Position Summary

The Senior Supplier Quality and Materials Engineer is responsible for ensuring suppliers can consistently manufacture compliant, reliable spaceflight hardware while providing materials and manufacturing-process expertise during sourcing and engineering decisions. The role leads supplier qualification, auditing, development, corrective action, and process qualification while evaluating materials, special processes, and manufacturing capability before and after source selection. This position works closely with Supply Chain, Design Engineering, Propulsion Engineering, and Build Engineering to manage technical and quality risk across the supply chain.

Core Responsibilities

Technical Sourcing, Supplier Qualification & NPI

• Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering during supplier identification, evaluation, source selection, and make/buy decisions; provide technical recommendations on supplier capability, materials, processes, capacity, scalability, and risk.
• Lead supplier qualification and onboarding through technical capability reviews, quality-system and process audits, manufacturing assessments, risk-based qualification plans, and evaluation of critical sub-tier controls.
• Review drawings, specifications, BOM requirements, tolerances, GD&T, material requirements, and special-process requirements during sourcing and new product introduction; identify manufacturability, inspection, and supply risks before award.
• Establish supplier NPI and qualification gates and review manufacturing plans, process flows, control plans, inspection plans, First Article Inspection, and process-validation evidence before production release.
• Evaluate alternate suppliers, materials, manufacturing technologies, and processes to improve quality, cost, lead time, capacity, and supply-chain resilience.

Materials & Manufacturing Process Engineering

• Serve as a subject matter expert for materials and manufacturing processes across the supply chain and advise Design Engineering, and Build Engineering on material selection, producibility, and supplier capability.
• Evaluate material selections for mechanical performance, manufacturability, reliability, availability, cost, and suitability for the intended space environment, including the relationship between material condition, process, microstructure, properties, and final performance.
• Assess metallic and applicable non-metallic materials and product forms, including aluminum, steels, titanium, nickel and copper alloys, composites, polymers, adhesives, elastomers, coatings, plate, sheet, bar, tube, extrusions, forgings, castings, and powder.
• Provide technical oversight and qualification support for special processes such as heat treatment, welding and brazing, soldering, machining, sheet-metal forming, additive manufacturing, chemical processing, plating, anodizing, coatings, bonding, composites, cleaning, and non-destructive inspection.
• Develop and approve material and process specifications, supplier technical requirements, workmanship standards, acceptance criteria, and qualification plans; support evaluation, characterization, and implementation of new materials and processes.

Supplier Quality, Development & Corrective Action

• Establish supplier quality expectations and ensure technical, quality, inspection, certification, and sub-tier requirements are appropriately flowed down through purchase orders, drawings, specifications, statements of work, and quality clauses.
• Monitor supplier performance through scorecards, defect and escape data, yield, corrective actions, delivery performance, Statistical Process Control, capability studies, and other risk indicators; identify systemic quality or process concerns.
• Work directly with supplier engineering, manufacturing, quality, and leadership teams to improve technical capability, process maturity, production controls, and long-term performance when supplier development is strategically appropriate.
• Serve as a technical lead for supplier-related material and manufacturing failures; lead nonconformance, SCAR, root-cause and corrective-action investigations, support MRB decisions, and coordinate laboratory analysis or material characterization when needed.
• Maintain working knowledge of applicable aerospace standards and verify supplier certifications, Certificates of Conformance, First Article Inspection Reports, test reports, and end-item data packages meet company, customer, and industry requirements.

What You Bring To Portal

• Strong technical judgment in aerospace materials and manufacturing processes, including material selection, special processes, process controls, manufacturability, and the relationship between material condition and final product performance.
• Ability to assess a supplier’s engineering capability, manufacturing maturity, quality system, process controls, capacity, scalability, sub-tier dependencies, and production readiness for complex spaceflight hardware.
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, GD&T, material specifications, process specifications, workmanship requirements, inspection criteria, and qualification requirements.
• Working knowledge of aerospace quality and material/process standards, including AS9100, AS9102, SAE/AMS, ASTM, MIL specifications, and applicable Nadcap special-process requirements.
• Proficiency in structured problem solving and failure investigation using methods such as 8D, 5-Why, fishbone analysis, fault-tree analysis, and material or process characterization data.
• Working knowledge of Statistical Process Control, process capability, supplier performance metrics, and data-driven risk assessment.
• Clear written and verbal communication for supplier assessments, sourcing decisions, design and manufacturing reviews, nonconformance investigations, and technical discussions with suppliers, engineers, sourcing professionals, and leadership.

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Materials Science & Engineering, Metallurgical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Welding Engineering, or a closely related engineering discipline or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of relevant experience in aerospace, spacecraft, defense, aviation, high-reliability manufacturing, or another highly regulated engineering environment.
• Experience conducting supplier audits, manufacturing capability assessments, or process audits and qualifying materials and/or manufacturing processes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Materials Science, Metallurgical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of relevant aerospace or spaceflight hardware experience, including satellites, spacecraft, launch vehicles, propulsion systems, avionics, or other high-reliability hardware.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with suppliers in Supplier Quality, Materials Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Supply Chain Engineering, or a similar technical capacity.
• Strong technical understanding of aerospace materials and manufacturing processes and demonstrated ability to assess whether a supplier can successfully manufacture complex hardware.
• Strong knowledge of AS9100 or a comparable aerospace quality-management system and experience interpreting engineering drawings, GD&T, material specifications, process specifications, and technical requirements.
• Experience with First Article Inspection, supplier qualification, process validation, production-readiness activities, and root-cause/corrective-action investigations.
• Deep expertise in one or more of the following: metallurgy, metallic raw materials, precision machining, castings and forgings, welding/brazing, heat treatment, surface treatments and coatings, composite materials, polymers and adhesives, or additive manufacturing.
• Experience performing or interpreting metallurgical laboratory analysis and material characterization.
• Experience with APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, control plans, AS9102 FAI, SPC, and process-capability methodologies; Six Sigma, Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Quality Auditor, or similar certification is beneficial.
• Familiarity with spacecraft-specific material considerations including vacuum compatibility, outgassing, contamination, thermal cycling, corrosion/galvanic compatibility, and extreme-environment material performance.
• Experience with PCB/PCBA, harness, EEE component, or electronics-manufacturing supply chains.

Work Expectations:

• Willingness and ability to travel up to 30–40%, primarily to supplier manufacturing locations.