Supplier Quality Engineer II

Summary

Join Rocket Lab as a Supplier Quality Engineer II and ensure the highest quality standards for procured parts, services, and processes. Act as a vital link between internal teams and suppliers, translating technical requirements into clear specifications. Inspire suppliers to enhance quality processes, drive cost reductions, and improve efficiency. Manage the balance between customer and supplier priorities, ensuring smooth operations. Key responsibilities include creating non-conformance reports, conducting supplier audits, managing supplier concessions, and identifying improvement opportunities. Drive continuous improvement of product quality and work with suppliers to introduce new products into production. This role requires a minimum of 5 years' experience in a high-quality, process-driven environment and a relevant technical degree.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 Years’ experience working in a high quality, process driven environment
• Degree qualified in a relevant technical field such as engineering, science, business management etc
• Practical experience leading and investigating quality related issues
• Experience with Root cause Investigations, Practical Problem solving, 8D’s, 5 Why’s, Fishbone diagrams, Ishikawa and/or similar problem-solving tools
• The ability to interpret engineering drawings and geometric dimensions
• Problem solving attitude
• Proactive, enthusiastic, self-motivated
• The ability to learn quickly and work productively without direct supervision
• Experience working under pressure and to tight deadlines
• Highly organised with faultless attention to detail
• Exceptional communication skills and the ability to build strong working relationships

Responsibilities

• Driving the continuous improvement of product quality
• Performing on site and remote supplier audits
• Creation of internal and external quality control plans; specifically quality standards, processes and procedures
• Running Non-Conformance reports ad performing quality investigations
• Identifying processes failures at suppliers and manage root causes of non-conformances
• Implementation of corrective actions
• Deploying PFMEA tools, techniques & training to support targeted improvement actions
• Creation of internal Engineering Change Requests to support improved manufacturability of parts
• Support suppliers with scaling up their production processes to achieve the future quality, cost and delivery targets
• Follow-up & verify corrective action implementations and audit findings
• Provide strong focus on quality improvement at source and driving cost reduction opportunities
• Working with suppliers to introduce new products into production (NPI, APQP, PPAP processes)

Preferred Qualifications

• Previous experience in a supplier quality role
• Experience leading and managing projects
• Experience working within a regulated industry Aerospace, Medical, Automotive etc
• Exposure to regulatory standards such as AS9100, ISO13485, IATF 16949 or similar
• Experience with a wide range of specialised technical manufacturing processes
• Lean/six sigma experience
• NPI/APQP/PPAP experience
• Understanding of Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA), Gauge R&R
• Developing KPI’s for performance reporting