Job Description
Job Description
Title: Supplier Quality Engineer
Location: Palo Alto, California
Long term Contract Position
Pay Rate: $42 - $45/Hr on W2
JD:
- Manage quality performance for an assigned group of suppliers and serve as a key point of contact for supplier quality matters.
- Monitor supplier performance using quality data, dashboards, scorecards, and key performance indicators. Communicate emerging risks, performance concerns, and improvement priorities to suppliers and internal stakeholders
- Investigate supplier-related issues affecting incoming inspection, manufacturing, installation, and field service. Coordinate rapid containment and risk-mitigation activities to protect production, customers, and patients.
- Lead or support root cause investigations and Supplier Corrective Action Requests using structured problem-solving methods such as 8D, 5 Whys, Ishikawa diagrams, and statistical analysis.
- Review supplier corrective actions to confirm that root causes have been identified, appropriate actions have been implemented, and recurrence has been effectively prevented.
- Support Qnote/Client and Material Review Board activities involving supplier-provided components. Help minimize production disruption, blocked inventory, scrap, rework, warranty costs, and field impact.
- Work with suppliers to improve manufacturing processes and implement appropriate quality controls, including PFMEA, Control Plans, Statistical Process Control, Measurement System Analysis, process capability analysis, Cpk/Ppk, and process validation.
- Support Quality at the Source ( light PPAP) by helping suppliers move from reliance on inspection toward prevention, process control, and data-driven validation.
- Participate in New Product Introduction and design-transfer activities. Partner with Engineering and suppliers to review drawings, specifications, tolerances, critical attributes, manufacturability requirements, and inspection strategies.
- Support supplier readiness through First Article Inspection, PPAP, APQP, inspection planning, and other qualification activities based on product and process risk.
- Review Supplier Change Notifications involving materials, manufacturing processes, equipment, tooling, sub-tier suppliers, quality systems, or manufacturing locations.
- Coordinate with Engineering, Procurement, Manufacturing, Regulatory Affairs, Service, and other stakeholders to evaluate supplier changes and ensure required qualification and validation activities are completed before implementation.
- Conduct or participate in supplier audits, process assessments, supplier qualifications, and for-cause investigations. Document findings and track corrective actions through effective closure.
- Partner with Service and other functions to review field-performance and warranty data, identify supplier-related trends, and drive appropriate investigations and corrective actions.
- Analyze non-conformance, scrap, rework, warranty, and operational data to identify opportunities to reduce defects and Cost of Poor Quality.
- Participate in cross-functional forums to support timely decisions and resolution of supplier-related issues.