Senior Engineer, Materials Quality Engineering

Senior Engineer, Materials Quality Engineering 

We are seeking a dynamic Senior Engineer to join our Materials Quality Engineering (Supplier Quality) team supporting our regional supplier base and Japan manufacturing operations. In this role, the engineer will be responsible for assessing and managing quality performance, supplier risk, and capability for materials, components, and processes used in Microcontamination Control products, including membranes, filtration media, membrane supports, molded or assembled components, surface modification processes, and other critical materials that impact filtration performance, cleanliness, flow, retention, and product reliability. 

The ideal candidate will work with autonomy and sound engineering judgment to lead supplier development, drive continuous improvement, and maintain robust quality systems for critical suppliers. The role requires strong collaboration with Commodity Management, Operations, R&D, and Customer Quality teams to ensure continuity of supply and rapid resolution of internal and customer issues related to material quality, process variability, product performance, and contamination control. 

In this role you will: 

• Lead supplier quality activities for materials, components, and processes used in advanced filtration products, including membranes, filtration media, membrane supports, molded or assembled components, surface modification processes, and other critical materials. 

• Drive supplier performance improvement, including corrective actions, audits, process capability reviews, contamination control assessments, and membrane process evaluations. 

• Support supplier qualifications, change management (MOC), and risk assessments for membrane materials, supplier process changes, equipment changes, site transfers, and key raw material changes. 

• Analyze product quality issues, including flow shift, retention performance, particles, extractables, cleanliness, dimensional variation, chemical compatibility, wetting behavior, and performance drift, and lead robust root cause investigations using 8D, 5-Why, fishbone, and related methods. 

Technical & Engineering Responsibilities: 

• Understand supplier manufacturing processes for membrane and filtration-related materials, including polymer processing, membrane formation, casting/coating, phase inversion, stretching, surface modification, washing, drying, slitting, assembly, cleaning, packaging, and contamination control. 

• Develop and maintain specifications, critical-to-quality requirements, certificates of analysis (COA) expectations, inspection plans, test methods, and supplier quality documentation for membrane and filtration-related materials. 

• Evaluate supplier controls for key membrane performance attributes, including pore structure, flow rate, retention, pressure drop, cleanliness, particles, extractables, chemical compatibility, mechanical integrity, and lot-to-lot consistency. 

• Collaborate with suppliers on process improvements, capability studies, control plans, sampling strategies, advanced quality planning, and prevention-focused controls for high-risk or high-impact materials. 

• Support continuous improvement initiatives to reduce process variation, improve yield, enhance reliability, and strengthen membrane and filtration product performance. 

• Understand continuous improvement methodologies, structured problem-solving techniques, SPC, and FMEA and apply them independently in role. 

• Ability to analyze, synthesize, and summarize complex data sets to drive clear decision making and action. 

Cross-Functional Leadership: 

• Partner with Business Units, Procurement, R&D, Operations, and Customer Quality teams to ensure continuity of supply and strong quality performance for critical membrane and filtration suppliers. 

• Serve as a bilingual interface between Japan-based suppliers and global stakeholders, ensuring clear communication of technical requirements, quality expectations, corrective actions, and escalation needs. 

• Monitor key supplier metrics and provide visibility and escalation to cross-functional teams when supplier quality, supply continuity, or contamination risks arise. 

• Participate in Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and risk mitigation strategies for critical suppliers supporting advanced filtration products. 

• Train suppliers on key requirements and expectations, including change control, quality system standards, contamination control, and prevention-based quality practices. 

Qualifications / Traits: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science/Engineering, Polymer Science, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, or related discipline. 

• Advanced degree optional; Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt strongly preferred. 

• Fluency in Japanese and English is required, with the ability to communicate technical and quality requirements effectively with suppliers and global teams. 

• Ability to be based in Tokyo or at the Yonezawa plant, with regular engagement with Japan-based suppliers and internal stakeholders. 

• Experience with supplier quality engineering for membranes, filtration products, polymeric materials, specialty materials, semiconductor materials, or other contamination-sensitive manufacturing strongly preferred. 

• Working knowledge of polymers and related manufacturing processes, including extrusion, annealing, lamination, and web handling strongly preferred. 

• 5–7 years’ experience in supplier quality, membrane manufacturing, filtration, semiconductor materials, polymeric materials, specialty materials, or other high-tech manufacturing industries. 

• Proficiency with statistical analysis software such as Minitab, JMP, SAS, Camline, or equivalent tools. 

• Strong project management, communication, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence suppliers and align cross-functional stakeholders. 

• Ability to work independently, lead supplier improvement projects, summarize complex data, and collaborate with cross-functional teams. 

• Ability to travel up to 10% domestically or internationally, including travel to local manufacturing plants and supplier sites as needed.