Quality / Manufacturing Engineer — Gear Manufacturing Commodity SME

For almost 30 years, SQA Services has been a premier leader in providing managed supplier quality services for audits, assessments, remote surveillance assessments, corrective actions, remediation, inspections, and engineering to manufacturers within all industries. We deliver services by deploying associates who are located throughout the United States and in 90+ countries around the world to your supplier sites. Our associates are expert quality assurance professionals with broad experience and local knowledge who can represent our clients on-demand and on-site faster than our competitors.

Position Summary:

Serve as SQA’s commodity subject matter expert and assessment lead for a two-day, on-site readiness assessment of a first-time supplier of a custom three-start worm gear set. Working alongside an SQA Technical Lead for FAI and metrology, you will lead the Requirements Consumption Review, the failure-mechanism-driven commodity assessment, and the PPAP readiness review, and author the final report identifying gaps and their risk to specification and on-time delivery.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the on-site assessment as the gear manufacturing commodity SME, including the opening meeting, daily out-briefs, and closing meeting with the supplier and client.
• Facilitate the Requirements Consumption Review (RCR) with the supplier’s cross-functional team and client (virtual), covering contract review, product definition, build plan, inspection and test, CAPA, general workmanship, and tooling / property management.
• Walk the gear manufacturing process flow step by step - blank preparation, worm thread generation, wheel hobbing, heat treatment, grinding and finishing, inspection, and shipment - identifying credible failure mechanisms and evaluating the prevention and detection controls in place (reverse-PFMEA approach).
• Evaluate controls specific to multi-start worm gearing, including lead, pitch and index accuracy, hob and special-tooling condition, heat-treat distortion, case depth and hardness, grind burn, contact pattern, backlash, and center distance.
• Evaluate QMS effectiveness as applied to the part, including MRB, nonconformance handling, corrective action, traceability, sub-tier special-process flow-down, and continuous improvement.
• Where PPAP is required, assess the supplier’s readiness to execute a compliant PPAP: APQP planning, process flow, PFMEA, control plan, capability studies, and submission process.
• Evaluate special-tooling readiness, capacity, and schedule feasibility against the quoted lead time and identify risks to on-time delivery.

Consolidate findings with the Technical Lead into a gap register, rating each gap by risk and state of control, and recommend actions for the client and supplier.

• Author the Supplier Readiness Assessment Report for SQA technical review within the required timeline and support the client readout.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical, manufacturing, or industrial engineering, or an equivalent combination of education and at least 10 years of directly related experience.
• Minimum 7 years of hands-on quality or manufacturing engineering experience in precision gear manufacturing, including worm gear or worm-thread production.
• Demonstrated working knowledge of gear cutting and finishing processes (hobbing, worm milling or thread grinding, gear grinding) and of gear heat treatment (carburizing, induction hardening, or nitriding).
• Working knowledge of AGMA gear quality standards and of gear inspection methods and results (lead, profile, pitch, runout, single- / double-flank testing, contact pattern).
• Hands-on experience developing or reviewing PFMEAs and control plans, and executing or reviewing PPAP / APQP per AIAG requirements.
• Prior experience leading supplier audits or assessments, with lead auditor training or certification to ISO 9001 or AS9100.
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, gear data tables, and GD&T per ASME Y14.5.
• Strong technical writing skills; able to produce clear, evidence-based reports on deadline.
• Able to travel to and work on site at the supplier facility for the full two-day assessment, including shop-floor access with required PPE.