Sr. Manager Supply Chain Engineering

Job Description:

Job Description

The Senior Supply Chain Engineering Manager role provides technical leadership for battery systems, supplier engineering, and contract manufacturing, while supporting commercial sourcing and contracting activities.

This role serves as the primary supply chain technical interface among Supply Chain, Product Engineering, Quality, Project Execution, contract manufacturers, and strategic battery suppliers. The position translates product and project requirements into supplier specifications, manufacturing plans, qualification criteria, quality controls, capacity requirements, and scalable production solutions, and provides technical input to sourcing strategies and commercial decisions led by Supply Chain leadership.

Success in this role is measured by technically qualified battery supply and contract-manufacturing capacity, robust enclosure-integration processes, improved quality and throughput, effective mitigation of technical and operational risk, and on-time delivery of safe, compliant, and cost-effective BESS products. Commercial success is enabled through accurate technical assessments, requirements, and recommendations.

Essential duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide technical leadership and engineering input for battery cells, modules, battery management systems, and related components in support of sourcing strategies led by Supply Chain leadership.
• Lead the identification, assessment, qualification, and development of battery suppliers and contract manufacturers capable of integrating battery equipment into containerized enclosures at required quality, volume, and schedule levels.
• Translate battery-system designs, bills of material, drawings, process requirements, test specifications, and regulatory requirements into clear RFQs, statements of work, technical schedules, and manufacturing requirements.
• Lead technical evaluation of supplier proposals and manufacturing solutions for design compliance, process capability, capacity, quality systems, test coverage, manufacturability, and lifecycle risk; provide technical findings to support commercial evaluation of cost, lead time, localization, warranty, and logistics.
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• Support Supply Chain leadership in commercial negotiations and contracting by defining technical deliverables, acceptance criteria, capacity assumptions, tooling requirements, change-control provisions, warranty inputs, intellectual-property considerations, and technical performance metrics; commercial ownership and final negotiation authority remain with the designated commercial lead.
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• Lead contract-manufacturer readiness reviews covering facility capability, line layout, tooling, fixtures, material flow, labor planning, work instructions, traceability, training, production controls, and end-of-line testing.
• Coordinate industrialization and launch activities, including prototype builds, pilot runs, first-article inspections, production-part approvals, ramp plans, capacity validation, and transition to serial production.
• Partner with Engineering and Quality to establish critical-to-quality characteristics, incoming inspection plans, in-process controls, test coverage, configuration management, serialization, and manufacturing quality plans.
• Ensure battery handling, storage, assembly, testing, packaging, transportation, and enclosure-integration processes meet applicable safety, environmental, regulatory, and customer requirements.
• Resolve supplier and contract-manufacturing issues involving design interpretation, component availability, workmanship, nonconformance, yield, throughput, field feedback, and corrective action.
• Drive value engineering, design-for-manufacturing, design-for-assembly, and design-for-supply-chain initiatives to reduce total cost, improve manufacturability, shorten lead time, and increase production scalability.
• Develop technical recommendations for dual-source, regionalization, and continuity plans covering critical battery components and manufacturing capacity; assess engineering, qualification, obsolescence, and operational risks and provide input to commercially owned mitigation decisions.
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• Lead technical and operational supplier reviews using quality, delivery, yield, capacity, responsiveness, corrective-action, and engineering-readiness metrics; provide technical input to commercially led reviews of cost and contractual performance.
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• Maintain accurate technical evaluations, approved supplier qualification evidence, technical exhibits, manufacturing records, risk registers, and change-control documentation; provide required technical inputs to commercially maintained sourcing and contract records.
• Establish and execute risk-based qualification plans for battery suppliers and contract manufacturers, including quality-system and process audits, special-process validation, first-article or production-part approval, capacity verification, and approval of manufacturing and test controls before production release.
• Conduct ongoing quality surveillance at battery suppliers and integration partners through layered process audits, incoming and in-process inspection reviews, end-of-line test-data analysis, traceability checks, configuration audits, and change-control verification.
• Own supplier quality performance management using scorecards and key metrics such as incoming defects, line rejects, first-pass yield, test failures, escapes, warranty events, corrective-action aging, and cost of poor quality; lead regular operating reviews and recovery plans.
• Lead supplier containment, root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, and effectiveness validation for battery and enclosure-integration quality issues; drive escalation, controlled shipment, supplier development, or disqualification when required.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Strong knowledge of lithium-ion battery cells, modules, battery management systems, thermal management, electrical interconnections, and battery-enclosure architecture.
• Working knowledge of contract-manufacturing models, production line design, process validation, capacity planning, tooling, quality controls, traceability, and new-product introduction.
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, bills of material, interface-control documents, electrical schematics, test requirements, manufacturing instructions, and supplier technical data.
• Understanding of battery safety, handling, storage, transportation, and compliance considerations, including relevant UL, IEC, NFPA transportation, and quality-management requirements.
• Strong supplier technical-assessment skills, with the ability to evaluate engineering capability, manufacturing readiness, capacity, quality, warranty risk, and total cost drivers, and to communicate clear recommendations to commercial decision-makers.
• Experience applying structured problem-solving and quality methods such as risk assessments, process failure mode and effects analysis, control plans, root-cause analysis, corrective action, and statistical process control.
• Ability to lead complex cross-functional programs, manage multiple suppliers and manufacturing partners, and communicate effectively with technical, commercial, and executive stakeholders.
• Strong analytical, project-management, written, verbal, and presentation skills, with sound judgment in balancing cost, schedule, quality, safety, and technical risk.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Supply Chain Management, or a related technical field.
• +7 years of relevant experience in battery systems, supply chain engineering, supplier development, contract manufacturing, manufacturing engineering, supplier quality, or a related technical discipline.
• Direct experience with lithium-ion batteries, battery modules, BESS products, or high-volume electromechanical integration is strongly preferred.
• Experience launching or scaling outsourced manufacturing operations, including supplier qualification, pilot builds, production readiness, capacity verification, and ongoing performance management, is preferred.
• Experience providing technical support for commercial agreements, statements of work, technical exhibits, warranty provisions, and supplier negotiations is preferred; direct ownership of commercial negotiations is not required.

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