Quality & Compliance Manager (ISO 9001)

About SynMax, Inc.

SynMax is a geospatial intelligence company. We fuse multi-sensor satellite imagery with signals, vessel-tracking and proprietary machine learning models, and apply trained analysts to produce finished intelligence on activity in low-transparency environments across the maritime and energy domains.

Our product suite: Theia, Hyperion, Vulcan and Leviaton - is used by commercial energy traders, financial institutions, government agencies, and defense and intelligence organizations.

Founded in 2021, we are around 130 people across Houston, London and Washington, D.C.

About the role

SynMax is looking for a Quality Manager to build, run and keep up our ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) for software products. You'll own the QMS from end to end: documented processes, internal audits, corrective actions, management review and the external certification audits.This role will also be a supporting member of compliance team responsible for ISO 27001 and ISO 45001 programs.

This is a compliance and program management role with success based on taking the organisation through certification or surveillance audits and automating processes to facilitate success with a small team.

What you'll do

• Run the QMS
• Own the ISO 9001:2015 QMS: scope, quality policy, quality objectives, process map and document control.
• Set up and keep the required documented information: procedures, records, and controlled templates with clear versions.
• Turn ISO 9001 requirements into practical processes that fit how software teams already work (Agile, Jira/Confluence, CI/CD), rather than adding a separate paper process alongside them.

Audit and certification

• Plan and run the internal audit program, either leading audits or coordinating them.
• Manage the external relationships with the certification body: getting ready for audits, hosting them, and answering findings.
• Maintain audit-readiness using a Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) platform tool.

Corrective action and improvement

• Run the nonconformity and corrective action process (CAPA): root-cause analysis, action owners, deadlines, and checks that fixes actually worked.
• Track quality objectives and KPIs, such as defect escape rate, customer complaints, on-time delivery and audit findings closed.
• Prepare and lead management review meetings and report QMS performance to leadership.

Risk, suppliers and customers

• Keep the risks-and-opportunities register
• Set up supplier and vendor evaluation, including cloud and data providers.
• Support Customer Success group in measurement of customer feedback and complaint process and feed the results into improvement work.

Integration and training

• Line the QMS up with other ISO/IEC management systems to reduce redundant efforts where appropriate (shared document control, internal audit, management review, CAPA)
• Train staff on QMS awareness, their responsibilities and the audit process.

What you bring

Required

• 5+ years in quality management or compliance, including at least 3 years owning or co-owning an ISO 9001 programme.
• Has taken an organisation through at least one ISO 9001 certification, recertification or surveillance audit cycle.
• Strong hands-on experience with CAPA, root-cause methods (5 Whys, fishbone, 8D) and document control.
• Clear writing: you can produce procedures that people actually follow, and audit reports that leaders can act on.
• Able to influence teams that don't report to you and push back when needed.

Nice to have

• ISO 9001 Lead Auditor or Internal Auditor qualification (e.g. CQI/IRCA or Exemplar Global).
• Experience applying ISO 9001 in a software, SaaS or data-product company. Familiarity with ISO/IEC 90003 (ISO 9001 guidance for software) is a plus.
• Experience with integrated management systems, especially ISO 9001 with ISO/IEC 27001. Other related standards or frameworks are also a plus: ISO 22301, SOC 2.
• Working knowledge of software delivery practices (SDLC, Agile, release management, change control). Enough to map them to ISO 9001, not to do the engineering.
• Experience with QMS/GRC tools or Atlassian (Jira, Confluence) for compliance workflows.
• Certifications such as ASQ CQA, CQE or CMQ/OE.
• Background in energy, data or intelligence services.