Senior Supplier Development and Manufacturing Readiness Engineer (Hybrid)

Job Description

Job Description

Senior Supplier Development and Manufacturing Readiness Engineer

Position Title: Senior Supplier Development and Manufacturing Readiness Engineer
Program: Transformation, Acceleration, and Supplier Capacity Team (TASC)
Location: Hybrid – Pentagon, Arlington, VA, Government and supplier locations, as assigned
Travel Required: Frequent domestic travel, including supplier-site deployments and Government meetings
Remote Type: Hybrid
Clearance Required: U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. Government Top Secret security clearance. Active Secret or Top Secret clearance preferred. Clearance sponsorship may be available for qualified candidates, subject to contract requirements and Government authorization.

On behalf of our client, we are seeking an experienced Senior Supplier Development and Manufacturing Readiness Engineer to support Department of the Navy production-acceleration initiatives across the defense industrial base, with particular emphasis on missile production and critical supplier capacity.

The engineer will conduct hands-on manufacturing assessments, identify constraints limiting conforming output, develop executable recovery plans, and support approved improvements through implementation and verification of sustained results.

We strongly encourage candidates with significant automotive supplier-development, manufacturing-engineering, program-launch, and production-ramp experience. The successful candidate will apply disciplined automotive practices to defense production while respecting program-specific engineering, safety, qualification, configuration-control, and quality requirements.

This position requires substantial experience working inside manufacturing plants and directly improving supplier performance. Candidates must demonstrate personal responsibility for successful launches, supplier recoveries, or sustained increases in production output.

Supplier Assessment and Capacity Validation

• Assess suppliers' ability to achieve required production rates, quality, delivery, cost, and readiness objectives.

• Evaluate manufacturing processes, equipment, tooling, labor, maintenance, material flow, inspection, testing, and lower-tier dependencies.

• Distinguish theoretical, rated, available, and demonstrated capacity using traceable production evidence.

• Analyze cycle times, changeovers, equipment availability, scrap, rework, first-pass yield, work in process, process capability, and schedule adherence.

• Identify binding constraints and determine whether proposed interventions will increase usable output at the required point in the production system.

• Validate capacity assumptions through production observation, data analysis, and appropriately authorized run-at-rate or capacity-demonstration activities.

Supplier Development and Recovery

• Deploy to critical suppliers experiencing production, quality, delivery, launch, or capacity challenges.

• Develop recovery plans identifying root causes, corrective actions, responsible owners, resources, dependencies, milestones, escalation paths, and completion evidence.

• Establish daily or weekly recovery reviews with supplier, prime-contractor, and Government stakeholders, as authorized.

• Support supplier implementation of approved actions and verify their effectiveness against agreed measures.

• Identify structural issues requiring engineering decisions, capital investment, alternate sourcing, qualification, technical data, workforce development, or Government action.

• Escalate constraints that cannot be resolved through incremental process improvements.

Manufacturing Launch and Industrialization

• Assess readiness for new-product introductions, production transfers, additional shifts, equipment installations, facility expansions, and major production-rate increases.

• Apply Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Production Part Approval Process (PPAP), process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA), control plans, statistical process control (SPC), measurement-system analysis (MSA), and structured problem solving, as appropriate to applicable program requirements.

• Support readiness gates covering tooling, equipment, workforce, material, process controls, inspection, testing, qualification, and production documentation.

• Evaluate whether pilot or initial production results demonstrate readiness for repeatable, sustained production.

• Adapt automotive launch practices to defense production environments without bypassing required technical approvals or qualification processes.

Manufacturing Improvement and Investment Support

• Develop practical alternatives involving process changes, standardized work, error proofing, tooling improvements, maintenance, overtime, additional shifts, alternate sourcing, and capital equipment.

• Work with cost and investment analysts to compare implementation time, cost, risk, and expected production benefit.

• Assess whether investments address the actual limiting constraint and whether downstream operations can absorb increased output.

• Track improvements through distinct stages: action completed, equipment installed, process qualified, capacity demonstrated, and sustained delivery benefit achieved.

• Support improvements that preserve product safety, quality, configuration, and contractual requirements.

Integration and Decision Support

• Coordinate authorized activities with Government program offices, prime contractors, suppliers, engineering organizations, procurement teams, and quality representatives.

• Identify critical lower-tier and long-lead dependencies affecting supplier recovery and coordinate findings with the TASC supply-chain lead.

• Prepare supplier assessments, recovery plans, capacity analyses, risk registers, site-visit reports, executive briefings, and recommendations.

• Maintain action, risk, decision, and dependency records that support TASC execution reporting.

• Communicate findings clearly to both technical specialists and senior leaders.

• Bachelor's degree in industrial, manufacturing, mechanical, systems, or another relevant engineering discipline. An equivalent combination of technical education and substantial hands-on manufacturing experience may be considered where permitted by the applicable contract and Government requirements.

• At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in manufacturing engineering, supplier development, supplier quality, industrialization, production launch, or manufacturing operations.

• Demonstrated responsibility for successful supplier recovery, new-program launch, production transfer, or production-rate increase.

• Significant experience diagnosing and resolving problems directly on the production floor.

• Experience evaluating supplier performance across multiple manufacturing processes or commodities.

• Strong working knowledge of APQP, PPAP, PFMEA, control plans, SPC, MSA, 8D, Lean manufacturing, standardized work, and error proofing.

• Demonstrated understanding of capacity, tooling, equipment, labor requirements, process capability, material flow, and production dependencies.

• Experience developing recovery plans with measurable milestones and verifying sustained results.

• Ability to interpret production, quality, schedule, and material data and document assumptions and limitations.

• Strong technical writing, executive communication, and stakeholder-coordination skills.

• Ability to work independently, manage concurrent priorities, and travel extensively.

• U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance are required. Assignments before clearance approval will be limited to authorized unclassified duties.

• Significant automotive OEM or Tier 1/Tier 2 supplier-development, launch, or manufacturing experience.

• Fifteen or more years of relevant experience.

• Experience recovering distressed suppliers or supporting multiple production launches under demanding schedules.

• Aerospace, defense, missile, propulsion, or other regulated manufacturing experience.

• Experience with several of the following manufacturing processes and technologies:

  • Precision machining, castings, and forgings.

  • Stamping, metal forming, welding, and joining.

  • Heat treatment and other special processes.

  • Injection molding and composites.

  • Electronics, printed circuit assemblies, and electrical harnesses.

  • Motors, actuators, and electromechanical assemblies.

  • Tooling, capital equipment, and complex mechanical assemblies.

• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Certified Supplier Quality Professional, or comparable credential.

• Experience translating commercial manufacturing practices into defense program requirements.

• Active Secret or Top Secret security clearance preferred but not required to apply.