Supplier Quality Manager

Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking company as a Supplier Quality Manager, where your expertise in quality assurance and supplier management will drive excellence in production. This pivotal role involves leading quality initiatives, managing supplier audits, and analyzing performance metrics to enhance product quality. You'll collaborate with diverse teams and contribute to innovative solutions in a dynamic international environment. Enjoy a compressed working pattern and a supportive benefits package that prioritizes your wellbeing and work-life balance. If you're passionate about quality and continuous improvement, this opportunity is perfect for you.

Benefits

Compressed working pattern—alternate Fridays off

International working environment

Benefits supporting health and wellbeing

Qualifications

• Experience in managing supplier quality in regulated environments.
• Proven ability to apply industry-standard quality methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Lead supplier quality assurance activities and audits.
• Analyze defect metrics and implement improvement measures.
• Manage supplier non-conformities and corrective actions.

Skills

Supplier Quality Management

Quality Methodologies (APQP/PPAP, LEAN DMAIC)

ISO Standards (9001:2015, AS 9102 FAIR)

Electro-Mechanical Inspection

Data Analysis and Metrics

Communication Skills

Supplier Performance Management

Engineering Drawings Understanding

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or Technical Discipline

Tools

Statistical Process Control

ERP Systems

Job description

Sperry Marine is a leading supplier of navigation, communication, information, and automation systems for commercial marine and naval markets. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, we have an extensive international presence across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, employing almost 400 people across ten countries.

We're offering an exciting opportunity to become a key member of our global QEHS team as a Supplier Quality Manager. In this pivotal role, you’ll be responsible for ensuring supplier product quality performance is closely tracked and continuously improved. Your ability to influence, lead, and build strong relationships will be essential as you drive down non-conformances and champion data-driven supplier production & manufacturing engineering continuous improvement initiatives to eradicate supplier defects year after year.

You’ll lead supplier quality assurance activities, including selection, auditing, and quality performance analysis of both new and existing suppliers—with a strong focus on critical suppliers. Additionally, you'll play a vital role in supporting Sperry product approvals, working alongside notified bodies, design engineers, and suppliers during approval processes, recurring annual audits, and addressing manufacturing issues. To thrive in this role, you'll bring demonstrable experience of industry-leading quality methodology approaches to production/manufacturing engineering, especially for electronic products within highly regulated environments.

Key responsibilities include:

• Raising, monitoring, verifying effectiveness, and closing of supplier Non-Conformance reports/Supplier Corrective Action Requests (SCARs).
• Managing supplier Non-Conformities to closure—supporting the supplier to achieve manufacturing operational excellence and liaising with internal design teams as key stakeholders.
• Analyzing supplier defect metrics—such as SDPPM (Supplier Defects Parts Per Million)—and implementing measures to reduce defects based on data trends.
• Supplier selection, approval, and performance management.
• Generating and executing the Supplier Audit schedule, with emphasis on critical suppliers and notified body support, ensuring timely completion and communication.
• Conducting regular internal reviews on supplier performance with key stakeholders, and acting as a remote production engineering resource when needed.
• Performing Electro-Mechanical Inspection (components, parts, sub-assemblies, and products) and periodic FAIR validation.
• Traveling for audit and supplier performance visits, with flexibility for remote work for some days.

About You

• Experience as a Supplier Quality Manager or Senior Supplier QE with lead audit qualifications, managing multiple suppliers.
• Extensive production/engineering and electronic product experience in highly regulated environments (e.g., aerospace AS9100, automotive ISO/TS 16949, or medical ISO 13485).
• Proven ability to apply industry-standard quality methodologies (e.g., APQP/PPAP, LEAN DMAIC) to control and improve manufacturing quality.
• Strong knowledge of ISO 9001:2015, AS 9102 FAIR, and related inspection/reporting processes.
• Understanding of engineering drawings, measurement tools, standards, and quality standards.
• Qualified Lead Auditor with significant experience in internal audits and supplier assessments.
• Knowledge of modern electronic and mechanical assemblies, manufacturing processes, and quality tools like Statistical Process Control.
• Familiarity with product development lifecycle, hardware/software integration, and configuration management systems, including ERP.
• Operational focus, autonomous, data-driven, flexible, and resilient multitasker.
• Knowledge of supply chain carbon reduction and ISO 14001 EHS standards is advantageous.
• Excellent communication skills in business English; additional European languages are a plus.
• Bachelor's Degree or equivalent in science, technical, software, or engineering disciplines, with relevant experience.

If this role matches your experience and aspirations, we look forward to hearing from you! We value diversity and encourage under-represented demographics to apply.

What You Get in Return

• Compressed working pattern—alternate Fridays off.
• International working environment.
• Benefits supporting health, wellbeing, and work-life balance for you and your family.

About Us

With over 100 years of expertise in navigation, we are a major global provider of navigation solutions, including radars, compass systems, steering systems, speed logs, and integrated bridge and control systems. We are committed to providing 24/7 support to our customers.

People are at the core of our success. We foster a diverse workforce and believe that varied perspectives lead to stronger insights and innovation. Our benefits package supports your professional development and personal wellbeing.