Sr. Manager Supplier Engineering

Job Description

Primary Function of the Position:

The successful candidate will lead a team of Supplier Engineers, to develop a portfolio of suppliers that deliver components, parts, and sub-assemblies at lowest landed cost for Intuitive’s robotic systems.  By building technical expertise and business acumen in the Robotics space including its primary commodities of Motion control (electric motors, gearboxes, brakes, sensors, and other actuators), Electronics (PCBAs, PCBs, and electrical harness assemblies), Metals (CNC machining, Castings), and Plastics (injection molding, thermoforming, reaction injection molding), Supplier Engineering leads the technical evaluation during supplier selection, works with suppliers to develop manufacturing processes for components, and qualifies these processes to ensure suppliers can deliver the quality, capability, capacity, and cost necessary to meet Intuitive’s needs.

You will be responsible for the engineering relationship with many suppliers and the corresponding spend required to establish production, as well as for the discovery and development of new suppliers. You will strive to deliver the best-in-class performance score from your suppliers which is derived from several KPIs of Capacity, On-time Delivery, Cost reduction, Risk Mitigation, Product Quality and Service levels.

Essential Job Duties:

Lead a team of supplier engineers who are delivering value to the business through the following activities.

• Supply-chain Strategy: Develop and execute Global Supply-chain strategy and roadmap for long term, sustainable and resilient supply-chain to support Intuitive’s Product strategy and roadmap.
• Supplier Selection: Conduct market research to identify trends in the field of [plastics, Metal] manufacturing and accordingly select and evaluate suppliers to enable Agility and innovation during New Product Introduction, and to enable production scale globally for products that reach broad commercial launch. Establish a strong partnership with the commodity sourcing team to incorporate commercial viability in supplier selection process.
• Supplier Development and collaboration: Drive and adopt new technologies and automation in supply-chain to achieve high efficiency and production scale. Champion best practices like DFX, Lean, SPC, Six-sigma, Project management, into supply-chain. Establish clear communication channels with suppliers and manage both technical and business relationships
• Supplier Performance and Monitoring: Partner closely with suppliers to select optimal mfg process and process controls to achieve high quality and cost performance. Develop effective KPIs to monitor supplier performance (delivery, capacity, cost, quality). Execute projects towards continuous improvements of KPIs.
• Supplier Compliance: Partner with Supplier Quality org to drive audit finding resolution with suppliers through processes like CAPA and SCARs to maintain compliance with QMS requirements
• Supplier Risk management: Partner with Global supply-chain team to identify various risks within supply-chain and implement mitigation measures.

• Supplier Change management: For commercially launched products, execute Intuitive’s change management processes like major/moderate change (MCF), Supplier Change Request (SCR) and Change Order (CO) to support large scale projects towards capacity scaling, cost reduction, product quality improvement and supply-chain risk mitigation.
• Stakeholder Influence: Aligning/Negotiating on project ownership and hand-off points with various peer Supplier engineering groups (like New Product Introduction, Mfg Plant support, Tooling development). Influencing decisions with key partners in Global Ops (planning, sourcing, purchasing), Engineering (Design, Process, Quality) and Project Management Org.

Qualifications

Required Skills and Experience:

• Proven ability to lead teams to solve complex technical and process problems
• Proven ability to hire highly capable staff, and grow and mentor staff
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including presentations to executives
• Demonstrated Project Management skills and ability to influence and negotiate with stakeholders.
• Domain Knowledge expertise in the [Plastic, Metal] commodity. Demonstrable knowledge of a wide range of manufacturing processes and measurement techniques. Deep understanding of key input variables for quality, cost, schedule and capacity
• Outstanding analytical skills along with good judgment
• Proficiency in Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing techniques; certification preferred
• Knowledge of document management systems and ERP Systems, preferably Agile and SAP
• Knowledge of 21 CFR part 820 and ISO 13485 preferred
• Experience in a high-volume medical device company is a plus
• Ability to travel to suppliers on an as-needed basis – domestic and international (25%)

Required Education and Training:

• BS degree in engineering, advanced degree preferred
• 8+ years related experience in Manufacturing, Operations, Supplier Quality, Supplier Development, or related field with significant medical or medical device experience preferred
• 3+ years of experience leading supplier engineering, supplier quality or supplier development teams, or leadership of equivalent areas.

Additional Information

Intuitive is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

Intuitive is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants and employees, and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type, without regard to race, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, color, age, religion, protected veteran or disability status, genetic information or any other status protected under federal, state, or local applicable laws.

We will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records in accordance with fair chance laws.

U.S. Export Controls Disclaimer:  In accordance with the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (15 CFR §743.13(b)), some roles at Intuitive Surgical may be subject to U.S. export controls for prospective employees
who are nationals from countries currently on embargo or sanctions status.

Certain information you provide as part of the application will be used for purposes of determining whether Intuitive Surgical will need to (i) obtain an export license from the U.S. Government on your behalf (note: the government’s licensing process can take 3 to 6+ months) or (ii) implement a Technology Control Plan (“TCP”) (note: typically adds 2 weeks to the hiring process).  

For any Intuitive role subject to export controls, final offers are contingent upon obtaining an approved export license and/or an executed TCP prior to the prospective employee’s
start date, which may or may not be flexible, and within a timeframe that does not unreasonably impede the hiring need. If applicable, candidates will be notified and instructed on any requirements for these purposes. 

This position may be filled at a different job level than listed here depending on
business need and/or on the selected candidate’s experience, knowledge and skills.
Compensation will be based primarily on the job level at which the role is filled and the
candidate’s qualifications, consistent with applicable law.