Global Supplier Quality Manager at Itron in West Union, SC

Job description

Itron is innovating new ways for utilities and cities to manage energy and water. We create a more resourceful world to protect essential resources for today and tomorrow. Join us. The Global Supplier Quality Manager is responsible for leading and executing the organization's global supplier quality strategy to ensure suppliers consistently deliver products and services that meet quality, reliability, regulatory, and customer requirements. This role serves as a critical bridge between Supply Chain, Engineering, Manufacturing, Procurement, and strategic suppliers, driving a culture of continuous improvement, risk mitigation, and operational excellence across the global supply base. This candidate will be based at our West Union, SC manufacturing facility. The successful candidate will champion customer-centric quality standards, develop strong supplier partnerships, and lead initiatives that improve supplier performance, product quality, delivery reliability, and overall business outcomes. This position requires an authentic, accountable, agile, collaborative, and innovative leader who can influence stakeholders globally while supporting the company's growth and commitment to delivering technology solutions within the Utilities & Energy sector. Duties & Responsibilities Lead the global supplier quality strategy to ensure suppliers consistently meet quality, reliability, regulatory, and customer requirements across all regions. Develop, implement, and maintain supplier quality management processes, standards, and performance metrics that support a customer-centric culture and operational excellence. Build collaborative partnerships with suppliers to drive continuous improvement initiatives, defect reduction, process capability improvements, and cost-of-quality reductions. Establish supplier qualification, onboarding, auditing, and performance management programs for new and existing suppliers. Lead supplier quality audits, assessments, and corrective action activities using structured problem-solving methodologies such as 8D, Root Cause Analysis, CAPA, and FMEA. Monitor supplier quality performance through KPIs, scorecards, and data analytics, ensuring accountability for quality, delivery, and compliance expectations. Partner with Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Customer Success teams to resolve supplier-related quality issues and mitigate business risks. Support new product introduction (NPI) programs by ensuring supply base readiness, qualification requirements, validation activities, and production launch quality standards are achieved. Drive containment, corrective, and preventive actions for supplier nonconformances while ensuring timely resolution and sustainable improvements. Ensure compliance with applicable regulatory, industry, customer, and company requirements, including ISO 9001 and other relevant quality management standards. Lead global supplier quality reviews, executive reporting, and risk assessments to proactively identify and address emerging supplier risks. Foster an authentic, accountable, agile, collaborative, and innovative culture within supplier quality operations and across cross-functional teams. Serve as a subject matter expert for supplier quality systems, processes, and industry best practices in the Utilities & Energy technology sector. Mentor and develop supplier quality engineers and quality professionals, driving capability growth and succession planning across global teams. Required Skills & Experience Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Quality Management, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, or a related technical discipline. 8+ years of progressive experience in Supplier Quality, Quality Assurance, Manufacturing Quality, or a related field. 3+ years of leadership experience managing supplier quality teams, global suppliers, or cross-functional quality initiatives. Strong knowledge of quality systems, supplier development methodologies, and continuous improvement