Job Summary
Clark Associates is a family of companies serving the foodservice industry through multiple distribution channels, including the industry-leading ecommerce platform WebstaurantStore.com, The Restaurant Store retail locations, and Clark National Accounts. We are building out a centralized quality engineering and product integrity function for our rapidly growing portfolio of private-label products — and we’re looking for a leader to take it to the next level.
The Director of Quality Engineering & Product Performance will serve as the technical authority behind Clark’s private-label product portfolio. This role reports directly to the Vice President and is responsible for ensuring that our domestic and overseas suppliers are held to rigorous engineering standards and that every product bearing our brands meets the highest levels of quality, performance, and durability. The product universe is broad and complex — spanning commercial kitchen equipment, electrical and gaspowered appliances, refrigeration, furniture, janitorial and industrial products, and smallwares.
The engineering focus here is on setting the guardrails — developing specifications, reviewing supplier designs, rigorously testing products, and driving continuous quality improvement across the supplier network. This is a build-and-scale role, not a caretaker position. The successful candidate will continue the work of centralizing and maturing these capabilities while preserving the speed and agility that define Clark’s culture.
Periodic travel to supplier locations domestically and internationally.
Job Location
Hybrid: Some in-person work required.
2257 Old Philadelphia pike, Lancaster, PA 17602
We only accept W-2 candidates, H-1B sponsorship is not available.
Responsibilities
- Develop and maintain product specifications, engineering standards, and performance requirements that suppliers must meet across Clark’s private-label portfolio.
- Review supplier designs, prototypes, and engineering documentation with the technical depth to identify risks and catch problems before they reach production.
- Build and lead a rigorous product testing program (in-house and at suppliers) — including incoming inspection, performance validation, life-cycle and durability testing, and failure analysis.
- Serve as the technical authority in sourcing conversations, evaluating supplier capabilities, factory processes, and manufacturing quality systems to ensure they can deliver to Clark’s standards.
- Design and implement an enterprise-wide supplier quality program, including supplier assessment, qualification, audit, corrective action, and continuous improvement — with a focus on global sourcing partners, particularly in Asia.
- Translate customer feedback, field performance data, and product return insights into actionable engineering requirements and specification updates that drive supplier improvement.
- Embed product quality considerations across all stages of the product lifecycle — from sourcing and supplier selection through production, distribution, and post-market performance.
- Champion investment in testing infrastructure, lab capabilities, and engineering tools to support a growing and increasingly complex product portfolio. Either internally or with suppliers.
- Build and maintain dedicated quality engineering presence at key supplier locations to ensure command and control of product quality at the factory level.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with merchants, sourcing, compliance, and distribution teams to ensure that quality and engineering insight informs product and sourcing decisions.
- Provide strategic counsel to senior leadership on product quality, supplier performance, and engineering risk — translating technical findings into clear business impact.
- Build, lead, and develop a high-performing quality engineering team, setting clear direction and priorities aligned with the company’s values and growth objectives.
Physical Requirements
- Work is performed while sitting/standing and interfacing with a personal computer.
- Requires the ability to communicate effectively using speech, vision, and hearing.
- Requires the regular use of hands for simple grasping and fine manipulations.
- Requires occasional bending, squatting, crawling, climbing, and reaching.
- Requires the ability to occasionally lift, carry, push, or pull medium weights, up to 50lbs.
Qualifications
Experience
- 10+ years of progressive experience in quality engineering, supplier quality, product testing, or related technical functions within consumer products, commercial equipment, tools, appliances, or durable goods.
- At least 5 years in a leadership capacity, including building teams, designing quality programs, and driving organizational change.
- Proven track record building or transforming a supplier quality and product performance organization — not just stepping in and maintaining one.
- Deep experience managing supplier quality across global supply chains, particularly with overseas manufacturing partners in China and Southeast Asia.
- Strong background in product testing methodologies, specification development, and engineering review of supplier designs and manufacturing processes.
- Familiarity with the commercial foodservice equipment landscape and relevant product categories is a strong plus.
Education
- This role does not require a degree. We value relevant skills and experience and alignment with our core values above all else.
Desired Traits & Skills
- A change agent who builds foundational systems and recruits top talent — without imposing unnecessary bureaucracy on a highly entrepreneurial organization.
- Strong and humble leadership style — deeply invested in the success of others, able to build trust across functions, and comfortable navigating complexity without a large corporate support structure.
- The technical credibility to go toe-to-toe with suppliers on engineering details, and the business discernment to know which battles matter most.
- Thrives in fast-moving, entrepreneurial environments and knows how to introduce structure and rigor without slowing the organization down.
- Comfortable operating across cultures and time zones, with the interpersonal skills to build strong relationships with international suppliers and factory teams.
- Data-driven mindset — able to leverage quality metrics, testing data, customer feedback, and field performance trends to prioritize and drive decisions.
- Intellectually curious, hands-on, and energized by the challenge of building something from the ground up within a high-growth organization.
A rapidly growing, multi-divisional company headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with services supporting all of Clark’s distribution methods in the food service industry.
Job Posted: 07/29/2026