Supplier Development Engineer, Assembly Processes (Starlink)

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end process development, equipment bring-up, and qualification for precision assembly technologies at contract manufacturers, spanning strategic supplier selection, new product introduction (NPI), and high-volume production
• Engage early with suppliers on equipment selection, tooling design, and process engineering to properly set up high-volume manufacturing programs by ensuring material and process corners are fully characterized and completed
• Develop ultrasonic welding processes, including amplitude, force, energy, weld time, and trigger optimization, as well as horn design, joint geometry, and weld strength validation for both metal and thermoplastic components
• Develop hot plate welding and vibration welding processes for plastic housings and enclosures, focusing on temperature uniformity, platen design, melt displacement control, weld pressure profiles, and long-term joint durability
• Optimize heat staking and hot riveting processes for plastic boss forming, including temperature control, pressure profiling, staking tool design, and dimensional stability validation
• Develop and qualify precision dispense processes for thermal interface materials (TIM), adhesives, and sealants, including rheological characterization, volumetric vs. time-pressure dispensing, needle selection, vision-guided positioning, and repeatable bead or dot formation
• Establish and optimize automated optical inspection (AOI) systems, including multi-angle lighting techniques, high-resolution imaging, algorithm development, false call reduction, and integration with deep learning-based defect detection
• Design and execute comprehensive design of experiments (DOE) and corner case studies (material and process windows) to define robust parameter ranges and ensure process capability across environmental and material variations
• Lead line qualification activities at contract manufacturers, including equipment installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ), performance qualification (PQ), gauge repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R), and production part approval process (PPAP)
• Develop detailed process control plans, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), statistical process control (SPC) limits, and reaction plans to sustain high process capability in mass production
• Perform reactive quality engineering support, including rapid containment, root cause analysis using eight disciplines (8D) and five-whys (5-Why) methodologies, and corrective actions for quality escapes, field returns, and production issues
• Own on-time delivery of process qualification and production ramp activities while continuously monitoring field performance, reacting quickly to issues, and feeding lessons learned from field data back to design and process engineering teams for iterative improvement

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, manufacturing engineering, materials science, or other engineering discipline
• 1+ years of experience in precision joining, dispensing, and automated inspection process development for consumer electronics or complex hardware