Supplier Development & Quality Improvement Lead

Blackline Safety; Calgary; Hybrid; CAD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Hybrid work model

Education funding

Vacation & paid time off

Job summary

Blackline Safety is seeking a Supplier Development Specialist to optimize supplier performance, enable production readiness, and drive continuous improvement across manufacturing operations. You will lead complex investigations and coordinate corrective actions with suppliers and internal teams.

The role requires a minimum of five years in supplier quality/ development, strong root-cause analysis, and the ability to travel 10–20% to supplier sites.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Quality Engineering, or related field.
• Minimum 5 years of hands-on experience driving process improvement and troubleshooting in manufacturing environments, including injection molding, die casting, stamping/sheet metal fabrication, and coating processes.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in supplier management, supplier development, or supplier quality engineering.
• Demonstrated experience implementing process improvement initiatives within manufacturing environments.
• Proven ability to resolve complex tooling, process, and mechanical compatibility issues directly within supplier manufacturing operations.
• Strong root-cause analysis and corrective action skills.
• Ability to travel to supplier facilities approximately 10–20% of the time.
• Preferred Qualifications: Lean Manufacturing certification; Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt; Experience conducting supplier audits; Experience with PCBA, SMT/SMD assembly, LCD display technologies, RF systems, battery-powered products, and electro-mechanical devices; Experience utilizing manufacturing data for process capability and yield analysis.

Responsibilities

• Monitor supplier quality performance, process capability, yield, and defect trends.
• Drive supplier process capability improvements through SPC, process monitoring, and continuous improvement methodologies to increase Cpk and reduce variation.
• Lead complex supplier quality investigations using 8D, root cause analysis, and Lean methodologies with sustainable improvements.
• Drive closure and effectiveness verification of supplier corrective actions.
• Support supplier scorecard development and performance reviews.
• Lead supplier Run-at-Rate validations to ensure capacity and throughput meet demand.
• Verify supplier readiness to support production growth.
• Assess manufacturing bottlenecks, constraints, and risk areas.
• Recommend improvements to increase throughput and stability.
• Lead yield improvement initiatives at supplier facilities.
• Conduct on-site and virtual process reviews and Kaizen events to eliminate waste and improve efficiency.
• Apply Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to improve performance.
• Drive reduction of defects, scrap, rework, and process variation.
• Serve as escalation point for IQC issues and coordinate with suppliers to resolve quality concerns.
• Support root-cause investigations involving Suppliers, Operations, and Engineering teams.
• Lead containment, corrective action, and preventive action implementations.

Skills

Process improvement

Root-cause analysis

Supplier management

Troubleshooting

Education

Engineering degree

Manufacturing/Industrial background

Tools

PCBA/SMT/SMD experience

RF systems

Electro-mechanical devices

Quality systems

Job description

Blackline Safety is seeking a Supplier Development Specialist to optimize supplier performance, enable production readiness, and drive continuous improvement across manufacturing operations. You will lead complex investigations and coordinate corrective actions with suppliers and internal teams.

The role requires a minimum of five years in supplier quality/ development, strong root-cause analysis, and the ability to travel 10–20% to supplier sites.