Senior Manager, Supplier Quality, Altius

ABOUT THE ROLE

We are investing in our supplier quality engineering team by creating a leadership position to drive the growth and performance of our SQEs across all critical category spaces supporting the Launched Effects / Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance product requirements. Success will take the form of strong partnerships with our development engineering leaders to support supplier quality and capability performance in the development phases of our drone programs.

You will lead the team to work inside and outside the organization to define, develop, and execute supplier quality development plans that deliver high-quality, reliable parts, sub-assemblies, and whole systems for our internal manufacturing partners and external integration partners. The role will invest in strong, effective partnerships with our centralized sourcing team—including category management and sourcing engineering—that delivers to Anduril's mission.

We are disrupting traditional defense supplier quality expectations in order to modernize the function and create differentiation that enables faster design maturity and prediction of supplier quality. If you are someone who loves to build world-class quality processes with suppliers, work hands-on with engineering, grow a team, invest in future capabilities, and be accountable for results, then this role is for you.

This position is based in Atlanta, GA.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

• Lead a cross-discipline engineering team that focuses on PCBA, avionics, cameras, batteries, energetics, precision machined parts, electro-mechanical integration, cable and wire harnesses, as well as contract manufacturing services and sourcing for the Launched Effects / Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance drone programs.
• Lead the partnership with our design teams to support the design development process, provide design for manufacturability feedback, and help generate product data for supplier quality success.
• Systematically drive the supplier quality development processes throughout the product development stages with the product engineering team through design reviews, supplier process development, testing, and qualification for components and sub-assemblies. Ensure that supplier processes and capabilities are reviewed for alignment so that product requirements can be achieved.
• Partner with development engineering, product quality engineering, sourcing engineering, category management, and program management to deliver predictable supply to the development programs, production programs, and manage exceptions/containments/deviations for supplier technical performance, particularly in the development phases.
• Ensure supplier quality readiness by analyzing key and critical characteristics for drawings and supplier specifications, developing measurement systems, and driving supplier qualification activities (PPAP, FAIR, audits, inspection development, etc.) to meet program and product schedules and technical capabilities.
• Strategically partner with Category Management and Sourcing Engineering to drive overall supplier performance for cost, quality, delivery, and fulfillment of strategic sourcing goals.
• Define and structure key process indicators (KPIs) and effectively use performance data to drive alignment and results across multi-site organizations.
• Drive continuous improvement in supplier quality, cycle time, and delivery performance. Establish technical strategies for supplier performance with both internal resources (sourcing, business systems, Anduril subsidiaries) and external partners. This involves coaching, mentoring, and occasionally leading training on quality methods and processes.
• Lead across multiple sites and production locations supporting the Launched Effects / Tactical Strike and Reconnaissance portfolio.
• Anticipate and develop growth strategies for the team and its impact to the speed of development as well as ongoing supplier quality performance. Recruit, hire, onboard, and train SQEs to make a positive impact to Anduril’s culture and create synergies across development projects.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or similar technical field.
• Minimum of 10 years of supplier or operations quality management. Minimum of 5 years in a management role with a track record of growth in Supplier Quality Engineering or Manufacturing Engineering.
• Experience evaluating and auditing imaging, gimbals, electromechanical, PCBA, propulsion, energetics, composites, mechanical parts, and electro-mechanical sub-assemblies manufacturing processes.
• Experience setting priorities for both development and production phases of the product life cycle.
• Experience flowing down Source Control requirements to suppliers.
• Working knowledge of AS9100/ISO 9001-based Quality Management System requirements. AS9100 Lead/Internal Auditor Certification is a plus.
• Experience performing First Article Inspection to AS9102 Industry Standard and ensuring suppliers have control plans and inspection processes that are capable of meeting product requirements.
• Experience with driving supplier performance and evaluation. Experience with Statement of Work (SOW), quality clauses, intellectual property (IP), and government regulations such as ITAR.
• Working knowledge of product development methodologies such as Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) elements such as Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), quality improvement techniques, and Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T).
• A strong ownership mindset with demonstrated capability to drive projects from start to completion.
• Analytical skills and experience in data mining, data quality, metrics generation, issue management systems, and statistical analysis tools (MATLAB, JMP, Minitab, etc.).
• Must be able to obtain and hold a U.S. TS/SCI security clearance.
• Must be able to travel up to 50% of the time to suppliers, sourcing partners, and manufacturing locations.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in creating training plans, staffing plans, and hiring plans.
• Experience in supplier qualification and development of customer automated inspection machines.
• Utilization of Process Failure Modes Effects and Analysis (PFMEA) experience and developing source inspection plans and qualifying the inspection process capabilities.
• Experience with government contracts and MIL standard requirements.
• Experience with Teamcenter, SolidWorks, Oracle/NetSuite, Jira, Tableau, and Foundry along with previous experience establishing data analytics for scale and capabilities.