# Sr. Staff Engineer, Supply Chain - Mechanical Commodities (R6524) **Company**: Shield AI **Location**: Seattle, Washington **Work arrangement**: onsite **Experience**: senior **Job type**: full-time **Salary**: USD 210,000-315,000 per-year-salary **Category**: Engineering **Industry**: Technology **Apply**: https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/ba153661-f92e-4a2b-a96e-d029c1f823ac?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply **Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_45eedf89-046 ## Description Shield AI is looking for a highly skilled, motivated Supplier Development Engineer to lead the technical development, industrialization, and performance improvement of suppliers for critical mechanical commodities. These include precision-machined components, airframe structures, landing gear, composites and propulsion/engine hardware. You'll be the main technical interface between suppliers and Shield AI's Engineering, Quality, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, and Program teams. You'll solve supplier problems that affect quality, on-time delivery, and scaling. You'll onboard suppliers to new designs and lead them through qualification and production ramp-up. This work is central to our mission of delivering affordable, autonomous mass at scale. The role involves a lot of travel, up to 50%, including regular trips internationally to develop and build the supply base there. ## Responsibilities - Lead technical development and performance improvement for precision machining, airframe structures, landing gear, composites and propulsion/engine hardware. - Assess supplier technical capabilities, manufacturing processes, capacity, quality systems, tooling, workforce, and readiness for prototype, development, qualification, and production programs. - Run capability assessments, manufacturing readiness reviews, process audits, capacity analyses, and onsite evaluations. - Work with Strategic Sourcing and Engineering to select suppliers that meet technical, quality, cost, schedule, and production-rate requirements. - Identify, develop, and qualify new suppliers in Europe to grow the regional supply base. ## Industrialization and New Product Introduction - Lead industrialization: manufacturing planning, tooling readiness, process validation, capacity planning, qualification, and production ramp-up. - Support new product introductions, prototype builds, engineering changes, and rate increases, making sure suppliers meet all quality and delivery requirements during development. - Review drawings, specifications, GD&T, bills of material, special-process requirements, and statements of work with suppliers. - Lead design-for-manufacturability and design-for-assembly discussions to improve producibility, lower cost, and shorten lead times. - Review and approve process flows, manufacturing and inspection plans, control plans, PFMEAs, work instructions, and qualification documentation. - Coordinate First Article Inspection under AS9102 and resolve FAI discrepancies and manufacturing nonconformances. ## Quality, Problem Solving, and Process Improvement - Audit and embed in core supplier processes to find opportunities to improve cost, lead time, and quality. - Lead onsite root-cause investigations into defects, dimensional nonconformances, process variation, tooling issues, material shortages, and production constraints. - Use structured root-cause and corrective-action methods, including 8D, 5-Why, fishbone, and fault-tree analysis. - Apply lean manufacturing, process controls, mistake-proofing, yield improvement, cycle-time reduction, and production-flow improvements. - Give suppliers technical guidance on part specifications, manufacturing processes and standards, and quality measures. - Ensure compliance with AS9100, AS9102, engineering, configuration-control, special-process, and customer requirements. ## Performance Monitoring, Capacity, and Risk - Track and analyze supplier delivery, quality, and cost metrics, and put corrective action and continuous improvement plans in place as needed. - Evaluate capacity against current and future demand using cycle times, yield, equipment availability, staffing, tooling, and material flow. - Create and manage measurable plans for technical development, production readiness, capacity recovery, and corrective action. - Lead onsite supplier recovery and report progress, risks, and corrective actions to program and executive leadership. - Watch performance trends to spot recurring issues, systemic risks, and improvement opportunities. - Identify and reduce supply chain risk, including developing alternate sources for sole-source, long-lead, and flight-critical components. ## Leadership - Mentor Supplier Development, Supplier Quality, and Supply Chain team members. - Lead cross-functional technical teams and improvement initiatives with limited oversight ## Skills ### Required - Mechanical engineering - Manufacturing engineering - Supplier development - Quality engineering - Supply chain management - Lean manufacturing - Six Sigma - Process audits - Capability assessments - Root-cause analysis - Corrective action - AS9100 - AS9102 - GD&T - CAD design - Data analysis - Communication - Leadership ### Nice to have - Active U.S. government SECRET clearance - Experience with aircraft, unmanned aircraft systems, advanced aerospace platforms, or defense programs - Direct supplier development for airframe structures, landing gear, turbine engines, propulsion, or other flight-critical mechanical hardware - Experience developing or managing suppliers in Europe - Industrialization and production ramp-up of newly designed aerospace components and systems - Complex machining, tight tolerances, special processes, and aerospace materials - Metallic and composite airframe experience, including tooling, layup, curing, bonding, machining, drilling, trimming, assembly, and inspection - Landing gear manufacturing knowledge: forgings, machining, heat treatment, surface finishing, hydraulics, and assembly - Engine and propulsion manufacturing knowledge: castings, forgings, rotating components, engine mounts, fuel-system hardware, and high-temperature materials - Experience leading supplier recovery on critical delivery, capacity, or quality issues - ASQ Certified Quality Engineer, Six Sigma Green or Black Belt, APICS/ASCM, or a similar professional certification --- Source: [Apply at jobs.lever.co](https://jobs.lever.co/shieldai/ba153661-f92e-4a2b-a96e-d029c1f823ac?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)