Job Placement · Manufacturing · Quality / Ops Manager
Quality and operations managers carry a BLS median of $126,060 and own the ISO 9001 registration itself, not just the inspections behind it. BEG sources against the audit history this seat has to defend, on Tier III milestone billing at $12,864 to $15,437.
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TL;DR
Quality and operations managers fall under BLS's industrial production manager category, 246,250 jobs nationally with a May 2025 median of $126,060. This seat owns the ISO 9001 registration, the corrective action system and the audit result, not just the measurements a quality technician produces underneath it. ISO 9001:2026 just replaced the withdrawn 2015 edition, and the transition window is exactly when experienced quality managers get retained by their current employers instead of released to the market. The ASQ Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence is the credential built for this level. BEG places this seat at Tier III, $12,864 to $15,437, fixed before sourcing.
The Certificate Is On The Line
Because the plant needs someone who has already carried an ISO 9001 or customer-specific audit cycle in the same product category, and the ISO 9001:2026 transition window is exactly when the candidates who can do that are being held onto by their current employers rather than released.
What The Search Establishes
Four conditions. The first names what this seat is accountable for, and the other three price the audit experience, safety exposure and hours the job actually requires.
| Condition | What it requires | Where it stalls |
|---|---|---|
| Named accountability for the quality system | ISO 9001 registration, the corrective action system, supplier quality and the audit result, owned by the manager and reported up to the plant manager. | A job description that lists quality tasks without naming who is accountable when an auditor asks for the record. |
| Audit-cycle experience in the same product category | A candidate who has already carried an ISO 9001 or customer-specific audit, IATF, AS9100 or FDA, through to a result in a comparable plant. | A posting that asks for general quality management experience instead of the specific audit type the client actually faces next. |
| Recognition of the safety responsibility this seat carries | OSHA describes its voluntary 30-hour outreach course as built for workers with some safety responsibility, which fits a manager accountable for corrective action and audit results. | Safety training treated as unrelated to the quality function, when the same non-conformance system usually covers both. |
| Honesty about on-call and off-hours demands | BLS notes industrial production managers may be on call for emergencies at any time and some work night or weekend shifts, since audit findings and customer complaints do not wait for the day shift. | A job description that implies a standard workweek when the real job includes off-hours escalation. |
The measurement records this manager reports on are produced on the quality technician page, and the plant-level accountability this role reports into is covered on the plant manager page rather than repeated here. The vertical overview is on the manufacturing placement service page.
Why The 2026 Transition Window Tightens Supply
ISO published the sixth edition of ISO 9001 in September 2026, replacing the withdrawn 2015 edition, and every organization holding the older certificate now has to work through its certification body on transition arrangements. That work falls squarely on the quality and operations manager. It is also exactly the moment a candidate who has led a transition before becomes hardest to hire away, because their current employer needs them through the recertification window more than usual. Underneath that manager, quality control inspectors remain concentrated in manufacturing, 64 percent of 602,000 jobs, which is the pool this seat draws its own reports from but is not itself.
Milestone Billing Against Contingency
At the BLS median of $126,060, a 20 percent contingency fee is $25,212 and a 25 percent fee is $31,515. BEG's Tier III milestone fee of $$12,864 to $$15,437 comes in well under both figures, and it is fixed in writing before sourcing starts, so a counteroffer during the transition window does not change what you owe.
Covering The Quality Management Seat
Three ways this seat typically gets filled, and they answer different questions about who is accountable for the certificate once the person is on site.
| Model | Who employs the manager | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quality or technical staffing agency | The staffing agency | Hourly or contract bill rate with markup, for the length of the assignment | Interim coverage through a single audit cycle with a defined end date. |
| Contingency search firm | You, but sourced on a percentage-of-salary fee | A fee, commonly 20 to 25 percent of first-year salary, due only on a hire | A single urgent fill where speed matters more than fee predictability. |
| BEG permanent placement | You | Tier III milestone fee, $12,864 to $15,437, fixed before sourcing | A manager who will hold the certificate and the audit relationship past the current transition, not just one cycle. |
Interim coverage through one defined audit cycle is a job for a quality or technical staffing agency, and we would rather say so than compete for work that is not a permanent hire. BEG does not staff on contract. The person we place joins your company outright, at a fee fixed before sourcing starts and backed by a replacement guarantee. For the plant-level role this seat reports into, see plant manager.
FAQ
The quality management system itself: ISO 9001 registration, customer audits, the corrective action system and supplier quality, plus the audit result that comes out of all of it. The plant manager is accountable for that outcome, but the quality manager is the one who holds the system.
Two-thirds of this occupation, industrial production managers per BLS, earn between $98,160 and $161,880 a year, the 25th to 75th percentile band for May 2025. The median lands at $126,060, $60.61 an hour, across 246,250 jobs nationally with a mean of $134,170.
BLS counts 252,100 industrial production manager jobs in 2025 and projects 3 percent growth through 2035, with about 17,000 openings a year. Typical entry is a bachelor's degree plus 5 or more years of related experience.
The ASQ Certified Manager of Quality and Organizational Excellence, which requires 10 years of on-the-job experience, 5 of them in a decision-making position, and an exam fee of $585. It is the credential built for someone running the whole quality function, not just inspecting parts.
Yes, for a subset of candidates. The Certified Quality Engineer requires 8 years of experience, 3 in a decision-making position, and a $550 exam fee. Some quality managers hold both, but the CMQ/OE is the one built specifically for the management layer of this role.
ISO 9001:2026, the sixth edition, published in September 2026 and is now the current certifiable quality management standard, with more than one million certificates issued across 189 countries. ISO 9001:2015 is withdrawn, and organizations certified to it should consult their certification body on transition arrangements.
Because the plant needs someone who has already led an ISO 9001 or a customer-specific audit cycle, IATF, AS9100 or FDA, in the same product category, and the 2026 edition transition means experienced quality managers are being retained by their current employers through the recertification window rather than released to the market.
Yes, in practice. OSHA describes its voluntary 30-hour outreach course as built for workers with some safety responsibility, and a manager accountable for audit results and corrective action systems typically holds that kind of responsibility even without a dedicated safety title.
Often, yes. BLS notes that industrial production managers, the closest classification to this seat, may be on call for emergencies at any time and some work night or weekend shifts, since an audit finding or a customer complaint does not wait for the day shift.
Closely. BLS counts 602,000 quality control inspector jobs, 64 percent of them in manufacturing, with about 66,700 openings a year. Those inspectors and technicians produce the measurement records this manager reports on, but the manager holds the certificate and the audit relationship, not the individual gauge readings.
A 20 percent contingency fee against the $126,060 median works out to $25,212; 25 percent is $31,515. BEG's Tier III fee of $12,864 to $15,437 undercuts both by a wide margin, and it does not move once it is set in writing before sourcing starts, regardless of what the final negotiated salary turns out to be.
No. A quality or technical staffing agency would keep this manager as its own employee and bill your company an hourly or contract rate for as long as the engagement runs. BEG places someone who becomes your direct employee instead, for one fixed milestone fee agreed before we begin sourcing.
Building the quality function? See quality technician, process and manufacturing engineer and plant manager, or all manufacturing placement.
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