McLaren Automotive Ltd
Senior SQD Engineer Interiors Automotive
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What to Expect
At McLaren, exceptional vehicles start with exceptional supplier partnerships. As a Senior SQD Engineer (Supplier Quality Development Engineer), you'll play a key role in ensuring our supply base is ready to deliver the quality, capability and performance required for every stage of the vehicle lifecycle.
Reporting to the SQA Manager, you'll lead supplier quality and development activities across your commodity area, supporting new product introduction, industrialisation and series production. Working closely with suppliers and cross-functional teams, you'll help establish robust manufacturing processes, proactively manage risk and drive continuous improvement to ensure successful programme delivery.
Alongside your supplier-facing responsibilities, you'll contribute to the development of the wider SQD function through knowledge sharing, technical support and collaboration, helping McLaren continuously raise the standard of quality across its global supply base.
What You'll Do
- Lead supplier quality activities from sourcing and industrialisation through to launch and series production, ensuring quality, delivery, capacity and performance expectations are achieved across your supplier portfolio.
- Drive APQP, PPAP, manufacturing feasibility and supplier readiness activities, helping suppliers establish robust and capable processes while proactively managing programme risk.
- Partner with Engineering, Purchasing, Manufacturing and Supplier teams to resolve complex quality concerns, lead structured problem-solving activities and deliver sustainable improvements.
- Conduct supplier audits, process verification and capacity assessments to support successful new product introduction and stable series production.
- Develop supplier capability through continuous improvement initiatives, driving best-in-class manufacturing standards and long-term performance improvements.
- Lead departmental improvement activities, using data and KPI performance to identify opportunities, inform decision-making and enhance SQD ways of working.
- Provide clear project status reporting and recommendations to senior stakeholders, ensuring risks, priorities and progress are understood and effectively managed.
- Support and develop the wider SQD team through coaching, technical guidance and leadership support, acting as a trusted point of contact and providing cover during management absence when required.
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What You'll Bring
- Extensive experience in Supplier Quality, Manufacturing Quality or Quality Engineering within a complex automotive or advanced engineering environment, with strong expertise in interior commodities and supplier development.
- Strong working knowledge of APQP, PPAP, manufacturing feasibility, process audits and supplier development methodologies.
- Experience leading supplier quality activities throughout new product introduction, industrialisation and series production.
- Proven capability in structured problem solving, root cause analysis and driving effective corrective actions with suppliers.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, quality systems and supplier capacity planning.
- Experience influencing and leading cross-functional stakeholders across technical and operational functions.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to deliver concise updates and recommendations to senior audiences.
- A collaborative leadership style with a passion for coaching, mentoring and developing others.
- Strong analytical skills and the ability to use data to inform decisions, prioritise actions and manage risk.
- A proactive, resilient mindset and a relentless focus on delivering quality, performance and continuous improvement.
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What We'll Do for You
We offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:
- Structured career development framework
- 25 days’ holiday, plus bank holiday. Annual buy & sell up to five days
- Enhanced company pension scheme
- Discretionary annual bonus award
- Private medical insurance and health cash plan
- Life assurance benefit
- Ability to apply for a sabbatical of up to one year after only two years’ service
- Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
- Generous parental leave policies
- A range of wellbeing initiatives, such as employee assistance programme and free financial & mortgage advice
Who Are We?
No restraints. No limitations. We don’t simply push boundaries. We completely rethink them. McLaren Automotive exists to create breath-taking performance road cars.
It takes a community to do what we do. A diverse group of people with many areas of expertise, united by their passion to deliver visionary products and set new benchmarks.
McLaren Automotive commits to equal opportunity for all. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of our impact, it drives our innovation and enables us to truly create something special. Join us on our journey.
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