Senior Supplier Development & Quality Engineer

Castelion; Rio Rancho (NM); On-site; USD 110,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Castelion is seeking a Senior Supplier Development & Quality Engineer to own supplier development and supplier quality for a portfolio of high-reliability hardware. You will collaborate across engineering, manufacturing, quality, and strategic sourcing to drive design-for-manufacturability and implement robust quality plans with external partners.

The role combines supplier development and supplier quality responsibilities, with potential alignment to either function based on experience.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field and 6+ years of related experience.
• Hands-on experience taking hardware from development through qualification and into production with external manufacturing partners.
• Experience reading engineering drawings, GD&T, specifications, inspection reports, and process documentation.
• Experience on supplier factory floors to evaluate production processes, troubleshoot hardware, establish recovery plans, and influence execution.
• Ability to lead cross-functional work and communicate clearly with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Active U.S. Government security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Responsibilities

• Lead on-site supplier recovery efforts involving constrained capacity, production delays, material shortages, tooling issues, sub-tier dependencies, and competing priorities; establish executable recovery plans with clear owners, milestones, and escalation points.
• Serve as the primary technical and quality interface for suppliers; translate drawings, specifications, quality clauses, and acceptance criteria into practical manufacturing, inspection, and control plans.
• Partner with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Test, and Strategic Sourcing during new product introduction to evaluate suppliers, select processes, and reduce manufacturing risk before design freeze.
• Conduct design-for-manufacturability and design-for-quality reviews covering materials, tolerances, special processes, inspection methods, tooling, capacity, and scalability.
• Plan and execute supplier qualification activities, quality-system and process audits, special-process reviews, and production-readiness reviews within AS9100- or ISO 9001-based quality systems.
• Own supplier quality deliverables, including AS9102 FAIRs, PPAP or equivalent submissions, control plans, PFMEAs, work instructions, inspection plans, material certifications, and objective evidence of process capability.
• Drive resolution of nonconforming material, supplier escapes, audit findings, yield losses, and late deliveries through disciplined root-cause analysis and corrective action such as 8D, DMAIC, or equivalent methods; verify effectiveness and prevent recurrence.
• Assess supplier capacity, technical risk, and manufacturing maturity; develop recovery and improvement plans and accelerate risks early with clear recommendations.
• Establish and maintain supplier quality and performance metrics, scorecards, and review cadences using measures such as PPM, defect rates, yield, on-time delivery, corrective-action aging, audit findings, and first-pass acceptance.
• Collaborate with Strategic Sourcing on supplier selection, statements of work, quality clauses, technical requirements, and make-or-buy or second-source decisions.
• Create repeatable supplier-development methods, templates, and lessons learned that improve how Castelion qualifies and scales its supply base.
• Communicate supplier status, risks, recovery plans, and decisions clearly to technical and executive stakeholders using concise, evidence-based assessments.
• Travel to supplier and Castelion sites as needed, potentially up to 40% depending on program priorities.

Skills

Supplier development

Supplier quality

Quality engineering

Manufacturing engineering

Reading drawings

GD&T

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Manufacturing, Materials Engineering, or a related technical field

Master’s degree in Engineering (preferred)

Tools

ERP

MRP

PLM

MES

Excel

SQL

Job description

Why Castelion, Why Now

Castelion is moving incredibly fast to develop and deliver advanced defense systems at a time when execution matters more than ever. We believe focus, ownership, and excellence are decisive advantages - and we're building a world-class team to turn bold ideas into real capability.

Why Castelion, Why Now

Castelion is moving incredibly fast to develop and deliver advanced defense systems at a time when execution matters more than ever. We believe focus, ownership, and excellence are decisive advantages - and we're building a world-class team to turn bold ideas into real capability. This is a rare opportunity to join at an early stage, where you'll have significant ownership, collaborate with exceptional teammates, and make a direct, measurable impact on our mission and the future of the company - regardless of your function.

