Senior Supplier Quality Engineer

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we're on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We're looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you'll do

As a vital member of our Corporate Quality Team, you will drive supplier improvements and establish key partnerships. Your analytical and communication skills will be key as you resolve Supplier issues and drive commodity strategy and improvement. Utilizing your collaborative spirit you will work with the Strategic Sourcing, Supply Chain, NPI and Design Engineering organizations to develop and improve processes for new Suppliers and evaluate existing suppliers. Your attention to detail will ensure Viasat standards are maintained and internal/external audits drive meaningful change. Your drive for continual process improvement will ensure world class Supplier Quality practices.

The day-to-day

• Audit suppliers using commodity and quality systems expertise to both onboard new suppliers and provide surveillance to mitigate potential issues.
• Develop poorly performing suppliers by employing commodity standard methodologies, robust root cause corrective action, metrics/monitoring and/or facilitating improvement of AS9100 processes and systems.
• Lead company-wide quality initiatives to improve, standardize or create needed processes or systems.
• Facilitate supplier ownership of quality and build solid partnerships enabling more transparent working relationship and blame free issue resolution or improvement.
• Build relationships across supply base, supply chain, strategic sourcing and commodity subject matter experts to leverage the right team to drive strategy or tactical projects.
• Communicate orally, written and in presentations to all levels of the organization establishing trust and team building to facilitate needed project, supplier or issue support to include solid, data and experience back solutions recommendations.
• Senior/Staff level commodity technical consultant and Domain Expert with experience to include areas like Fabricated Metal (machining, sheet metal, casting, etc), Fabricated Plastics/Polymers (molding, composite manufacturing, thermal plastics), PCB/PCBA, Antennas, Radiofrequency products and/or Cables and Connectors.
• Ability to translate and drive requirements from higher standard industries like space, commercial aviation, government
• Drive metric improvement of supplier quality practices around onboarding, surveillance, SCAR closure and impact, aftermarket field performance and core supplier performance.
• Co-lead with strategic sourcing a commodity council with supply chain and operations to develop and drive solid commodity strategies, innovation, capability assessment, risk assessment and facilitate escalations.
• Establish supplier partnerships with core suppliers to drive improved quality and reduced costs with the expectation suppliers will have active ownership and reporting of their quality.
• Formally or informally train and mentor quality engineers in auditing practices, commodity standard methodologies and supplier quality processes to develop the next generation of SQEs.
• Support process, data and metric standardization improvements across Viasat.

What you'll need

• 5+ years of experience in a Supplier Quality Role
• 10+ years of experience in quality engineering or continuous improvement roles
• Knowledge of theory and principles of statistics and statistical process control
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, read procedures and process guidelines, record and interpret data
• Previous experience with ISO-9001/AS-9100 Standards or similar
• Must display autonomy (ability to work independently with minimal supervision)
• Engineering Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience
• Up to approximately 40% travel domestic and international

What will help you on the job

• 5+ years of experience in Fabricated Metals, Fabricated Plastics and/or Cable and Connectors experience.
• Experience in a role related to space flight hardware and/or aerospace quality system requirements
• Published standards/recognized expert outside of Viasat
• Lean Six Sigma (with belt certification)
• Working knowledge of PLM Tool (such as Agile) as well as ERP system (such as Oracle)
• Working knowledge of Lean Six Sigma tools (visual controls, gemba, Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA), 8D, A3, 5 Why, Cause and Effect, Fault Tree Analysis, etc.) and other failure analysis quality tools
• Application of statistical process control (SPC)

Salary range

$117,500.00 - $185,500.00 / annually. For specific work locations within San Jose, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range for this role is $146,000.00- $219,000.00/ annually

At Viasat, we consider many factors when it comes to compensation, including the scope of the position as well as your background and experience. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. Learn more about Viasat's comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness at

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here.