Senior Supplier Quality Engineer (Automotive)

Location: Foster City, California, United States. On-site, with up to 40% domestic and international travel, sometimes on short notice.

Company

Zoox develops prototype and production vehicles, including seating and vehicle interior systems.

What you will do

• Partner with Vehicle Interiors Engineering, Design, and Strategic Sourcing to select and develop suppliers.
• Lead supplier industrialization from design through production ramp-up, including soft-to-hard tooling transitions.
• Drive APQP and support PPAP through start of production, covering dimensional, material, appearance, and performance validation.
• Own craftsmanship and appearance quality for occupant-facing surfaces, including trim fit, seams, stitching, color, gloss, and material matching.
• Ensure compliance with seating safety, flammability, durability, and interior material requirements.
• Lead supplier root-cause and corrective-action efforts, monitor quality metrics, and improve yield and first-time-through quality.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, Materials, or a related engineering field.
• 8+ years of experience in quality, supplier quality, or manufacturing, ideally in automotive.
• Direct experience with seating or interior trim commodities and their supply base.
• Hands-on experience launching new products and creating or improving quality systems.
• Experience with injection molding, foam molding, cut-and-sew, lamination and wrapping, stamping, welding, and electromechanical assembly.
• Knowledge of Six Sigma, 8D, Pareto analysis, DOE, fishbone, Is/Is-Not, PFMEA, control plans, SPC, MSA, and process capability studies.

Nice to have

• Experience with seat safety, regulatory requirements, durability testing, and abuse testing.
• Experience with leather, textiles, TPO/PVC skins, foams, adhesives, and material or appearance approval processes.
• Experience evaluating seat comfort and craftsmanship, including CMF alignment with Design.
• Familiarity with seat electronics and mechanisms, tooling and fixture validation, or CQE, ASQ Quality Auditor, and Six Sigma certifications.

Culture & Benefits

• Team-oriented, entrepreneurial, driven, and hands-on working environment.
• Collaboration across engineering, design, sourcing, manufacturing, and quality functions.
• Opportunities to improve supplier quality systems, manufacturing capability, yield, and cycle time.