Supplier Quality Engineer (Long Beach)

Supplier Quality Engineer

At Vast, our mission is to contribute to a future where billions of people are living and thriving in space. We are building artificial gravity space stations, allowing long-term stays in space without the adverse effects of zero-gravity. Our initial crewed space habitat will be Haven-1, scheduled to be the world's first commercial space station when it launches into low earth orbit in May 2026. Our team is all-in, committed to executing our mission safely and on time. If you want to work with the most talented people on Earth furthering space exploration for humanity, come join us.

Vast is looking for a Supplier Quality Engineer, reporting to the Manager of Quality Assurance, to support the development of systems that will be required for the design and build of artificial-gravity human-rated space stations. In the role of Supplier Quality Engineer you will be crucial in ensuring the consistent quality and reliability of the products and components we receive from our suppliers.

This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

Responsibilities :

• Evaluating and onboarding new suppliers, ensuring they meet our quality expectations by conducting regular audits, assessments, and evaluations to ensure that our suppliers adhere to our quality standards.
• Assure supplier understanding of product and submission requirements
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with our suppliers, address any quality-related issues, identify risks in the supply chain, and implement improvements.
• Work collaboratively with design engineers to gain an in-depth knowledge of piece part, assembly, and / or sub-system design intent.
• Work collaboratively with various departments across the business to strategically source parts matched with supplier competencies by reviewing and assessing supplier manufacturing processes and quality systems.
• Setting and enforcing quality standards for incoming materials, components, and products.
• Conduct inspections, tests, and assessments to ensure that the products meet our specifications and are free from defects.
• Use expertise to contribute to the prevention of defects and non-conformities, ultimately reducing the likelihood of recalls and / or customer complaints.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives, both internally and with our suppliers, by analyzing quality data, identifying trends, and implementing corrective and preventive actions to enhance the overall quality of our products and reduce costs.
• Create and define supplier technical and quality requirements based on customer and program requirements and expectations for NPI and manufacturing phases
• Implement and monitor production part approval process (PPAP) with selected suppliers to enable rate manufacturing
• Develop and approve process controls to regulate acceptance of critical characteristics
• Recommend technical product improvements to reduce risk and potential defect opportunities and provide feedback as appropriate on manufacturing methods and technologies.
• Analyze supplier quality and delivery metrics to identify trends, pinpoint systemic performance gaps, and determine root causes in order to develop supplier improvement plans.
• Function as liaison between purchasing, engineering, manufacturing and suppliers to resolve supplier quality issues and to provide technical support.
• Drive supplier corrective actions associated with any escapes or contaminants identified in Vast manufacturing or the Vast supply chain.
• Demonstrate autonomy, innovation, technical excellence, and attention to detail.

Minimum Qualifications :

Preferred Skills & Experience :

Additional Requirements :

Pay Range :