Project QA and Documentation Coordinator

Project QA and Documentation Coordinator

Remote – Philippines | Australian Engineering & Fabrication Contractor

LA Services is seeking an experienced Project QA and Documentation Coordinator to support the front-end establishment, quality planning and progressive documentation of mechanical, piping, fabrication and site projects.

The primary purpose of this role is to establish project requirements at commencement, determine how engineering, materials, fabrication, inspection, testing and subcontract activities will be managed, establish the appropriate QA framework, support project meetings to capture changes in scope and delivery requirements, identify potential variations, and progressively develop the Manufacturing Data Record throughout project delivery.

This is a project quality and documentation role rather than a welding engineering or technical NDE role.

Front-End Project Establishment

At project commencement, review the contract documentation, Scope of Work, specifications, drawings and client requirements to clearly establish how the project is to be delivered and what LA Services is responsible for.

Engineering Responsibility

Determine the engineering arrangement for the project, including whether:

- LA Services is responsible for engineering and design.
- The customer is providing completed IFC drawings.
- Engineering is being managed directly by the customer or their nominated engineer.
- LA Services is required to develop fabrication or shop drawings from customer engineering.
- Drawings require review, approval or further development before fabrication.
- Design calculations, engineering verification or third-party certification are required.
- Engineering deliverables or approvals remain outstanding.
- Design changes and drawing revisions require tracking during project delivery.

The objective is to clearly establish who owns the engineering responsibility and what engineering information LA requires before work can proceed.

Material Responsibility

Determine how project materials are being supplied and controlled, including whether:

- Materials are customer free-issued.
- Materials are purchased and supplied by LA Services.
- Supply responsibility is split between LA Services and the customer.
- Client-nominated suppliers are required.
- Specific material grades, standards or certification requirements apply.
- Material Test Certificates or other certification are required.
- Material traceability requirements apply.
- Customer free-issued material requires receipt inspection, identification and traceability.
- Procurement documentation requires client review or approval.

Establish the appropriate material registers and traceability requirements based on the agreed supply arrangement.

Fabrication and Site Scope

Establish:

- Workshop fabrication requirements.
- Site installation requirements.
- Inspection requirements.
- Testing requirements.
- Hold and witness points.
- Client inspection involvement.
- Third-party inspection requirements.
- Subcontracted activities.
- Required completion and handover documentation.

Project Deliverables

Establish the complete QA and documentation deliverables required by the contract and specification, including:

- Documents requiring client submission.
- Documents requiring approval before work commences.
- Inspection and testing records.
- Certificates and traceability documentation.
- Subcontractor documentation.
- Progressive MDR requirements.
- Final handover requirements.

Any conflict, omission or unclear responsibility identified during the front-end review is to be raised with the LA Services project team for clarification before it becomes a downstream project issue.

Project Meetings, Change Capture & Potential Variations

Support relevant internal LA Services project meetings and external client/project meetings throughout project delivery.

The purpose is not simply to take meeting minutes. The role is to identify and capture decisions or changes that affect quality, documentation, engineering responsibility, material supply, inspection, testing, subcontracting or project delivery requirements.

Responsibilities include:

- Attend relevant internal kick-off, planning and project progress meetings.
- Attend external client or project meetings where required.
- Capture changes to project scope and delivery requirements.
- Capture changes to engineering responsibility or design deliverables.
- Capture changes to customer-supplied or LA-supplied materials.
- Track changes arising from revised drawings, specifications, technical queries and client instructions.
- Identify changes affecting the Project Quality Plan, ITPs, procedures, registers, weld maps, NDE schedules or MDR.
- Identify changes to hold points, witness points, inspection and testing requirements.
- Identify additional subcontractor QA requirements arising during project delivery.
- Identify new or changed client submission and approval requirements.
- Maintain applicable action and change registers.
- Update project QA documentation following agreed changes.
- Maintain revision control and ensure superseded requirements are clearly identified.
- Follow up outstanding QA actions arising from meetings.
- Escalate technical matters to the appropriate project, QA or engineering personnel.

Potential Variation Identification

The Project QA and Documentation Coordinator will identify and record potential changes in contractual scope, but will not own commercial assessment or approval of variations.

Where a change may result in additional cost, time, engineering, inspection, testing, documentation, subcontractor work or other delivery obligations, the coordinator is expected to:

- Clearly record the change.
- Identify the original project requirement where possible.
- Identify the new or revised requirement.
- Flag the matter as a potential variation / scope change.
- Notify the Project Engineer or Project Manager.
- Provide supporting documentation or meeting records where available.
- Track the matter until the project team confirms how it is to be managed.

Formal determination, pricing, submission, negotiation and approval of variations remains the responsibility of the Project Engineer / Project Manager and relevant commercial personnel.

The objective is to ensure scope changes are identified early rather than being absorbed unnoticed into project delivery.

Project Quality Setup

Once project requirements have been established:

- Prepare and maintain the Project Quality Plan / Project Quality Management Plan.
- Select and prepare the applicable Inspection and Test Plans (ITPs).
- Establish project QA registers.
- Establish document and drawing registers.
- Establish material and traceability registers where required.
- Establish client submission and approval registers.
- Identify hold points and witness points.
- Establish required inspection and testing documentation.
- Identify applicable specifications, standards and client quality requirements.
- Establish the MDR structure and index at the beginning of the project.
- Identify documentation required before fabrication, subcontract activities or site works commence.

Procedure Selection

Review the project requirements and identify the appropriate existing LA Services procedures required for the project, including where applicable:

- Hydrostatic testing procedures.
- Pneumatic testing procedures.
- Inspection procedures.
- Material traceability procedures.
- Pressure testing procedures.
- Painting and coating procedures.
- Preservation and storage procedures.
- Handling and transport procedures.
- Site quality procedures.
- Other project-specific QA procedures.

