Sr Supplier Engineer - Electronics, Future Forward

Intuitive; Sunnyvale (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Intuitive in Sunnyvale, CA seeks a LeadSupplier Engineer to influence design architecture and component specs, shaping manufacturing processes and BOM cost targets. You will partner with design and quality teams to ensure DFMs, qualification plans, and supplier ramp readiness.

You will drive cost modeling, risk mitigations, supplier performance metrics, and post-launch supplier improvements, guiding pFMEA, SPV and CAPA activities to enable scalable production.

Qualifications

• Experience leading supplier design and manufacturing development.
• Experience with design for manufacture and supplier cost targets.
• Ability to qualify components and launch plans.
• Ability to drive supplier improvements post-launch.
• Strong collaboration with design, quality engineering, and suppliers.

Responsibilities

• Partner with design engineering to translate design intent into component design.
• Influence component technology choices to meet cost and supply objectives.
• Support dFMEA reviews and design risk mitigations.
• Perform DFM activities to ensure scalable manufacturing.
• Develop test methods and acceptance criteria for parts.
• Optimize supplier base to reduce sub-tier risk and lead times.
• Determine risk mitigations for high-risk parts and sole suppliers.
• Complete design transfer and component qualification (pFMEA, SPV, FAI, CPk).
• Develop supplier ramp readiness plans based on forecast and capacity.
• Drive corrective actions via root-cause analysis and CAPA.
• Develop metrics for supplier cost, delivery, quality, capacity and capability.

Skills

DFM

cost modeling

supplier management

root cause analysis

pFMEA

FMEA

design transfer

quality engineering

process capability

leadership

Job description

Job Description

Primary Function of Position:

LeadSupplier Engineer on a design project. Responsible to influence the design architecture, component specifications, and component manufacturing process based on supplier capabilities. Responsible for DFM, cost modeling, commodity knowledge, to support supplier selection and BOM cost targets. Responsible for qualification of all components and launch plan. Post launch, responsible to drive suppliers to continuously improve business and manufacturing processes.

Essential Job Duties:

• Partner with design engineering to understand the design intent and how it translates to component design. Ensure critical design outputs are clearly documented and measurable on the component specification.
• Influence the Engineering team to select the component technology that will meet requirements for short- and long-term needs from prototype to production, but also meet business objectives for cost and utilizing preferred suppliers.
• Collaborate with Quality Engineering and Design Engineering to support dFMEA reviews and confirm the feasibility of various design risk mitigations.
• Drive changes to Intuitive component specifications to ensure a robust component manufacturing process that can scale by performing Design-For-Manufacturing (DFM) activities.
• Work with design engineering to develop test methods and acceptance criteria for the supplied part or sub-assembly.
• Create strategies to effectively optimize the supply base to reduce the risk of complex sub-tiers suppliers and long lead times.
• Determine risk mitigations for high severity parts, sole suppliers or proprietary materials.
• Complete Design Transfer and component qualification: pFMEA, Special Process Validations, FAI, correlation and Cpk by leading, training and mentoring suppliers through the process.
• Develop supplier ramp readiness plans by judging business risk based on forecast, supplier capacity, quality performance, and process capability.
• Drive corrective actions for supplier process by driving suppliers to true root cause analysis and corrective and Preventive actions.
• Develop and influence using metrics for supplier part cost, delivery, quality, capacity and capability by creating metrics to measure real improvement and judge required intervention or change at the supplier or in a commodity.