• Drive improvements to internal quality systems aimed at reducing outgoing product DPPM.

Requirements

Key technical skills and experience required for this senior quality engineering role.

• Minimum 5–10 years of relevant experience in NPI Product Quality, RMA, or Product Test Engineering.
• Strong semiconductor quality background with knowledge of wafer fabrication, assembly, testing, and packaging processes.
• Hands-on experience with quality tools, statistical analysis, CAPA, and structured problem-solving techniques (root-cause analysis).
• Experience using diagnostic and failure-analysis tools and methods such as ATE, X‑ray, CSAM, IV curve, and system-level test.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, manage escalations, and drive corrective/preventive actions to closure.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills; ability to present technical findings clearly and coordinate stakeholders.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Electronics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. Master's degree is preferred; PhD in a related field is also listed as acceptable. The posting references degrees at the Bachelor's, Master's and PhD levels in these technical fields.

About the Company

Company: Qualcomm

Headquarters: San Diego, California, United States

Qualcomm is a global leader in semiconductor and telecommunications equipment, specializing in mobile technologies and innovations. Known for its Adreno GPUs, the company provides solutions enabling advancements in mobile gaming, AI, VR/AR, and autonomous driving. Qualcomm's cutting-edge technology and commitment to high-performance, power-efficient designs drive the evolution of mobile graphics and connectivity worldwide.