Where an existing procedure does not adequately satisfy the specification or project requirement, identify the gap and refer it to the appropriate LA Services technical, engineering or QA personnel.

Subcontractor QA Requirements

Identify subcontracted activities and establish the required QA documentation before subcontract work commences.

Typical subcontract activities may include:

- NDE.
- Blasting and painting.
- Coating.
- Pickling and passivation.
- Galvanising.
- Machining.
- Heat treatment.
- Specialist testing.
- Calibration.
- Third-party inspection.
- Transport and specialised freight.
- Other specialist project services.

Obtain and coordinate applicable documentation such as:

- Procedures.
- Method statements.
- ITPs.
- Company accreditations.
- Personnel qualifications and certifications.
- NATA or equivalent accreditation.
- Calibration certificates.
- Product technical data.
- Material certificates.
- Inspection and testing documentation.
- Painting and coating documentation.
- Pickling and passivation procedures.
- Transport and handling procedures.
- Preservation requirements.

Check that documentation is current, applicable to the scope and consistent with project requirements.

Technical or compliance gaps are to be identified and referred to the appropriate LA Services personnel for resolution.

Weld Maps & NDE Schedules

The welding-related component of this role is limited to project documentation setup.

Responsibilities include:

- Build weld maps from approved IFC drawings.
- Establish weld identification and numbering.
- Establish the weld register structure where required.
- Develop the NDE schedule based on the applicable project specification and inspection requirements.
- Maintain weld maps and NDE schedules following approved drawing revisions.

The role does not include welding engineering, WPS selection, welding supervision, welder qualification management or technical interpretation of NDE results.

Progressive MDR Development

A key responsibility is to develop the Manufacturing Data Record progressively throughout the project, rather than attempting to compile it after completion.

Responsibilities include:

- Establish the MDR index at project commencement.
- Create the MDR folder and document structure.
- Establish required MDR deliverables from the specification and contract.
- Populate the MDR progressively as documentation is generated.
- Track outstanding documentation.
- Review records for completeness before inclusion.
- Maintain revision control.
- Capture client-approved documentation.
- Capture material certification and traceability records.
- Capture inspection and testing records.
- Capture subcontractor QA records.
- Capture approved changes to project QA and delivery requirements.
- Maintain an MDR outstanding-items register.
- Prepare progressive MDR submissions where required.
- Prepare the final MDR for client review and handover.

The objective is for the MDR to be substantially complete when the physical project is complete, rather than becoming a separate close-out exercise after delivery.

Typical Documentation

The position may work with:

- Project Quality Plans.
- ITPs.
- MDR indexes.
- Scope and responsibility matrices.
- Engineering and drawing registers.
- Client submission registers.
- Material procurement registers.
- Free-issue material registers.
- Material traceability registers.
- Material Test Certificates.
- Weld maps.
- NDE schedules.
- Hydrostatic and pressure-test documentation.
- Inspection records.
- Calibration certificates.
- Painting and coating documentation.
- Pickling and passivation documentation.
- Subcontractor procedures.
- Subcontractor certifications and accreditations.
- Third-party inspection documentation.
- Transport and handling documentation.
- NCR registers.
- Technical query registers.
- Project action registers.
- Change and potential variation registers.
- Drawing and revision registers.
- Final MDR documentation.

Experience We Are Looking For

Experience in project QA, quality coordination or technical documentation within industries such as:

- Mechanical construction.
- Pressure piping.
- Oil and gas.
- Petrochemical.
- Water infrastructure.
- Power.
- Steel fabrication.
- Pressure vessels.
- EPC / engineering.
- Industrial construction.

Relevant previous positions may include:

- Project QA Coordinator.
- QA/QC Coordinator.
- Mechanical QA/QC Officer.
- Project Documentation Coordinator.
- QA/QC Document Controller.
- MDR Coordinator.

Experience supporting Australian projects or working with Australian or international engineering specifications and standards would be highly regarded.

The Person We Are Looking For

This is not simply a document filing position.

We need someone capable of opening a new project and establishing:

- What exactly has LA Services been contracted to deliver?
- Who is responsible for engineering?
- Are the drawings IFC and ready for fabrication?
- Is engineering customer-managed or LA-managed?
- Is material customer free-issued or LA supplied?
- What material certification and traceability are required?
- What ITP applies?
- What procedures are required?
- What subcontract activities are involved?
- What qualifications and accreditations are required from subcontractors?
- What hold and witness points apply?
- What testing and inspection records are required?
- What weld maps and NDE schedules need to be established?
- What documents need client approval before work starts?
- What has changed during project delivery?
- Does a change affect the QA plan, ITP, procedure, register, MDR or delivery obligation?
- Could the change represent a potential variation?
- Has the Project Engineer / Project Manager been notified?
- What documentation remains outstanding?
- What must ultimately be included in the MDR?

The ideal person will be organised, technically minded, commercially aware, proactive and confident communicating with both internal project teams and external clients.

They must be capable of establishing the quality and documentation requirements of a project from the outset, monitoring changes throughout delivery and maintaining those requirements through to final handover.

Working Arrangement

- Remote position based in the Philippines.
- Long-term contractor engagement.
- Direct engagement with an Australian engineering and fabrication business.
- Regular interaction with Australian project, engineering and QA personnel.
- Participation in relevant internal and external project meetings.
- Australian business-hour overlap required.
- Monthly professional services fee.
- LA Services systems, templates and project documentation provided.