Supplier Development Engineer

Job Description

At Milwaukee Tool, we are committed to driving innovation, operational excellence, and continuous growth. We are seeking a Supplier Development Engineer to strengthen our strategic supplier network by developing manufacturing capabilities, improving supplier performance, and ensuring long-term supplier readiness to support business growth.

This role serves as the key liaison between Procurement, Supplier Quality, Engineering, Operations, Supply Planning, and suppliers, leading cross-functional initiatives that improve supplier capability, capacity, quality, and delivery performance.

Key Responsibilities

• Assess supplier manufacturing capability, capacity, and operational maturity.
• Validate supplier readiness for new product launches and engineering changes.
• Identify manufacturing constraints and develop supplier capability roadmaps.
• Lead supplier recovery and performance improvement initiatives.
• Drive sustainable corrective actions and verify implementation effectiveness.
• Improve supplier delivery, quality, and productivity performance.
• Evaluate supplier capacity against future business demand.
• Identify bottlenecks and support supplier expansion and localization activities.
• Lead cross-functional collaboration across Procurement, SQE, Engineering, Operations, Supply Planning, and suppliers.
• Assess supplier risks related to capacity, quality, delivery, and business continuity, and develop mitigation plans.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in industrial, Mechanical, Manufacturing, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• 3–5 years of relevant manufacturing, supplier development, operations, quality, or engineering experience.
• Advanced English proficiency.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, project management, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Lean Six Sigma Green Belt or Black Belt certification.
• Experience working with contract manufacturers.
• Experience leading cross-functional continuous improvement projects.

Key Skills

• Manufacturing process knowledge (metals, plastics, electronics, machining, assembly, packaging)
• Lean Manufacturing
• Value Stream Mapping
• Root Cause Analysis
• Risk Analysis & Mitigation
• Operational Excellence
• Power BI and Excel
• Statistical Analysis
• Cost Analysis
• Strategic Thinking
• Influencing Skills
• Change Management
• Strong Ownership Mindset
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment