Senior Supplier Quality & Development Engineer – Defense

Castelion

Rio Rancho (NM)

On-site

USD 110,000 - 140,000

Full time

6 days ago

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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.