Principal SLE Engineer

Job Description

The Principal SLE Engineer serves as the primary quality contact for assigned commodity materials. This role focuses on monitoring supplier quality performance, developing and qualifying new suppliers or alternative sources, and ensuring supplier conformance to company standards. The position requires close collaboration with Procurement, R&D, and cross-functional global teams to maintain high-quality standards and supply reliability.

Key Responsibilities:

• Monitor and evaluate supplier material quality performance on a quarterly basis.
• Conduct supplier audits and drive continuous improvement actions.
• Participate in Supplier Business Reviews and provide quality ratings.
• Lead supplier-driven failure analysis, ensuring timely root cause identification and corrective/preventive actions.
• Coordinate with suppliers for material containment and issue resolution.
• Collaborate with Procurement and R&D to identify, develop, and qualify new suppliers.
• Evaluate supplier capabilities to align with product design and manufacturing needs.
• Lead supplier qualification processes and ensure compliance with company quality systems.
• Review and approve supplier part, product, and process change requests.
• Coordinate internal risk assessments for supplier changes and material end-of-life (EOL) scenarios.
• Support qualification of new parts and review first article inspection reports.
• Maintain and update authorized part lists in Agile systems.

Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering (Optics, Physics, or related field).
• Advanced degrees are an advantage.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of experience in high-speed transceiver testing or manufacturing.
• Experience in components within transceiver modules preferred.
• Prior experience in quality management of high-speed transceivers is a plus.

Skills & Competencies

• Strong knowledge of optical transceiver manufacturing processes, testing, and application requirements.
• Familiarity with quality systems (ISO 9001) and industry standards (GR468, MIL-883).
• Proficiency in quality tools such as 8D, MSA, SPC, DOE, FMEA.
• Skilled in data analysis tools such as JMP or equivalents.
• Hands-on experience in supplier system and process audits.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and cross-cultural communication skills.
• Highly independent, self-driven, and able to perform under pressure.

Additional Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 40% to suppliers and company facilities worldwide.
• Willingness to work flexible hours to collaborate with global teams.

Core Competencies

• Systematic thinking and creative problem solving.
• Decision-making based on data and analysis.
• Strong teamwork and cross-functional collaboration.
• High attention to detail, reliability, and accountability.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and quality excellence.