Global Supplier Quality Engineer Senior

Plexus•Chicago, IL

About The Position

The Senior Supplier Quality Engineer drives Plexus’s Zero Defect Strategy and continual improvement across the supply base, supporting compliance and risk mitigation in complex programs or key customer relationships. The role represents Supplier Quality to customers, external auditors, and internal teams for incoming raw materials and services. It applies quality expertise and indirect leadership to influence suppliers to meet or exceed expectations. The position collaborates with global and regional Supply Chain teams to maintain supplier management systems and oversee material and supplier onboarding. It also partners with Advanced Sourcing & Solutions to assess new suppliers, classify them, evaluate early supplier capability against critical-to-quality features, and hand suppliers off to regional teams for the remainder of qualification.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 4 or more years of related experience preferred; an equivalent combination of education and/or experience will be considered.
Broad understanding of materials, manufacturing technologies, and processes.
Experience with ERP systems, such as JD Edwards.
Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively and influence cross-functional, global, and regional teams.
Proficiency in root cause analysis and corrective/preventative action (CAPA) methodologies.
Working knowledge of industry Quality Management System (QMS) standards and practical experience with supplier auditing.

Nice To Haves

ASQ certification preferred, such as CQE, CQA, or CMQOE.

Responsibilities

Manage material and supplier onboarding systems, including restricted supplier controls, item restrictions, Approved Supplier List accuracy oversight, and critical material monitoring through secondary verification solutions.
Lead supplier corrective action activities across multiple supply-chain levels using data trends, audit findings, and non-conforming parts data.
Oversee Supplier Fast-Track purchase order material handling, receiving processes, and Non-Conforming Material routing and workflow execution.
Analyze data and provide feedback to improve supplier performance, and help categorize suppliers by risk for further development or auditing.
Assist in shaping future Supplier Quality strategies and support Supplier Quality Engineers’ technical growth and understanding of supplier quality fundamentals.
Assist Global Supplier Quality managers with system upgrades and improve standard operating procedures, work instructions, and templates.
Partner with Advanced Sourcing & Solutions to lead preliminary assessments of new suppliers and perform the initial onboarding workflow, ensuring appropriate supplier classification.
Use knowledge of critical-to-quality features to assess early supplier capability and enable handoff to regional teams for the remainder of supplier qualification.
Represent the Supplier Quality function to customers, external auditors, and internal teams.