Senior Manager, Supplier Quality (Aerospace & Defense)

About the role

Shield AI, a venture-backed defense-tech company, is looking for a Senior Manager, Supplier Quality to lead its supplier quality team. The team covers supplier qualification, development, performance management and quality assurance across the company's aerospace and defense supply base. The manager sets quality priorities, manages team capacity and technical execution, develops quality leaders, and oversees supplier audits, nonconformance resolution, root-cause investigations and hardware dispositions.

Key responsibilities

• Build and lead the supplier quality team for qualification, surveillance, performance management and corrective action across the global aerospace and defense supply base.
• Set supplier-quality priorities, allocate resources and turn functional objectives into staffing, workload and execution plans.
• Coach, mentor and develop supplier quality leaders and engineers, including performance management and succession planning.
• Oversee supplier qualification, risk assessments, periodic reviews, audits, source inspections and approved-supplier status.
• Make sure supplier requirements flow down and suppliers comply with quality, engineering, customer, contractual, regulatory and statutory requirements.
• Escalate major supplier-quality risks and direct SCARs, supplier recovery efforts and capability-improvement plans.
• Work with Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, Supply Chain and Program teams on producibility, design-for-manufacturability, process capability and quality risks.
• Improve supplier-quality processes, business systems, data analytics and continuous improvement.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing or a related technical discipline.
• At least 7 years of relevant experience, including 2-5 years of leadership or people-management experience for Quality Engineering and/or Supplier Quality Engineering personnel.
• Demonstrated people-leadership capability, including coaching, performance management and building high-performing technical teams.
• Ability to travel to manufacturing locations and supplier sites, up to about 20% of the time.

Required skills

• Working knowledge of AS9100 and/or ISO 9001 and aerospace and defense supplier-quality requirements.
• Root-cause analysis and structured problem solving, including 8D, 5 Whys and fishbone analysis.
• Supplier qualification, supplier development, PPAP and First Article Inspection, including AS9102.
• Understanding of ITAR, EAR and DFARS.
• Microsoft Office (Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook) and ERP/MRP systems.
• Preferred: ASQ CQE/CQM, Six Sigma Green or Black Belt, and experience in high-growth aerospace, defense, autonomy, robotics or advanced manufacturing.