Quality Control Team Lead

Do you want to belong to a team where diverse perspectives drive global growth?

Our culture is built on trust, inclusivity (70+ nationalities), and a shared mission to make refurbished electronics mainstream. We are now seeking a highly structured and detail-oriented leader to manage our Quality Control team - someone who values both people and process. Ready to make a direct impact at Swappie?

Role Purpose: The Cornerstone of Quality

The Quality Control Team Lead ensures the highest standards of product quality across Swappie's production operations (currently Tallinn and Leipzig). This role offers full accountability for building, leading, and professionalizing the Quality Control (QC) function from scratch.

You will manage the Quality Control team, maintain and improve random sampling procedures, and implement robust quality control systems that drive consistency and accuracy across grading, diagnostics, and repair. Externally, your success safeguards Swappie's brand promise by reducing warranty returns and enhancing customer trust.

What you'll work on (Key responsibilities)

You will be a proactive leader driving continuous improvement, developing quality culture, and translating data into durable corrective actions.

Leadership & Quality Culture

Lead & Coach: Manage and support the QC team, ensuring balanced workload and on-time delivery; provide real-time feedback and coaching to embed a culture of continuous improvement.

Strategy & Planning: Define quarterly OKRs and contribute to the evaluation and prioritization of future quality improvement projects.

Execution & Analysis

Systems Enforcement: Maintain and enforce random sampling procedures and monitor key quality KPIs (accuracy, defect rates).

Data-to-Action: Analyze sampling and defect data to identify trends, conduct Root Cause Analysis (RCA), and oversee the implementation of Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA).

Communication: Communicate effectively with production/repair teams to solve immediate issues and prepare & present monthly quality performance reports to management.

Strategy & Improvement

Review and update quality procedures to ensure continuous relevance.

Support cross-functional initiatives to improve overall operations and contribute to long-term quality gains.

Your impact will be measured by:

This role directly impacts operational stability. You will drive improvements in:

Sampling Accuracy: Ensuring the reliability of our random sampling system.

Defect Escape Rate: Measuring the effectiveness of Quality Control in preventing defective units from reaching customers.

Warranty Return Rate: Validating cosmetic and functional quality performance from the customer perspective.

CAPA Closure Lead Time: Accelerating the speed to implement durable fixes that prevent defect recurrence.

Re-grading Rate: Ensuring consistency and compliance with grading standards.

We would love to hear from you if you have...

Your success will be driven by a structured mindset, strong leadership skills, and hands-on experience in a production quality environment.

Experience & education: Proven experience in quality management or production quality roles, with a track record of managing teams and driving process improvements. While we value a Bachelor's or Master's degree in a related field, we prioritize hands-on expertise.

Technical skills: Hands-on experience with random sampling methods, fault diagnostics, and Root Cause Analysis. Strong familiarity with continuous improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma is highly desirable, and experience in the manufacturing industry is a strong advantage.

Leadership: Strong ability to motivate, coach, and influence stakeholders across different departments.

Competencies: Structured, detail-oriented, proactive, and analytical mindset for identifying improvement opportunities.

Language skills: Fluent English is a must (our company language). Estonian language skills are a strong plus.

We hope these will get you excited to pursue a career with Swappie:

Bring purpose to your everyday: You'll be actively shaping the future of consumer electronics and reducing e-waste - the largest growing form of waste globally. Your work directly contributes to our positive climate impact.

Benefit from a culture of trust: Enjoy the freedom to manage your work in ways that suit both you and Swappie. We operate on full transparency, sharing information, learnings, and achievements across the company.

Belong and be yourself: Our strength comes from the diverse group of people we're proud to employ. Whoever you are - you're welcome at Swappie. We actively work to create an environment where everyone feels safe and valued.

Flexible work & culture: A supportive, low-hierarchy team environment paired with flexible working hours and remote working options.

Directly define quality: Your decisions and processes are the primary safeguard for our brand. This role directly affects product quality, reliability, customer satisfaction, and Swappie's reputation. Your impact will be highly visible and meaningful across the entire organization.

Shared growth: This is a two-way street - it is a fantastic opportunity to expand your knowledge while sharing your unique expertise and experience with colleagues who are eager to grow together.

Practicalities

Location: Tallinn, Estonia. We expect you to work on-site most days.
Contract: Full-time, permanent.
Application deadline: Please apply by latest 7th of November 2025.
Start Date: Negotiable, as soon as possible.

How the recruitment process will look like

The process is designed to be a transparent, two-way assessment, ensuring we find the right match for our team. If you're ready to join the mission, start by reviewing our comprehensive guide on How we hire. We look forward to your application

1. Intro with Talent Acquisition Partner (online, 30 min): A friendly chat to assess your core motivation, communication skills, and general alignment with Swappie's culture and expectations.

2. Meet the Hiring Manager (online, 60 min): A deep dive into the Quality Control Team Lead role, your leadership style, and alignment with the Quality & Continuous Improvement team's mission.

3. Technical Interview with Quality Engineer (online, 60 min): Evaluate your technical expertise, analytical thinking, and problem-solving skills through relevant scenarios.

4. Culture & Values Fit (on-site, 90 min): Assess collaboration, communication, and values alignment with the production leadership - all crucial for success in this cross-functional role. We will also give you a tour around our site during this meeting.
   

Questions? will happily reply. 

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