Lead Supplier Quality Assurance Engineer

About the role

Our Lead SQA Engineer plays an essential role focusing primarily on supplier approval, monitoring, and control. As a critical role, you will lead a team that are responsible for ensuring supplier and component compliance to company, regulatory, and customer requirements, whilst driving continuous improvement in supplier quality performance. Working at the intersection of engineering, quality, and procurement, you will help develop a robust, cost-effective, and high-quality supply base to support our growing aerospace operations taking ownership of supplier quality performance across new and existing programmes, driving improvements, ensuring compliance with AS9100 standards, and supporting the introduction of new products into manufacture.

YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBLITLIES:

In your role as our Lead Supplier Quality Assurance Engineer, you will also:

• Be hands-on in supplier development, auditing, and problem-solving, taking overall responsibility for supplier and component quality and ensuring all parts supplied to and used by Mirus meet the required aerospace quality standards.
• Manage and mentor SQA and inspection teams responsible for incoming and production inspection, quarantine material, adjudication, return to vendor processes, and metrology, providing day-to-day leadership, workload prioritisation, coaching, and support.
• Own the prioritisation of supplier quality, inspection, and metrology activities, balancing supplier risk, production demands, programme requirements, and business priorities.
• Champion continuous improvement across the SQA, inspection, and metrology functions, driving standardisation, lessons learned, and the adoption of best practice.
• Provide escalation support to SQA Engineers on complex supplier quality issues, ensuring appropriate containment, investigation, and resolution.
• Work closely with engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain teams, providing technical leadership and direction across supplier quality activities and having the autonomy and visibility to drive meaningful improvements.
• Lead and coordinate supplier quality activities across new and existing programmes, ensuring consistent application of quality standards, processes, and best practice.
• Conduct supplier audits and lead the development, implementation, and follow-up of supplier improvement plans, ensuring actions are delivered effectively and within agreed timescales.
• Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions (8D, 5Why), challenging suppliers where necessary and ensuring robust, sustainable corrective actions are implemented.
• Drive supplier PPAP, FAIR, and FMEA activities to ensure compliance, providing guidance and oversight to the SQA team and suppliers where required.
• Monitor supplier KPIs and drive continuous improvement, identifying trends, risks, and opportunities and reporting performance and key issues to relevant stakeholders.
• Act as a technical liaison between suppliers and Mirus engineering and manufacturing teams, providing leadership on complex supplier quality issues and ensuring effective communication and resolution across functions.
• Lead and develop the wider team, setting clear objectives, building capability, supporting professional development, and promoting a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Represent Supplier Quality, Inspection, and Metrology in cross-functional meetings, programme reviews, supplier escalations, and relevant customer interactions where required.
• Ensure the SQA, inspection, and metrology functions operate in accordance with applicable aerospace quality standards, customer requirements, and Mirus processes.

About you

To help Mirus continue our journey of growth, you will bring a strong industry knowledge and expertise in supplier quality within a design and manufacturing environment. You will demonstrate a strong commitment to operational excellence, a proactive approach to problem solving, and the technical insight needed to uphold and enhance our quality standards. The ideal candidate will bring the following skills, experience, qualifications, and attributes:

• Strong quality and / or manufacturing background gained within medium to high volume manufacturing environments
• Knowledge of aerospace AS9100/ ISO9001 requirements
• Demonstratable experience in partnering with external suppliers – leading, managing and driving process improvements or sustainable corrective actions
• Able to read, understand and interpret engineering information and applicable requirements
• Strong problem solving skills and process capability knowledge (Six Sigma)

Desirable:

• Aerospace industry experience or Tier 1
• People supervision/management experience

Personal skills / attributes:

• Excellent teamwork and interpersonal skills
• Be self-motivated, able to work under own initiative or as part of a team
• Team player working cross functionally to drive improvement
• A passion for excellence
• Able to travel frequently on Supplier visits both nationally and internationally as there will be occasional travel to China and S.E. Asia

Be eligible to work in the UK, comfortable commuting or being based in Hingham, Norfolk and work flexible hours required

We really want to hear from you, so don’t miss your opportunity to join our community of passionate and exceptional people who challenge the accepted norm! Once you apply, your CV will be held on our central database. Please do let us know if you do not wish for us to retain your details. If your application is successful, you will be contacted in due course.

If you're ready to take the next step in your career and be a part of a company that values your skills and contributions, we encourage you to apply for our Lead Supplier Quality Assurance Engineer position. Come on a journey with us and be part of making a positive and impactful difference!

Please kindly note, at this moment in time we are respectfully not engaging with any agencies for our roles.