Supplier Quality Engineer

About the Role The Supplier Quality Engineer manages a portfolio of suppliers and serves as the main contact window between suppliers and Medline's Corporate QA and Shanghai Office QA. Focused on maintaining QMS, CAPA/SCAR and supplier performance to drive quality improvements. What You'll Do

• Manage a portfolio of suppliers and act as the primary liaison between suppliers, Corporate QA and Shanghai QA.
• Monitor supplier QMS maintenance through vigilance audits with emphasis on process control and quality.
• Support and drive suppliers to develop master process validation plans and monitor execution; coordinate and manage non-conformities with stakeholders and suppliers.
• Direct and collaborate with supplier representatives on quality issues (complaints, rejections, findings); ensure timely CAPA and SCAR actions and contribute to supplier quality improvement programs.
• Perform CAPA follow-ups after QSR and SA audits; maintain supplier capacity and volume tracking.
• Establish and maintain supplier ratings with broader Quality Organization and drive improvements when needed.
• Coordinate supplier change requests from initiation to completion, standardize initiation, assess impact on product quality and QMS, and communicate progress.
• Transition QA/QC knowledge from QE to SQE when a supplier is approved for mass production, including document transfer and pre-production alignment and training of QCs and production staff.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve efficiency of supplier quality engineering and management programs.
• Collaborate with QC/QA to optimize product inspection criteria using lean principles.
• Complete other tasks assigned by supervisor or supplier quality manager. What We're Looking For
• Experience in supplier quality engineering or QA/QC with strong understanding of QMS, CAPA/SCAR, non-conformities and audits.
• Ability to coordinate change requests, master process validation, and mass production transition; cross-functional collaboration.
• Strong communication and problem-solving skills; ability to drive CAPA follow-ups and supplier improvements.
• Lean mindset and experience optimizing inspection criteria and process efficiency.
• Familiarity with QSR and SA audit contexts (social accountability). Nice to Have
• Experience with supplier ratings programs and supplier performance management.
• Experience with LEAN and process validation. Compensation & Benefits
• Health insurance, life and disability, 401(k) contributions, paid time off for employees working 30+ hours/week.
• For roles less than 30 hours/week, benefits include 401(k) contributions as well as access to the Employee Assistance Program, Employee Resource Groups and the Employee Service Corp.