Supplier Engineer Job Description

We're seeking a skilled and experienced Supplier Engineer to join our client's supplier management team. In this role, you'll be instrumental in enhancing performance, mitigating risks, and ensuring that components align with their cost, quality, and manufacturability goals. You will collaborate closely with Sourcing, R&D, and Manufacturing Engineering to vet and develop suppliers, provide technical expertise on design-for-manufacturability, and help guide strategic sourcing decisions through cost and process capability assessments.

As the primary technical point of contact, you'll ensure our suppliers have the necessary capabilities, capacity, and controls to meet specifications. You'll also support the resolution of complex technical and quality challenges and lead cross-functional initiatives aimed at strengthening the supply base to enable long-term business growth.

Duties And Responsibilities

• Collaborate with the Sourcing team to identify, qualify, and improve suppliers by evaluating their quality, service levels, cost, and manufacturing processes.

• Act as the main technical liaison between suppliers and internal teams for new product development, design changes, and issue resolution.

• Develop Should-Cost Models for key sub-commodities to inform sourcing decisions.

• Lead the purchase part approval process. Contribute to risk analysis (PFMEA), validation plans, control plans, and assess process capability (Cpk, Ppk) and measurement capability (Gage R&R) studies.

• Evaluate suppliers’ technical competencies, capabilities, and capacity to support sourcing strategies.

• Partner with R&D and Manufacturing Engineering to review product requirements, validation objectives, and relevant standards.

• Provide and solicit Design-for-Manufacturability (DFM) feedback and manage supplier communications regarding specifications and engineering changes.

• Investigate material quality issues, ensuring suppliers identify, implement, and verify effective corrective actions.

• Assess and validate supplier change requests, ensuring proper documentation, testing, and implementation.

• Perform other duties as assigned to support business needs.

Required Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a related discipline with at least 5 years of relevant experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Knowledge of extrusion, injection molding, and metal forming is preferred.

• Experience with quality systems that meet FDA QSR, ISO 13485, MDD, GMP, and GDP requirements.

• Proficiency in SolidWorks.

• Familiarity with operations techniques, benchmarking, and continuous improvement tools (Lean).

• Strong technical skills in risk management and remediation.

• Proven ability to create detailed project plans.

• Knowledge of Design Control procedures and requirements.

• Experience with test method validation and product/process changes/validation.

• Ability to work both independently and as part of a collaborative team.