Manager, Supplier Performance

About the role 

As a Supplier Development Leader, you will play a critical role in strengthening supplier performance and operational readiness across the supply base. Working directly with supplier manufacturing operations, you will assess capacity, identify operational constraints, lead recovery initiatives, and drive continuous improvement efforts to ensure suppliers are prepared to support production requirements, new product introductions, and business growth. Your work will directly contribute to improving supplier performance, on-time delivery, and overall supply chain resilience. 

Key Responsibilities 

As a Supplier Development Leader, you'll be responsible for: 

• Conducting supplier capacity, capability, and readiness assessments across staffing, equipment, tooling, production flow, process stability, and quality systems. 

• Validating supplier production capacity by analyzing actual throughput versus quoted capacity, identifying bottlenecks, and evaluating production allocation. 

• Leading supplier recovery and readiness initiatives through structured root cause analysis, corrective action implementation, and operational improvement plans. 

• Driving on-site process optimization, capacity expansion, Lean deployment, and throughput improvement activities at supplier facilities. 

• Collaborating with Quality, Engineering, Materials, Strategic Sourcing, and Supplier Performance teams to support supplier readiness for NPI launches, production ramp-ups, technology transitions, and long-term supplier capability development. 

Minimum Requirements:  

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Supply Chain, or Operations 

• 7+ years of experience in Supplier Development, Manufacturing Engineering, Supplier Quality, Operations, or Supply Chain. 

• 7+ years of experience with strong understanding of manufacturing processes, capacity analysis, production flow, operational diagnostics, and supplier performance improvement. 

• 5+ years experience conducting root cause analysis and implementing process improvement initiatives using Lean methodologies and structured problem-solving tools. 

• 5+ years of experience with data analysis using tools such as Excel. 

• Up to 30% domestic and international travel is required. 

Preferred Qualifications  

• Experience working directly on supplier shop floors and leading supplier recovery initiatives in challenging manufacturing environments. 

• Experience supporting supplier readiness for NPI launches, production ramp-ups, or supplier capacity expansion projects. 

• Knowledge of Lean Manufacturing tools such as 5S, standard work, visual management, and flow optimization.