Supplier Quality Engineer in Bedford, Bedfordshire

Supplier Quality Engineer

Ampthill, Bedfordshire, UK

£43,000-£55,000 p/a + BUPA, bonus, benefits

37.5 hours per week + 4 Day Work Week option

Lockheed Martin (UK) Ampthill is a rapidly changing, dynamic part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation with both domestic and international customers.

It consists of business areas focusing on Platform Integration, Ground Based Air Defence, Special Projects and Weapons, which provide a variety of products and services to the Ministry of Defence and other customers.

We are looking for talented individuals to join the company, in return we offer an exciting and challenging career path and excellent work/life balance with a 4 day week (Mon-Thurs) and flexible working arrangements.

We are seeking a proven Supplier Quality Engineer to cover a Fixed Term of 12 months in support of a surge in Manufacturing & Production across several very busy defence programmes.

You will be responsible for planning, coordinating, and reporting on all supplier quality activities to ensure materials, components, and services meet contractual, regulatory, and company requirements.

The role covers raw materials, packaging materials, GMP service providers, contract manufacturers, laboratories, and sub-tier suppliers. The successful candidate will ensure supplier performance, compliance, and continuous improvement across the supply chain.

Key Responsibilities

• Supplier Quality Management
• Lead and manage supplier quality activities to ensure compliance with purchase orders, contracts, and applicable standards.
• Maintain oversight of supplier approvals and ensure certifications remain current.
• Review, challenge, and approve new supplier capability requests and accreditations.
• Nonconformance & Corrective Action
• Control and manage supplier nonconforming materials.
• Conduct root cause analysis and ensure effective corrective and preventive actions are implemented.
• Monitor and verify the effectiveness of corrective measures against defined reliability and compliance standards.
• Quality Systems & Compliance
• Develop, apply, and maintain quality evaluation and control systems for materials and product processing.
• Prepare, maintain, and review procurement quality assurance procedures.
• Ensure documentation complies with customer and/or government requirements.
• Auditing & Supplier Oversight
• Perform source inspections and validation activities.
• Conduct audits of third-party manufacturers, special processes, and sub-tier suppliers.
• Participate in vendor selection and due diligence processes.
• Maintain effective feedback loops with suppliers and internal stakeholders.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Work closely with engineering, manufacturing, and quality teams to ensure requirements are clearly defined and communicated to suppliers.
• Translate technical and quality requirements into measurable supplier standards.

Required skills, qualifications and experience :

• Previous experience in a supplier quality engineering role or similar industry environment preferred.
• Suitable for a Quality Engineer or Quality Inspector seeking progression into supplier quality engineering.
• Experience working in a regulated or high-pressure environment.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word).
• SAP experience managing quality notifications desirable but not essential.
• Lean and/or Six Sigma certification advantageous.

Disclaimer

This vacancy is being advertised by Optamor Limited. Optamor is a specialist Recruitment Process Outsourcing provider. We provide a flexible full recruitment solution which takes care of all recruitment requirements from planning to on-boarding. Our specialist recruitment divisions cover the entire technical arena, including some of the most economically and strategically important industries in the UK and the world today. We will never send your CV without your permission. Where the role is marked as Outside IR35 in the advertisement this is subject to receipt of a final Status Determination Statement from the end Client and may be subject to change.