Senior Mechanical Supplier Development Engineer

Rocket Lab

Long Beach (CA)

On-site

USD 102,000 - 156,000

Full time

9 hours ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Purchase Program

Top-tier medical plans

Dental and vision coverage

Paid vacation and sick time

Job summary

Rocket Lab in Long Beach, CA is seeking a Senior Supplier Development Engineer I/II – Mechanical to own the supplier base for mechanical hardware. You will lead industrialization, DFMs, PPAPs, and APQP across multiple manufacturing processes while coordinating with procurement, design, and quality teams.

The role requires 5+ years in regulated industries, a related engineering degree, and strong knowledge of APQP/PPAP, PFMEA, MSA, and GD&T.

Qualifications

Minimum 5 years’ experience in a regulated industry (Aerospace, Medical, Automotive, Industrial, or similar).
Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Manufacturing Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline.
Experience with APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, control plans, MSA, and statistical process capability (Cpk/Ppk).
Experience conducting DFM reviews and translating design intent into manufacturing and quality requirements.
Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, GD&T (ASME Y14.5), and 3D CAD models.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end supplier industrialization for mechanical hardware from source selection through NPI, PPAP, and rate production ramp.
Partner with procurement and engineering to identify, evaluate, and select suppliers based on process capability, quality systems, and capacity across CNC machining, EDM, grinding, additive manufacturing, welding and electro-mechanical assemblies.
Conduct supplier capability assessments during qualification phases, evaluating tooling maturity, measurement systems, process controls, and workforce qualification against program requirements.
Lead Design for Manufacturability (DFM) reviews with design engineering at the earliest program stage, providing actionable feedback on feature complexity, datum schemes, tolerance stack-ups, and design characteristics that drive cost or quality risk.
Own the APQP process at suppliers, driving completion of all quality planning deliverables — process flow, PFMEA, control plan, MSA/GR&R, and dimensional results — on schedule and to the required standard.
Drive the PPAP program as a production readiness gate; define required submission levels, disposition supplier packages, and ensure process capability (Cpk) is demonstrated on critical and significant characteristics to enable at rate production.
Lead First Article Inspection (FAI) activities at suppliers and in coordination with internal quality teams; ensure all findings are resolved to closure within project timelines.
Identify systemic performance gaps; own supplier improvement plans and drive measurable progress against quality, cost, delivery, and capacity targets.
Lead root cause and corrective action (RCCA) for supplier quality issues and escapes, applying structured problem-solving methods (8D, 5-Why) and validating that corrective actions are robust and sustained across all applicable parts and production lines.
Apply lean manufacturing and statistical quality tools — including SPC, Cpk trending, and process audits — to drive continuous improvement across the mechanical supply base and eliminate sources of recurring defect.