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Supplier Quality Engineer – Optical Components
Position Summary
Lumentum is seeking an experienced Supplier Quality Engineer (SQE) to drive supplier quality excellence for Optical Components supporting next-generation AI clusters, hyperscale cloud data centers, coherent optical communications, telecom infrastructure, and advanced photonic technologies.
As the SQE for Optical Components, you will partner closely with Product Engineering, Component Engineering, Commodity Management, Global Sourcing, Manufacturing, Reliability Engineering, and strategic suppliers to ensure supplier capability, manufacturing readiness, and product quality throughout the complete product lifecycle—from technology development and supplier selection through New Product Introduction (NPI), production ramp, and sustaining manufacturing.
This role is ideal for a technically strong engineer with expertise in optical component manufacturing, precision assembly processes, and supplier development. Success requires the ability to influence technical decisions across global organizations while developing supplier capabilities that enable innovation, manufacturing scalability, and world-class product quality.
Key Responsibilities
Product & Business Ownership
- Serve as the Supplier Quality Engineer for Lumentum's Optical Components.
- Own the supplier quality strategy supporting the optical commodity technology roadmap across multiple Business Units.
- Provide supplier quality leadership throughout the complete product lifecycle, from technology development through sustaining production.
- Partner with Product Engineering, Component Engineering, and Commodity Management to influence supplier selection, manufacturing strategy, technology roadmaps, and supplier capability development.
- Support multiple concurrent NPI programs while balancing business priorities, supplier readiness, and manufacturing capacity.
Supplier Quality & Supplier Development
- Lead supplier qualification, manufacturing capability assessments, process audits, and supplier readiness evaluations for strategic optical component suppliers.
- Evaluate supplier manufacturing maturity, process capability, capacity, scalability, and operational excellence across diverse optical manufacturing technologies.
- Develop supplier improvement roadmaps focused on quality, yield, process capability, manufacturing robustness, and operational excellence.
- Identify supplier risks and develop mitigation strategies supporting business continuity, supply resiliency, and product quality.
- Drive Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives with strategic suppliers.
New Product Introduction (NPI)
- Partner with Product Development, Component Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Program Management to ensure supplier readiness for new product introductions.
- Participate in Design Reviews, Design for Manufacturability (DFM), and Design for Excellence (DFX) activities with Engineering teams and suppliers.
- Lead supplier process qualification, First Article Inspection (FAI), process validation, and production readiness activities.
- Support production ramp, supplier transfers, manufacturing transfers, localization initiatives, and capacity expansion projects.
- Ensure suppliers consistently meet quality, reliability, manufacturability, and delivery requirements prior to production release.
Engineering & Technical Leadership
- Act as the primary technical quality interface between Lumentum and strategic optical component suppliers.
- Influence engineering and supplier decisions without direct authority through technical expertise and data-driven decision making.
- Lead supplier technical reviews, quality reviews, executive escalations, and corrective action activities.
- Drive supplier capability development across advanced optical manufacturing technologies, precision assembly processes, and automated manufacturing systems.
- Support Engineering organizations with supplier manufacturing expertise during technology development, product industrialization, and manufacturing transfers.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Product Engineering, Component Engineering, Commodity Management, Global Sourcing, Manufacturing, Reliability Engineering, Operations, Program Management, and Customer Quality.
- Support supplier changes, value engineering initiatives, localization programs, and manufacturing optimization projects.
- Utilize supplier quality metrics, statistical analysis, and manufacturing data to improve supplier capability and product quality.
- Drive proactive supplier risk management, manufacturing readiness, and long-term supplier development throughout the product lifecycle.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Optical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related engineering discipline.
- Minimum 8 years of experience in Supplier Quality Engineering, Manufacturing Quality, Product Quality, or Quality Engineering within a high-technology manufacturing environment.
- Technical understanding of optical component manufacturing technologies, including fiber optics, passive optical components, precision optics, optical assemblies, and photonic devices.
- Experience with optical manufacturing processes such as active alignment, passive alignment, laser welding, adhesive bonding, fiber polishing, precision machining, ceramic manufacturing, and optical metrology.
- Experience supporting supplier qualification, process validation, New Product Introduction (NPI), manufacturing transfer, and production ramp activities.
- Knowledge of supplier quality systems, statistical process control, process capability analysis, FMEA, Control Plans, Measurement System Analysis (MSA), and structured problem-solving methodologies.
- Excellent communication, organizational, project management, and leadership skills.
- Demonstrated ability to influence cross-functional technical decisions across engineering, manufacturing, sourcing, and supplier organizations.
- Willingness to travel domestically and internationally (approximately 20–30%).
Why Join Lumentum?
At Lumentum, Supplier Quality Engineering is evolving into a strategic engineering organization that partners closely with Product Engineering, Component Engineering, and our global supply base to enable innovation and business growth.
As the SQE for Optical Components, you will help shape supplier technology roadmaps, influence supplier selection, accelerate new product introductions, and develop the manufacturing capabilities required to deliver the next generation of AI networking, coherent optics, and advanced photonic solutions. Your work will directly impact the performance, scalability, reliability, and supply resilience of the technologies powering the world's most advanced communications infrastructure.
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company.
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.
Please contact us to request accommodation.
