Senior Supplier Quality and Materials Engineer

About the company

Portal Space Systems develops solar thermal propulsion systems for high-speed in-space maneuvering.

About this role

<div class="content-intro"><h3>About Portal</h3> <p>Portal Space Systems is on a mission to expand humanity’s freedom of movement in space. We’re building the spacecraft that makes that mission possible. From our Bothell, WA headquarters, we design vehicles with the maneuverability, resilience, and adaptability needed for the next era of orbital operations. Every system we build is in service of a simple idea: space should be more accessible, responsive, and capable. Joining Portal means stepping into a team that believes in bold engineering, fast iteration, and the power of small groups to change what’s possible. If you want your work to directly shape the future of in-space mobility, join us.</p></div><h1>Position Summary</h1> <p>The Senior Supplier Quality and Materials Engineer is responsible for ensuring suppliers can consistently manufacture compliant, reliable spaceflight hardware while providing materials and manufacturing-process expertise during sourcing and engineering decisions. The role leads supplier qualification, auditing, development, corrective action, and process qualification while evaluating materials, special processes, and manufacturing capability before and after source selection. This position works closely with Supply Chain, Design Engineering, Propulsion Engineering, and Build Engineering to manage technical and quality risk across the supply chain.</p> <h1>Core Responsibilities</h1> <p><strong>Technical Sourcing, Supplier Qualification &amp; NPI</strong></p> <ul> <li>Partner with Supply Chain and Engineering during supplier identification, evaluation, source selection, and make/buy decisions; provide technical recommendations on supplier capability, materials, processes, capacity, scalability, and risk.</li> <li>Lead supplier qualification and onboarding through technical capability reviews, quality-system and process audits, manufacturing assessments, risk-based qualification plans, and evaluation of critical sub-tier controls.</li> <li>Review drawings, specifications, BOM requirements, tolerances, GD&amp;T, material requirements, and special-process requirements during sourcing and new product introduction; identify manufacturability, inspection, and supply risks before award.</li> <li>Establish supplier NPI and qualification gates and review manufacturing plans, process flows, control plans, inspection plans, First Article Inspection, and process-validation evidence before production release.</li> <li>Evaluate alternate suppliers, materials, manufacturing technologies, and processes to improve quality, cost, lead time, capacity, and supply-chain resilience.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Materials &amp; Manufacturing Process Engineering</strong></p> <ul> <li>Serve as a subject matter expert for materials and manufacturing processes across the supply chain and advise Design Engineering, and Build Engineering on material selection, producibility, and supplier capability.</li> <li>Evaluate material selections for mechanical performance, manufacturability, reliability, availability, cost, and suitability for the intended space environment, including the relationship between material condition, process, microstructure, properties, and final performance.</li> <li>Assess metallic and applicable non-metallic materials and product forms, including aluminum, steels, titanium, nickel and copper alloys, composites, polymers, adhesives, elastomers, coatings, plate, sheet, bar, tube, extrusions, forgings, castings, and powder.</li> <li>Provide technical oversight and qualification support for special processes such as heat treatment, welding and brazing, soldering, machining, sheet-metal forming, additive manufacturing, chemical processing, plating, anodizing, coatings, bonding, composites, cleaning, and non-destructive inspection.</li> <li>Develop and approve material and process specifications, supplier technical requirements, workmanship standards, acceptance criteria, and qualification plans; support evaluation, characterization, and implementation of new materials and processes.</li> </ul> <p><strong>Supplier Quality, Development &amp; Corrective Action</strong></p> <ul> <li>Establish supplier quality expectations and ensure technical, quality, inspection, certification, and sub-tier requirements are appropriately flowed down through purchase orders, drawings, specifications, statements of work, and quality clauses.</li> <li>Monitor supplier performance through scorecards, defect and escape data, yield, corrective actions, delivery performance, Statistical Process Control, capability studies, and other risk indicators; identify systemic quality or process concerns.</li> <li>Work directly with supplier engineering, manufacturing, quality, and leadership teams to improve technical capability, process maturity, production controls, and long-term performance when supplier development is strategically appropriate.</li> <li>Serve as a technical lead for supplier-related material and manufacturing failures; lead nonconformance, SCAR, root-cause and corrective-action investigations, support MRB decisions, and coordinate laboratory analysis or material characterization when needed.</li> <li>Maintain working knowledge of applicable aerospace standards and verify supplier certifications, Certificates of Conformance, First Article Inspection Reports, test reports, and end-item data packages meet company, customer, and industry requirements.</li> </ul> <h1>What You Bring To Portal</h1> <ul> <li>Strong technical judgment in aerospace materials and manufacturing processes, including material selection, special processes, process controls, manufacturability, and the relationship between material condition and final product performance.</li> <li>Ability to assess a supplier’s engineering capability, manufacturing maturity, quality system, process controls, capacity, scalability, sub-tier dependencies, and production readiness for complex spaceflight hardware.</li> <li>Ability to interpret en