Senior Supplier Development Engineer

Key Responsibilities

• Evaluate and qualify new suppliers across technical capability, manufacturing readiness, and process control maturity.
• Drive supplier industrialization from prototype → NPI → volume production.
• Work directly with contract manufacturers and component suppliers to develop scalable manufacturing processes, improve yield, reduce cycle time and cost, lead root cause analysis and corrective actions, and establish process capability metrics including SPC, Cp/Cpk, and DOE.
• Define and enforce supplier quality requirements, including qualification plans, reliability testing such as HTOL and thermal cycling, and incoming and in-process quality controls.
• Drive continuous improvement in defect reduction and long-term product reliability.
• Partner with engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing teams to align design, manufacturing readiness, and production ramp.
• Support supplier roadmap development and dual-sourcing strategies.
• Identify and mitigate supply chain risks, including capacity constraints, geopolitical exposure, and IP dependencies.
• Drive cost reduction initiatives through process and design optimization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, or related field.
• 7–12+ years of experience in supplier development, manufacturing engineering, or supplier quality.
• Experience in optical modules, optoelectronics, or semiconductor/photonics manufacturing.
• Strong experience with yield improvement and production ramp, SPC, DOE, Cp/Cpk, and root cause methodologies such as 8D and FMEA.
• Hands-on knowledge of lasers, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), fiber optics, and high-speed optical systems.
• Experience working with global suppliers, particularly in Asia (Thailand, Taiwan, China, Southeast Asia).
• Familiarity with ISO9001, IPC standards, and Telcordia GR-468.
• Ability to travel 30–50% to supplier site.