Supplier Quality Engineer

What you’ll do

Who you are

• An experienced Supplier Quality, Manufacturing Quality or Manufacturing Engineer from aerospace, defence, space, automotive, motorsport or another high-consequence hardware environment.
• Technically comfortable around complex manufactured components and assemblies.
• Able to walk a production process from incoming material through manufacture, inspection and final release and identify where the real risk sits.
• Experienced working directly with suppliers rather than managing performance solely through dashboards and scorecards.
• Familiar with aerospace quality frameworks such as AS9100 and AS9102.
• Experienced with FAI, NCR management, corrective action and structured root-cause analysis.
• Familiar with APQP, PPAP, PFMEA and control plans, with the judgement to apply them proportionately rather than turning them into bureaucracy.
• Comfortable challenging a supplier when the evidence does not support release.
• Equally comfortable working collaboratively with a capable supplier to solve a difficult manufacturing problem.
• Able to distinguish between a paperwork issue and a genuine product-integrity risk.
• Strong at understanding manufacturing processes and asking the technical questions that expose instability.
• Comfortable operating around immature designs, prototype hardware and suppliers that may still be developing their processes.
• Someone who would rather understand why a defect occurred than simply increase inspection.
• Able to move quickly without compromising product integrity.
• You might have experience with
• Precision CNC machining.
• Fabrication and welding.
• Composite manufacture.
• Electronics and PCB assembly.
• Additive manufacturing.
• Heat treatment.
• Surface treatments and coatings.
• NDT.
• Adhesive bonding.
• Special processes.
• Metrology and dimensional inspection.
• GD&T and engineering drawings.
• Process capability and statistical process control.
• First Article Inspection.
• APQP / PPAP.
• Supplier industrialisation.
• Source inspection.
• Aerospace or defence production.
• You do not need to be an expert in every manufacturing process.
• You do need to know how to understand a process quickly, identify where it can fail and determine whether the supplier genuinely has it under control.

You might have experience with

What we offer

• The opportunity to build the supplier-quality capability behind one of Europe’s most ambitious defence technology companies.
• Direct exposure to advanced aerospace hardware from prototype through flight.
• Real influence over supplier selection, manufacturing strategy and product quality.
• The opportunity to work directly with Engineering, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, AIT and suppliers rather than operating as a separate assurance function.
• Short decision paths and the autonomy to solve problems at source.
• The ability to build supplier-quality systems from first principles rather than inherit layers of legacy process.
• High ownership and autonomy. No time tracking, no micromanagement, just clear objectives and accountability for outcomes.
• Competitive compensation and meaningful share options aligned to responsibility and impact.
• Regular exposure to some of the most capable manufacturing organisations in the UK and Europe.

The person we are looking for

Additional information

Responsibilities

• Own supplier quality across Hypersonica’s UK supply chain.
• Qualify and develop suppliers producing complex aerospace and defence hardware.
• Work closely with Supply Chain and Engineering during supplier selection to assess technical capability, quality maturity, manufacturing processes and production risk.
• Lead supplier audits and capability assessments across machining, fabrication, composites, electronics, assembly, special processes and other critical manufacturing activity.
• Define appropriate supplier quality requirements from prototype through industrialisation and repeatable production.
• Drive APQP and production-readiness activity where appropriate, including PFMEA, control plans, process capability, FAI and PPAP.
• Review and approve First Article Inspection activity in line with AS9102 and programme requirements.
• Ensure suppliers understand drawing requirements, specifications, key characteristics, tolerances and acceptance criteria before production begins.
• Work directly with Design and Manufacturing Engineering where supplier feedback identifies manufacturability or process risk.
• Support the qualification and validation of new manufacturing processes.
• Identify critical and special processes and ensure appropriate controls, qualification and supplier oversight are in place.
• Own supplier NCRs and quality escapes, driving structured containment, root-cause analysis and permanent corrective action.
• Lead 8D, RCA and other problem-solving activity with suppliers where required.
• Issue and manage supplier corrective-action requests and ensure actions are genuinely effective before closure.
• Perform source inspection and production surveillance for critical hardware where programme risk requires it.
• Support supplier readiness for major builds, qualification hardware and flight-test campaigns.
• Monitor supplier quality performance and identify deterioration before it becomes a programme issue.
• Work alongside Procurement to ensure supplier performance influences future sourcing and commercial decisions.
• Partner closely with Manufacturing, AIT and Quality teams when supplied hardware creates downstream integration or production issues.
• Build appropriate supplier-quality processes, standards and reporting as the UK organisation scales.
• Travel regularly to suppliers across the UK and internationally where required.