General Dynamic Electric Boat (EB) has a proud 126-year heritage of submarine building excellence and is confronted with an enormous challenge that has not been experienced by any generation since World War II. Restoring the capacity and capabilities of our U.S. Navy Submarine Force to historic levels while building the next generation of shipbuilders that will take this country well into the latter decades of this century.

To ensure that our critical mission of preserving our nation’s freedom; a robust supply-chain of over 2700 suppliers needs to increase the throughput of material to an unprecedented level, while maintaining first time quality, meeting challenging technical specification, and compliance to proper record keeping to ensure delivery of submarines.

The Supplier Development Engineer is a newly created role, reporting to the Engineering Supervisor of Supply Chain Development and Risk Management.  The Supplier Development Engineer serves as a key player in providing proper oversight of the supply base from a performance perspective (i.e. delivering part/products on time with first time quality, including the assurance of appropriate capacity and capability).

General Description of Position:

As part of the maritime industrial base (MIB)’s overall goals of increasing domestic shipbuilding capacity, the supplier development engineering (SDE) role brings  a unique opportunity to work with various stakeholders from engineering, quality, program offices, and procurement across all levels of the business. In addition, this position will be highly visible to the overall NAVY strategies and opportunities in the supply base along with given opportunity to directly interface with various levels of government, third parties, and other assessment teams.

Successful candidates will collect and analyze cross-functional data inputs from all Supplier Management and Oversight (SMO) stakeholders to perform the annual critical supplier assessment (CSA). The supplier development engineer will identify issues causing poor performance, perform root cause analysis and develop corrective actions to increase supplier performance and throughput.

This dynamic and fast pace role in a growing environment will provide direct mentoring and guidance from the supplier development engineer supervisor and manager to foster additional opportunities within the organization.  

*This role is located on-site in Groton, CT

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Supplier Development Engineer will work directly with SMO stakeholders (Supply Chain, Engineering, Quality, etc.) and suppliers to perform the following in support of completion of annual CSA assessments:

• Analysis of supply chain data including delivery rates, capacity analysis, bottlenecks, and work with the quality engineers to understand supplier performance
• Identification of root cause of deficiencies uncovered during assessment
• Development of Plans of Action and Milestones (POA&Ms) addressing root cause of identified issues
• Manage the execution and follow-through of POA&M actions
• Support identification and recommendation of supplier investments, audits, or other oversight opportunities
• Drive to develop a culture of continuous improvement and commitment to excellence
• Travel on-site to suppliers, as applicable

Minimum Education & Experience Requirements:

• Bachelors of Science Degree in Engineering or higher level degree in STEM related field(s)
• 2-5 years of relevant experience
• Demonstrate experience to analyze information, identify assumptions, evaluate evidence, and draw logical conclusions (i.e. critically thinking)
• Demonstrated experience with Root Cause Analysis, Problem Identification & Resolution, and Risk Management
• Proven ability to write in a logical and clear manner for a large diverse audience
• Proven ability to develop consensus among multiple stakeholders
• Strong project management skills
• Willingness to travel based on business needs

Preferred Education & ExperienceRequirements:

• Supply Chain Management experience
• Industrial, Systems, Manufacturing or other Engineering Degree
• Advanced Degree (Engineering, Business, Supply Chain, STEM fields)
• Coding, programming, or ability to map questions to scoring system and/or assess metrics
• Ability to analyze large data set, including but not limited to curating, managing, configuration management
• Experience conducting capability and/or capacity assessments
• APICS, Six Sigma Black Belt, or ASQ certification
• Functional or manufacturing knowledge of end use components (pumps, electrical systems, valves, fittings, castings/forgings, large fabrications, etc.)

• Intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness
• Analytical skills of both data and stakeholder input (i.e. verbal data)
• Must have excellent leadership, organizational and communication skills to effectively interface with internal and external customers as well as all levels of the organization
• Must have a strong desire to work in a dynamic, fast paced environment
• Ability to work independently and in a collaborative team environment
• Must be able to make decisions independently
• Self-motivated, well organized, possess the desire to learn, grow and lead 
• Ability to adapt to changing schedules and priorities, apply innovative thinking and problem solving, resolve complex problems, and identify risks and opportunities
• Maintain a professional demeanor under stressful situations