Samtec, Inc Careers

Description

Job title: Sr. QUALITY ENGINEER 

Summary/Objective: The Sr. Quality Engineer owns product, process, supplier, reliability, and customer quality for Samtec optical products, namely on-board optical engines and modules such as the FireFly™ family, in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based multimode and silicon photonics (SiPh) variants and including optical PCI Express, and pluggable optical transceivers built with original design manufacturer (ODM) partners. The role establishes quality plans and controls for products built at Samtec manufacturing sites and at original design manufacturer / contract manufacturer (ODM/CM) partners, manages partner and supplier quality, plans product qualification and reliability validation, and drives root cause analysis and corrective action. It requires strong system-level understanding of optical module architecture and manufacturing processes to identify critical quality risks and ensure stable product performance, yield, and reliability.

Essential Functions/ Responsibilities: 

1. Establish and maintain quality plans, design failure mode and effects analysis (DFMEA), process failure mode and effects analysis (PFMEA), control plans, critical-to-quality characteristics (CTQs), inspection requirements, sampling plans, reaction plans, and traceability requirements, aligned to Samtec's optics new product development (NPD) phase-gate deliverables: bill of materials (BOM), process flow, control plan, qualification report, and release package.

2. Identify critical process parameters and quality risks across the module flow — printed circuit board (PCB) and surface-mount technology (SMT) assembly, die attach, wire bonding, optical engine assembly, active/passive alignment, fiber attach, adhesive cure, mechanical assembly, firmware programming, calibration, final test, burn-in, and reliability screening — and how component, material, equipment, process, optical, electrical, thermal, and mechanical variation affects performance, yield, and reliability.

3. Manage ODM/CM partner quality: qualify partner processes and quality systems, audit, review partner control plans, statistical process control (SPC), and outgoing quality data, and drive partner corrective actions.

4. Manage incoming, in-process, outgoing, and customer quality; monitor yield, defective parts per million (DPPM), SPC, Cpk/Ppk, defect trends, and process capability.

5. Plan, review, and execute measurement system analysis and gauge repeatability and reproducibility (MSA/GR&R) and measurement system validation for optical, electrical, mechanical, and process measurements, with the hardware (HW) and optoelectronic (OE) test engineers.

6. Plan and manage product qualification and reliability validation per Telcordia GR-468-CORE, IEC, JEDEC, MIL-STD, industry multi-source agreements, and customer requirements; own the qualification report.

7. Lead containment, root cause analysis, eight disciplines (8D) problem solving, corrective and preventive action (CAPA), customer complaint and return material authorization (RMA) handling, and recurrence prevention.

8. Integrate component, material, manufacturing, product, reliability, and test data in failure analysis and separate design, material, process, test, and application causes.

9. Conduct supplier quality activities: supplier and process audits, supplier corrective action request (SCAR), change control, process capability review, second-source qualification, and corrective action follow-up.

10. Work cross-functionally with product engineering, HW and OE test, research and development (R&D), manufacturing, process engineering, suppliers, ODM/CM partners, and customers to resolve quality issues.

11. Verify corrective action effectiveness and drive continuous improvement in product quality, process stability, reliability, DPPM, scrap, and rework.

12. Participate in reviewing and responding to suppliers' specification responses, waiver/deviation requests, test reports, root cause analysis (RCA) reports, process change notifications (PCNs), and related technical/quality documents from a quality and compliance perspective.

13. Review and respond to suppliers' compliance documents and perform line audits at suppliers' manufacturing sites.

“The responsibilities as defined are intended to serve as a general guideline for this position. Associates may be asked to perform additional tasks depending on strengths and capabilities.” 

Experience / Qualifications (Ideal Candidate Profile): 

These qualifications describe the ideal candidate profile; candidates with a strong partial match may also be considered during initial screening. 

1. Bachelor's degree or above in Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Optoelectronics, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Quality Engineering, or a related technical discipline.

2. Ideally, 5+ years of quality engineering experience (product, process, supplier, or customer quality) in optical transceiver, optoelectronics, semiconductor, photonics, or other high-technology manufacturing.

3. A strong understanding of product and manufacturing process integration and the relationship among process variation, product performance, yield, and reliability is preferred.

4. Working knowledge of optical module components and subsystems: lasers, photodiodes (PDs), transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs), drivers, digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), power integrated circuits (ICs), photonic integrated circuits (PICs), optical engines, mechanical/thermal structures, and module test.

5. Strong working knowledge of DFMEA/PFMEA, control plans, SPC, Cpk/Ppk, MSA/GR&R, 8D, 5 Why, fishbone, fault tree analysis (FTA), design of experiments (DOE), and root cause analysis is preferred.

6. Experience with supplier quality, process quality, customer quality, failure analysis, and corrective action systems.

7. Ability to analyze technical data and distinguish design, component, material, manufacturing process, test, and application-related failures; good written and verbal English communication skills.

Preferred Experience / Desired Skills: 

1. Experience with 400G, 800G, or 1.6T optical transceiver or optical engine manufacturing and qualification, including VCSEL-based multimode and SiPh products.

2. Knowledge of Telcordia GR-468-CORE, IEC 61300 series, JEDEC, MIL-STD-883, IEEE 802.3 and industry multi-source agreements, and customer-specific reliability and quality requirements.

3. Experience with optical assembly processes: die attach, wire bonding, active alignment, fiber attach, adhesive cure, calibration, final test, and burn-in.

4. Experience with supplier and ODM audits, SCAR, second-source qualification, change control, and ODM/CM quality management; experience with ISO 9001, IATF 16949, or AS9100 quality systems.

5. Knowledge of failure analysis methods: X-ray, microscopy, cross-section, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), time-domain reflectometry (TDR), and electrical and optical characterization.

6. Strong analytical, organizational, communication, presentation, and cross-functional leadership skills; able to work with teams in Taiwan, the United States, and partner sites.

7. Ability and willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed.

Training required 

1. On-the-job training as appropriate.

2. Product-, process-, test-, quality-, and safety-specific training as required by assigned responsibilities.

SAMTEC, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer and committed to creating a diverse environment. All employment decisions at Samtec are based in business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, pregnancy or parental status, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender and/or gender identity/expression, marital status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable laws. Privacy Policy: https://www.samtec.com/about/legal/#privacyrightspage