Supplier Development Engineer

About the Role

Assess supplier quality and ensure products are free from defects and comply with manufacturing specifications and legal standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Ensuring the quality of supplies by conducting tests and assessments on incoming supplies to identify any quality issues.
• Developing supplier inspection, testing, and evaluation mechanisms.
• Generating reports on supplier quality, monitoring defect rates and areas that can lead to potential flaws.
• Guiding suppliers to reduce defect rates.
• Researching potential vendors, assessing their manufacturing environment, practices, and procedures.
• Conducting supplier quality control audits to ensure compliance with organizational and federal policies and standards.
• Supporting suppliers in improving their performance through process enhancements, implementing process controls, and developing quality assurance plans.

Requirements & Tech Stack

• Effective Communications
• Understanding of effective communication concepts, tools, and techniques.
• Ability to effectively transmit, receive, and accurately interpret ideas, information, and needs.
• Delivers helpful feedback focusing on behaviors.
• Listens to feedback without defensiveness.
• Makes oral presentations and writes reports.
• Avoids technical jargon when inappropriate.
• Looks for and considers non-verbal cues.
• Problem Solving
• Knowledge of approaches, tools, and techniques for recognizing, anticipating, and resolving organizational, operational, or process problems.
• Ability to apply knowledge of problem-solving appropriately to diverse situations.
• Ensures capture of lessons learned from problem-solving efforts.
• Organizes potential problem solvers and leads problem resolution efforts.
• Uses varying problem-solving approaches and techniques.
• Contributes to standard practices for problem-solving approaches, tools, and processes.
• Analyzes and synthesizes information and devises alternative resolution strategies.
• Develops successful resolutions to critical or wide-impact problems.
• Process Improvement
• Understanding and insight into evaluating current product quality and production methods.
• Ability to maintain focus on the continuous improvement of processes, products, and services.
• Streamlines critical workflows for executing key processes.
• Sets priorities for addressing process problems that limit performance.
• Develops methods for improving and establishing controls for critical processes.
• Monitors external sources for applicable new methods and controls.
• Analyzes findings from improvement cycles.
• Coaches others to develop process improvement skills.
• Quality Orientation
• Knowledge of quality management methods, tools, and techniques.
• Ability to create and support an environment that meets the quality goals of the organization.
• Collaborates with other groups to develop synchronized quality standards.
• Defines quality from multiple perspectives (operational, employee, customer, market).
• Applies current best practices to modify standards and improve quality outcomes.
• Resolves apparent discrepancies between quality and safety objectives.
• Monitors intangible measures of quality.
• Coaches team members in applying methodologies for quality assurance.
• Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)
• Knowledge of PPAP elements, submissions, and objectives.
• Ability to determine if a supplier can consistently manufacture products meeting customer quality requirements.
• Develops testing and validation procedures to meet desired customer standards.
• Identifies and resolves key issues with PPAP implementation and submissions.
• Monitors PPAP execution and ensures compliance with industry standards and internal guidelines.
• Oversees PPAP implementation and establishes high trust relationships.
• Reviews complex documentation for PPAP submissions.
• Trains others on PPAP execution and submission levels.
• Manufacturing Standards, Procedures and Policies
• Knowledge of organizational standards, procedures, and policies in manufacturing activities.
• Ability to plan, guide, and monitor manufacturing processes for compliance.
• Ensures communication vehicles effectively inform affected areas and personnel.
• Consults on development and implementation of cross-functional standards.
• Participates in the development of organizational policies and practices.
• Develops and uses control and monitoring mechanisms for adherence.
• Collaborates with other functions on establishing and documenting joint standards.
• Participates in defining architectural principles and standards.
• Supplier Management - MFG
• Knowledge of processes and methods to effectively manage business relationships and transactions with suppliers.
• Ability to apply related knowledge, experience, and skills into practice.
• Facilitates supplier partnering arrangements.
• Monitors supplier performance and resolves discrepancies.
• Develops quality standards and controls for suppliers.
• Builds and maintains partnerships with suppliers.
• Evaluates issues and terminates supplier relationships as appropriate.
• Ensures fulfillment of report and record-keeping requirements.
• Supplier Evaluations and Certification
• Knowledge of supplier evaluations and certification.
• Ability to identify methods, tools, and documentation for evaluating, selecting, and certifying vendors.
• Evaluates potential suppliers.
• Develops a preferred suppliers list.
• Designs key aspects of and processes for evaluating a supplier's capabilities.
• Compares and contrasts alternative methods and tools for evaluation.
• Analyzes and resolves supplier product quality, support, or pricing problems.
• Works with multiple evaluation, selection, and certification initiatives.

Qualifications

• Preferred Bachelor’s Degree from a Tier 1 college or University.
• This position requires working onsite five days a week.
• Relocation is available for this position.