Quality Manager (all genders) in Space Hardware Production

Blackwave designs, manufactures and ships flight-qualified, commercial off-the-shelf composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for launch vehicles and satellites. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Munich, Germany, the company delivers COPVs from a standardized portfolio with flight heritage. The approach reduces lead time from months to days while ensuring that each tank is qualified and flight-ready. Blackwave's mission is to end COPV failure in spaceflight. The company employs more than 150 people across manufacturing facilities in Germany and Texas.

THE WHAT
You maintain our quality management system and ensure audit readiness at any time. You build processes that engineering, manufacturing, and management actually use, provide leadership with clear visibility through KPIs, and establish risk management systems that actively steer the business rather than simply document it.

THE WHY
At Blackwave, we develop and manufacture Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels and carbon fiber structures for the space industry — hardware where failure is not an option. As we scale from one site in Germany to two with our new facility in Texas, quality cannot become an afterthought or a paperwork exercise. We are looking for a Quality Manager who keeps our German QMS sharp, pragmatic, and ISO 9001-compliant while building a quality culture that engineers, operators, and management genuinely live — not one that gathers dust in a document folder.

YOUR IMPACT

You don't just manage quality. You make the organization trust it.

You ensure:

• ISO 9001 is successfully maintained across both sites and audits are passed without major findings.
• Quality processes are pragmatic, scalable, and actively applied in day-to-day operations.
• Leadership has clear visibility into company performance through meaningful KPIs and management reviews.
• Organizational, process, and product risks are systematically identified, assessed, and followed through.
• Quality documentation and workflows are fully digitized and adopted across the organization.

Your tasks in detail and by priority:

• Maintain certification in Germany and prepare internal, certification, and customer audits together with the teams to ensure successful audit outcomes without major findings.
  High Performance: Audit-ready. Any time.
• Define and implement essential quality processes that are pragmatic and scalable enough for development, manufacturing, and management to confidently apply in their daily work.
  Togetherness: Great processes only work when people use them.
• Provide leadership with clear, up-to-date visibility into company performance through meaningful KPIs and management reviews that drive decisions rather than simply report numbers.
  Candor: Transparency drives better decisions.
• Establish and actively maintain a company-wide risk management system covering organizational, process, and product risks, with clear ownership and consistent follow-up on mitigation measures.
  Accountability: Every risk has an owner and a plan.
• Establish a digital QMS platform as the mandatory system of record and ensure quality documentation and workflows are successfully migrated and adopted throughout the organization.
  Playfulness: Use technology to make quality simpler and better.

Must-Haves

• 3–5+ years of experience in quality management within a manufacturing environment.
• Degree in a technical field (e.g. aerospace or mechanical engineering) combined with relevant training or practical experience in quality management.
• Deep hands-on experience with ISO 9001, audit management, and designing or improving quality processes.
• Pragmatic quality mindset: you build processes for usage, not just for compliance. Standards are an enabler, not bureaucracy.
• Strong analytical thinking and experience with KPI development, management reporting, and company-wide risk management.
• Strong ownership mentality and the ability to communicate effectively at all levels, from operators to C-level stakeholders. Fluent English is required.

Nice to have

• Experience with digital QMS, PLM, or documentation platforms and driving organization-wide tool adoption.
• German language skills and experience in aerospace or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.

• Choose your own benefit: Germany ticket, Egym Wellpass, or a tax-free Give Card
• Healthy & social lunch culture: Fresh meals during shared lunch breaks
• High level of autonomy & real impact: You own a critical seam in the business — between what we sell and what we build
• Startup mindset meets aerospace innovation: Flat hierarchies, fast decisions, and space for your ideas
• Stunning views: Rooftop terrace with views of the Alps in Taufkirchen, or indoor garden in Garching-Hochbrück
• Growth opportunities: Work on technically demanding projects with real stakes
• We live our team culture: From tech talks to team events and after-work gatherings — we celebrate success together