Senior Supplier Quality Engineer

 

Job Purpose

The Senior Supplier Quality Engineer owns the technical health of Hyliion's precision machining supply base and serves as the senior technical authority for machined content on the KARNO Power Module. Much of the machined content that determines whether a machine runs, including tolerances, surface finishes, form and runout requirements, and sealing surfaces, is produced by external partners, some of it on additively manufactured parts. This position sets the standard for how supplier quality is practiced at Hyliion, including the qualification evidence required, the inspection methods used, and the technical judgment applied when a part is borderline. The role works in both directions: outward, building engineering-grade partnership with machining suppliers and closing the gap between what drawings require and what supplier processes can repeatably deliver; and inward, holding Product Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Operations accountable for releasable drawings, defined acceptance criteria, realistic schedules, and closed feedback loops. The position carries no authority over those functions and operates through technical credibility and evidence.

 

AI at Hyliion

At Hyliion, AI is core to how we work. We equip every team member with leading AI tools and count on you to use them — to move faster, solve harder problems, and help us realize the full potential of KARNO technology for the world.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

• Serve as the engineering authority for machined commodities, including turning, milling, grinding, honing and lapping, EDM, balancing, deburring and edge condition, and associated special processes including heat treat, coating, plating, and NDT.
• Assess and develop the machining supply base, including process capability studies, machine and fixture capability, tooling strategy, workholding for distortion-prone geometry, and capacity readiness for planned rate increases. Conduct process-based audits rather than checklist audits.
• Own first article inspection and part qualification, including AS9102-style FAI, dimensional layout, key characteristic definition, and a PPAP-style evidence set scaled to a low-volume, high-consequence environment.
• Review drawings before release to RFQ, challenging datum schemes that cannot be fixtured, tolerances no process can hold, surface finish callouts without a functional basis, and inspection requirements no gage can verify.
• Build inspection and acceptance strategy, including inspection plans, key characteristics, sampling versus 100% inspection, source inspection and delegation decisions, certificates of conformance, material certification, and traceability.
• Own measurement agreement between suppliers and Hyliion metrology, including CMM programming and fixturing, form and roundness measurement, surface profilometry, air gaging, and gage R&R and MSA studies, and resolve measurement disagreement at its source.
• Lead containment, root cause, and corrective action with suppliers using 8D and structured problem solving, driving to a process condition as root cause, verifying fixes with data, and analyzing escapes to determine why the internal acceptance system did not catch them.
• Assess the impact of engineering changes on supplier tooling, fixturing, programs, and inspection before release, and make the cost of late change visible to internal decision makers.
• Build and run the supplier quality system, including conformance tracking, scorecards, risk-proportionate surveillance plans, quality agreements, and approved supplier status.
• Own the interface where additively manufactured components meet finish machining, including datum establishment on as-built surfaces, stock allowance, fixturing of thin-wall and distortion-prone geometry, witness surfaces, and verification of internal features.
• Represent supplier constraints and capability inside Hyliion with the same rigor applied to representing Hyliion requirements to suppliers, and escalate internal failures to the same evidence standard as supplier failures.
• Hold internal functions accountable for the inputs suppliers depend on, including releasable and unambiguous drawings and timely disposition of supplier questions and deviations from Product Engineering, defined and consistently communicated inspection methods and acceptance criteria from Quality, realistic lead times and clean purchase orders from Supply Chain, and downstream feedback on delivered parts from Operations.
• Set the technical standard for supplier quality on machined content, including mentoring engineers, technicians, and inspectors, guiding judgment calls on borderline parts, and representing Hyliion technically in supplier management reviews.
• Additional duties and responsibilities as assigned, needed, or required for the business.

 

Qualifications

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Qualifications include:

• Education, Experience and Certifications
  • Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related technical discipline required, or equivalent demonstrated experience.
  • 8 or more years of experience in supplier quality, quality engineering, or manufacturing engineering, including current, hands-on ownership of precision machined commodities, required.
  • Demonstrated experience conducting supplier capability assessments and process-based audits against AS9100, ISO 9001, ISO 13485, or comparable quality management systems.
  • Demonstrated success leading supplier corrective action to verified closure using 8D or equivalent structured problem solving.
  • Experience with finish machining of additively manufactured components preferred.
  • Experience in aerospace or defense supply chains, including AS9100 and NADCAP special processes, or in precision medical device manufacturing under ISO 13485 and FDA regulation, preferred.
  • Experience with rotating machinery, turbomachinery, or engine components; sealing surfaces, leak-tight joints, or helium leak testing; thin-wall or distortion-prone geometry; or CT scanning and industrial radiography for internal feature verification, preferred.
  • Experience developing a low-volume, high-mix supply base, or supporting U.S. Government or DoD programs, preferred.
  • ASQ CQE or CQA certification, Lean Six Sigma certification, or experience with ERP or QMS implementation preferred.
• Skills and Abilities
  • Practical command of machining processes, including turning, milling, grinding, honing and lapping, and EDM, and of workholding, cutting tool selection, thermal effects, distortion, residual stress, and cleanliness.
  • Expert GD&T fluency per ASME Y14.5, including datum schemes and tolerance stack-up analysis, with the ability to distinguish a functional requirement from an inherited one.
  • Hands-on metrology depth, including CMM programming and fixturing (PC-DMIS, Calypso, or equivalent), form and roundness measurement, surface finish measurement, air gaging, and gage R&R and MSA studies.
  • Working command of first article inspection and part qualification, including AS9102, PPAP elements, control plans, and key characteristics, and of process capability and SPC in practice.
  • Ability to read, interpret, and challenge engineering documentation, including drawings, models, BOMs, ECOs, and specifications.
  • Ability to build supplier relationships that hold through difficult technical conversations, and to influence internal functions without direct authority.
  • Ability to serve as the senior technical authority on machined content, setting standards, mentoring engineers and inspectors, and making judgment calls on borderline parts.
  • Willingness to work hands-on in supplier machine shops and on the build floor, assessing fixtures, processes, and parts directly.
  • Ability to work effectively in a high-change environment where product configuration is still evolving.
  • Willingness to deliver difficult findings to internal teams with supporting evidence.

 

Role Classification and Working Conditions

This is a salaried, exempt-level position. This position typically works in a production/assembly/engineering lab environment.

 

Physical/Other Requirements

• Ability to stand and walk for extended periods and to access equipment in confined or elevated positions.
• Ability to lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.
• Ability to travel 50 to 60% of the time to supplier facilities, primarily domestic.
• Compliance with all Hyliion and supplier site PPE and safety requirements.

 

We are not accepting candidates who require sponsorship for this role at this time.