Senior Supplier Development & Quality Engineer

As a Senior Supplier Development & Quality Engineer, you will own supplier development and supplier quality for a portfolio of suppliers supporting Castelion’s mission-critical vehicle and missile hardware. You will work at the intersection of engineering, manufacturing, quality, and strategic sourcing to turn designs into capable, repeatable, and scalable production processes while ensuring compliance to technical and quality requirements. This position combines supplier development and supplier quality responsibilities. Based on the selected candidate’s experience and the organization’s needs, the role may be aligned primarily to Supplier Development Engineering or Supplier Quality Engineering while continuing to support both functions. You will be the technical and quality point of contact for assigned suppliers, from early supplier selection and design-for-manufacturability through qualification, first article approval, production ramp, and sustained improvement. This role is hands‑on: you will spend time with suppliers, review hardware and process data, lead structured problem solving, and drive issues to closure. Success means building supplier capability without slowing Castelion’s development cadence—and establishing a supply base that can deliver safe, reliable hardware at production scale. We are looking for an intelligent, collaborative, and driven engineer who can make sound, risk-informed decisions while operating with urgency, ambiguity, and incomplete information. If you enjoy solving difficult manufacturing problems, building processes from the ground up, and seeing your work become flight or mission hardware, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Lead on‑site supplier recovery efforts involving constrained capacity, production delays, material shortages, tooling issues, sub‑tier dependencies, and competing priorities; establish executable recovery plans with clear owners, milestones, and escalation points.
• Serve as the primary technical and quality interface for suppliers; translate drawings, specifications, quality clauses, and acceptance criteria into practical manufacturing, inspection, and control plans.
• Partner with Design Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Test, and Strategic Sourcing during new product introduction to evaluate suppliers, select processes, and reduce manufacturing risk before design freeze.
• Conduct design‑for‑manufacturability and design‑for‑quality reviews covering materials, tolerances, special processes, inspection methods, tooling, capacity, and scalability.
• Plan and execute supplier qualification activities, quality‑system and process audits, special‑process reviews, and production‑readiness reviews within AS9100‑ or ISO 9001‑based quality systems.
• Own supplier quality deliverables, including AS9102 FAIRs, PPAP or equivalent submissions, control plans, PFMEAs, work instructions, inspection plans, material certifications, and objective evidence of process capability.
• Drive resolution of nonconforming material, supplier escapes, audit findings, yield losses, and late deliveries through disciplined root‑cause analysis and corrective action such as 8D, DMAIC, or equivalent methods; verify effectiveness and prevent recurrence.
• Assess supplier capacity, technical risk, and manufacturing maturity; develop recovery and improvement plans and accelerate risks early with clear recommendations.
• Establish and maintain supplier quality and performance metrics, scorecards, and review cadences using measures such as PPM, defect rates, yield, on‑time delivery, corrective‑action aging, audit findings, and first‑pass acceptance.
• Collaborate with Strategic Sourcing on supplier selection, statements of work, quality clauses, technical requirements, and make‑or‑buy or second‑source decisions.
• Create repeatable supplier‑development methods, templates, and lessons learned that improve how Castelion qualifies and scales its supply base.
• Communicate supplier status, risks, recovery plans, and decisions clearly to technical and executive stakeholders using concise, evidence‑based assessments.
• Travel to supplier and Castelion sites as needed, potentially up to 40% depending on program priorities.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Aerospace, Industrial, Manufacturing, Materials Engineering, or a related technical field; equivalent practical experience may be considered.
• 6+ years of experience in supplier development, supplier quality, quality engineering, manufacturing engineering, or a related role supporting aerospace, defense, space, automotive, semiconductor, or other high‑reliability hardware.
• Hands‑on experience taking hardware from development through qualification and into production with external manufacturing partners, including ownership of supplier quality deliverables and corrective actions.
• Working knowledge of several relevant mechanical manufacturing processes, with demonstrated depth in at least two areas such as CNC machining, sheet metal forming, welding, additive manufacturing, composites, chemical processing, surface treatments, or complex assembly.
• Experience reading engineering drawings, GD&T, specifications, inspection reports, and process documentation.
• Demonstrated experience working directly on supplier factory floors to evaluate production processes, troubleshoot hardware, establish recovery plans, and influence execution without direct authority.
• Ability to lead cross‑functional work, communicate clearly with suppliers and internal stakeholders, and make sound decisions in a fast‑paced environment.
• Active U.S. Government security clearance or ability to obtain one.

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Experience with AS9100, ISO 9001, or comparable quality systems and aerospace customer requirements.
• Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), PPAP, AS9102 FAIR, PFMEA, Control Plan, measurement systems analysis, statistical process control, capability analysis, supplier audits, and corrective‑action experience.
• Formal training or certification in Six Sigma, Lean, quality engineering, or structured problem solving.
• Experience developing inspection strategies, acceptance criteria, and data‑driven methods for low‑volume, high‑consequence hardware.
• Experience with ERP, MRP, PLM, MES, or quality‑management systems and comfort using Excel, SQL, or similar tools to analyze supplier performance.
• Experience developing second sources, improving supplier capacity, or scaling production with constrained or emerging suppliers.
• Master’s degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline.

Castelion offers a generous benefits package. Please refer to the bottom of our Careers page for more details.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Additional Eligibility Requirements

This position may require access to classified information or restricted U.S. Government sites, systems, or information, as determined by the Company and/or applicable U.S. Government requirements. If the position is so designated, your employment in the role may be contingent upon your ability to obtain and maintain the required U.S. Government security clearance or other government authorization, and to satisfy any citizenship or other eligibility requirements imposed by applicable law, regulation, executive order, or government contract requirements. You will be notified if and when such requirements apply.

Affirmative Action/EEO Statement

Castelion is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.

Castelion is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities throughout the application and hiring process. If you require a reasonable accommodation to complete an application, participate in the interview process, or otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact [e-mail]. Requests for accommodation will be considered on an individual basis and handled in accordance with applicable law.

Castelion is committed to fostering a workplace where employment decisions are based on qualifications, business needs, and the ability to perform the essential functions of the role, with or without reasonable accommodation.

EAR/ITAR Requirements

This position requires access to export‑controlled information, and as such, employment (or hiring of a contractor) is contingent upon the candidate’s ability to access all applicable export‑controlled information without additional export licensing being required by the Bureau of Industry and Security and/or the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls.