Quality Lead

Location: Northampton
Salary: £50,000 - £60,000
Job Type: Perm
Sector: Engineering & Manufacturing
Date Posted: 15 October 2026
Reference: 56057

About The Role

  • Perm
  • Northampton
  • £50,000 - £60,000 GBP / Year

The One Group

Manufacturing Quality Lead
Location: Northampton
Salary: Competitive, depending on experience
Hours: Days, Monday to Friday

We’re working with a leading high-performance engineering manufacturer in Northampton who are looking to recruit a Manufacturing Quality Lead to join their components manufacturing operation.

This is a hands-on leadership role, overseeing a team of Quality Engineers and ensuring quality standards are maintained throughout the manufacturing process.

You’ll be working closely with Manufacturing and Engineering teams, resolving quality concerns, supporting new product introduction and driving improvements across the department.

The Role

  • Lead and support a team of Quality Engineers, managing daily workloads, priorities and ongoing development.

  • Oversee manufacturing quality activities, ensuring components and processes meet customer requirements and ISO9001 / AS9100 standards.

  • Lead quality investigations, root cause analysis and 8D problem-solving activities, working closely with Engineering and Manufacturing teams.

  • Support NPI and APQP activities, including measurement strategies, inspection requirements and continuous improvement initiatives.

What We’re Looking For

  • Strong background in manufacturing quality within a CNC machining or precision engineering environment.

  • Previous experience leading or supervising a Quality Engineering team within a manufacturing environment.

  • Good understanding of ISO9001, APQP, 8D problem solving and corrective action processes, with AS9100 knowledge advantageous.

  • Strong communication and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage priorities and work closely with production and engineering teams.

This would suit an experienced Senior Quality Engineer, Quality Team Leader or Manufacturing Quality Lead looking to take ownership of quality activities within a high-performance manufacturing environment.

Interested? Click to apply and Kieran will be in contact to discuss the opportunity in more detail.

To apply for this job email your details to kevans@theonegroup.co.uk

About The ONE Group

The ONE Group is a specialist recruitment consultancy with offices in Cambridge, Peterborough, Northampton, and Hertfordshire.

We recruit across Technology, Engineering & Manufacturing, Scientific, Sales, and Marketing, with consultants who specialise in their sector rather than trying to cover everything. This focused approach allows us to provide deeper market knowledge, stronger networks, and better hiring outcomes for both clients and candidates.

Our expertise spans permanent, contract, and senior-level appointments. Most importantly, the majority of our business comes from repeat clients and referrals, reflecting the long-term relationships we build and the trust we earn through consistently delivering results.

What Happens Next

1

One of our consultants will review your application within one working day.

2

If your experience looks like a fit, we'll be in touch for a quick conversation to understand what you're looking for.

3

From there, we'll talk you through the role properly, prepare you for interview, and stay alongside you through to your start date.

4

Whatever happens with this role, we'll keep your details on file, with your permission, so we can flag other opportunities that suit you.

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THE ONE GROUP

Where we're from,
and how we got here

Twenty years of specialist recruitment in the East – and a lot of small decisions that added up.

TOG started in Peterborough in 2004 with a small team and a simple idea: that recruitment is a people business, done best by specialists who stay in their sector long enough to know it properly.

More than two decades on, we've grown into four offices across the East of England and Home Counties. We recruit for finance leaders, HR directors, engineering managers, tech founders, scientists, and the commercial teams that keep businesses running day to day. Between us, we've built up over 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of more than 150,000 candidates we've placed, coached, or come to know across two decades in the region.

The founding principle hasn't changed. Recruitment as it should be.

OUR STORY

Key events timeline

2004

Doors open in Peterborough.

Our first office launches with a team of six on Lynch Wood. Cambridge follows the same year, giving us two offices before our first anniversary.

2015

Northampton makes it three.

Our third office opens with a team of five, quickly growing to eleven consultants covering the wider Midlands region.

2017

Peterborough moves across the road.

The team has outgrown the founding office. We move into Arena House on Lynch Wood, big enough for a growing consultant base and the back-office team that supports the whole group.

2018

Cambridge moves too.

Our second office relocates to Cambourne Business Park, giving the growing Cambridge team the space it now needs.

2023

Four offices, three counties, one very good year.

The Hertfordshire & Essex office opens in Potters Bar, extending our footprint into the Home Counties.

In the same year, we're named Business of the Year in Northamptonshire, and Employer of the Year in both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire at the regional SME Business Awards. Three counties, three panels.

TODAY

Still growing.

Four offices, more than 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of over 150,000 candidates.

Same founding principle.

SPECIALISTS BY DESIGN

What we do

We're specialists, not generalists. Every consultant at TOG focuses on one sector and stays in it. Not because it's the only way to do recruitment, but because it's how you build the depth to spot the difference between a strong CV and a strong hire.

It's also why so many of our clients come back to us years, even decades, after a first placement.

01
Accountancy & Finance
→
 02
Human Resources
→
 03
Commercial Office
Administration, customer service, project management and more
→
 04
Technology
→
 05
Engineering & Manufacturing
→
 06
Scientific
→
 07
Sales, Marketing & Creative
→
 08
Executive Search
Across all of the above
→

Beyond the recruitment itself, we produce annual salary guides, regional market reports, and the practical resources our clients and candidates turn to when they want a clearer view of what's happening in their sector.

THE WAY WE WORK

How we work

Four principles show up in every conversation and every process.
01

Be curious.

We stay interested in the market we work in, and in the people who work in it.

02

Keep it human.

We remember your kids' names and know how you take your coffee. That's just how we work here.

03

Make a difference.

We're here to help people build careers they love and businesses they're proud of.

04

Enjoy the ride.

Recruitment is a career, but it should be fun too. If it isn't, we've done something wrong.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Recruitment
as it should be.

Hire with TOG → Looking for a role →
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