Quality Manager - Audit & Assurance

As part of this role you will be accountable to the Senior Quality Manager for leading, developing and continuously improving the Audit and Assurance Programme for Nuclear Waste Services, ensuring a high standard of Quality Audits proportionate to the risks of the business. The programme must adequately cover all aspects of NWS’s activities to ensure compliance with legal and internal/external customer requirements and to minimise business risk.

Liaising with stakeholders, where necessary e.g., NDA, LRQA, customers and regulators, you will lead the provision of an on and off-site audit capability in support of the NWS Audit and Assurance Programme. To support the Supply Chain Quality & Assurance Department in the maintenance, rationalisation and development of the integrated audit and assurance programme aligned to the management system whilst ensuring it continues to meet ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & ISO 45001 and all stakeholder requirements associated with all NWS Operations and Programmes/Projects.

Responsibilities

• Leading and Developing the Quality Audit and Assurance Programme
• To develop and lead the Quality Audit and Assurance Programme
• Ensuring trained and competent audit personnel are in place to support the programme
• To be aware and abide by the company’s Standards and Expectations and reinforce these to all audit personnel
• To manage the risks within your scope of work in compliance with the company risk management procedures
• Comply with policy, process and procedures that relate to your role
• To be aware of the environmental issues associated with your role
• Promoting the standards and expectations of safety behaviour set by the Head of Safety and Regulatory Liaison
• Maintaining professional links with statutory bodies including LRQA and ISO
• To maintain a state of readiness for audits by regulatory agencies
• To ensure effective communications are in place to internal key stakeholders
• To coordinate the Board Audit Committee including all logistics, minutes, agendas, and documentation as requested
• To ensure a rolling Quality Audit and Assurance Programme is in place and is proportionate to risks
• To ensure robust management system documentation is in place to support the Quality Audit and Assurance Programme
• To undertake/support audits as required
• Leading the development and management of the Assurance Module within internal systems
• Planning and scoping audits effectively, allocating audit resources, defining deadlines, and ensuring a comprehensive and appropriate scope is set for each audit
• To create audit and assurance reports and statements as required
• Developing and Sustaining Continuous Improvement
• Contribute to a continuous improvement culture by escalating failings and findings and ensure the implementation of necessary changes to prevent re-occurrence
• To provide meaningful metrics to show the health of assurance activities
• To deliver the targets set by the Head of Quality and Assurance
• Provide guidance and assistance in developing corrective actions and closing audit findings, event actions, and commitments

Assurance

• To lead the development, implementation and delivery of an effective risk-based audit and assurance programme, across NWS including quality audits, customer and contractor’s audits and the self-evaluation/independent audits programme.
• Develop and deploy the appropriate quality assurance and quality control activities to support the delivery of objectives and incorporating a graded approach to assurance and oversight, based on risk, to enable confirmation that products/outputs and deliverables met the specified requirements.
• Deploy arrangements to deliver an appropriate management review process across the business to meet requirements.
• To maintain management oversight of the findings from Audit and Assurance programmes and participate in scrutiny and review processes.
• To undertake audits, inspections and task observations as required, in accordance with the NWS audit & assurance programme.
• Leading and managing the development and continuous improvement of the computer-based information systems supporting the Audit and Assurance Departments.
• Enhancing the existing Audit and Assurance Departments’ support service to NWS by integrating new and improved services to day-to-day management activities.