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Helion is a fusion power company on a mission to build the world's first commercial fusion power plant. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Everett, WA, the company has raised $1.5 billion from leading investors including Sam Altman, SoftBank, and Thrive Capital. Their prototype Polaris has achieved record-breaking plasma temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius, and they are advancing toward their commercial plant, Orion.
As Senior Supplier Development Engineer, you will be critical to scaling Helion's manufacturing from rapid prototyping to high-volume production of fusion generators. You will work directly with external suppliers to ensure they can manufacture parts to exacting specifications while building robust quality systems.
Key responsibilities include:
- Collaborate with design engineers to understand part, assembly, and subsystem design intent and manufacturing requirements
- Assess suppliers' manufacturing processes and quality systems to qualify parts for production
- Define technical and quality specifications aligned with engineering and program needs
- Implement and monitor the production part approval process (PPAP) with suppliers to enable rate production
- Develop and approve process controls for critical characteristics
- Analyze supplier quality and delivery metrics to identify trends and performance gaps
- Coordinate between suppliers, engineers, procurement, and production to resolve quality issues
- Guide supplier corrective actions for escapes or containments
- Recommend technical improvements to reduce risk and defect opportunities
- Help build Helion's supplier quality program and team
- Support receiving inspection and quality standards development
- Travel up to 50% to supplier facilities
You will need 8+ years of engineering, manufacturing, or supply chain experience in mechanical or electrical systems; a bachelor's degree in engineering or related field; hands-on experience managing external suppliers; knowledge of PPAP, APQP, and first article inspection; familiarity with statistical methods (DOE, Six Sigma); and ISO 9000/TS quality systems experience.
