Supplier Quality Engineer

Position Summary

Lumentum is seeking a Principal Supplier Quality Engineer (SQE) to drive supplier quality excellence for semiconductor commodities supporting next-generation AI clusters, hyperscale cloud data centers, coherent optical communications, silicon photonics, and advanced photonic technologies.

As the SQE for Semiconductor Commodities, you will partner closely with Design Authority, Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Commodity Management, Reliability Engineering, and strategic suppliers to ensure supplier capability, manufacturing readiness, product quality and process stability throughout the complete product lifecycle—from technology development and supplier selection through New Product Introduction (NPI), production ramping up, and sustaining manufacturing.

This role is ideal for a technically strong engineer with expertise in semiconductor manufacturing, advanced packaging technologies, and supplier development. Success requires the ability to influence technical decisions across global organizations while developing supplier capabilities that enable innovation, manufacturing scalability, and world-class product quality.

Key Responsibilities

Product & Business Ownership

• Serve as the Supplier Quality Engineer for Lumentum's Semiconductor Commodity portfolio.
• Own the supplier quality strategy supporting semiconductor technology roadmaps across multiple Business Units.
• Provide supplier quality leadership throughout the complete product lifecycle, from technology development through sustaining production.
• Partner with Design Authority, Product Engineering and Commodity Management to influence supplier selection, manufacturing strategy, technology roadmaps, and supplier capability development.
• Support multiple concurrent NPI programs while balancing business priorities, supplier readiness, manufacturing capacity, and technology maturity.

Supplier Quality & Supplier Development

• Lead supplier qualification, manufacturing capability assessments, process audits, and supplier process readiness evaluations for strategic semiconductor suppliers.
• Evaluate supplier manufacturing maturity, process capability, and operational excellence across wafer fabrication, assembly, packaging, and test operations.
• Develop supplier improvement roadmaps focused on quality, yield, process capability and stability, manufacturing robustness, and operational excellence.
• Identify supplier risks and develop mitigation strategies supporting business continuity, supply resiliency, and product quality.
• Drive Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives with strategic suppliers.

New Product Introduction (NPI)

• Partner with Design Authority, Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Program Management to ensure supplier readiness for new product introductions.
• Participate in Design Reviews, Design for Manufacturability (DFM), and Design for Excellence (DFX) activities with Engineering teams and suppliers.
• Lead supplier process qualification, First Article Inspection (FAI), process validation, and production readiness activities.
• Support production ramping, foundry transfers, manufacturing transfers, localization initiatives, supplier capacity expansion, tool qualification, and dual-source qualification projects.
• Ensure suppliers consistently meet quality, reliability, manufacturability, and delivery requirements prior to production release.

Engineering & Technical Leadership

• Act as the primary technical quality interface between Lumentum and strategic semiconductor suppliers.
• Influence engineering and supplier decisions without direct authority through technical expertise and data-driven decision making.
• Lead supplier technical reviews, quality reviews, executive escalations, and corrective action activities.
• Drive supplier capability development across advanced semiconductor manufacturing technologies, wafer fabrication processes, assembly, packaging, and automated manufacturing systems.
• Support Engineering organizations with supplier manufacturing expertise during technology development, process qualification, product industrialization, and technology transfers.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Design Authority, Product Engineering, Commodity Management, Manufacturing Engineering, Reliability Engineering, Operations, Program Management, and Customer Quality.
• Support supplier changes, value engineering initiatives, localization programs, manufacturing optimization, and cost reduction projects.
• Utilize supplier quality metrics, statistical analysis, SPC, and manufacturing data to improve supplier capability and product quality.
• Drive proactive supplier risk management, manufacturing readiness, and long-term supplier development throughout the product lifecycle.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Semiconductor Engineering, Physics, Chemical Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in Supplier Quality Engineering, Manufacturing Quality, Product Quality, Process Engineering, or Quality Engineering within a high-technology semiconductor manufacturing environment.
• Technical understanding of semiconductor manufacturing technologies, including wafer fabrication, epitaxial growth, lithography, thin-film deposition, etch, CMP, bumping, wafer probing, singulation, assembly, packaging, and final test.
• Experience with compound semiconductor or photonic technologies such as InP, GaAs, Silicon Photonics, CMOS, SOI, or advanced semiconductor packaging.
• Experience supporting supplier qualification, process validation, New Product Introduction (NPI), foundry qualification, m