Job Description:
Department: Global Quality / Supplier Quality
Reports to: Senior Director, Supplier Quality
Location: Nashville, TN | Travel required
Employment Type: Full-time | Exempt
Level: Senior individual contributor / technical lead
Primary Scope: Inverters, battery energy storage systems, power electronics, controls, and related supplier-manufactured assemblies
Position Overview
Nextpower is seeking a technically strong Senior Supplier Quality Engineer to lead supplier quality performance for inverter and battery technologies supporting our utility-scale solar tracking and energy infrastructure product portfolio. This role will own quality execution across supplier selection, design transfer, qualification, production ramp, sustaining operations, and field performance.
The successful candidate will operate at the intersection of power electronics, energy storage, manufacturing, reliability, and commercial execution. They will prevent escapes before they become warranty events, build supplier capability rather than simply inspect supplier output, and drive fact-based corrective action when performance misses the mark.
Why This Role Matters
Inverters and battery systems are safety-, reliability-, and performance-critical assets. Supplier quality directly affects availability, commissioning, warranty cost, customer confidence, and project margins.
Nextpower is scaling a complex product ecosystem. The role establishes repeatable quality controls across suppliers, factories, contract manufacturers, and project sites.
This position provides technical leadership without waiting for organizational permission. It is expected to identify risk early, create alignment quickly, and close the loop from supplier process to field outcome.
Key Responsibilities
Supplier Quality Strategy and Ownership
Own supplier quality strategy and performance for assigned inverter, battery, power conversion, and related electrical/electronic commodities.
Segment suppliers by technology, risk, volume, and business impact; establish surveillance, audit, inspection, and improvement plans.
Serve as the primary quality interface to strategic suppliers, contract manufacturers, internal engineering, operations, sourcing, and project teams.
Define supplier quality objectives, scorecards, escalation criteria, and executive-level reporting.
New Product Introduction and Qualification
Lead supplier quality deliverables through APQP, PPAP, design transfer, pilot builds, production readiness, and ramp-up.
Review and approve process flows, PFMEAs, control plans, inspection plans, work instructions, test methods, and reaction plans.
Translate product requirements into CTQs, special characteristics, acceptance criteria, and traceability requirements.
Plan supplier qualification, process audits, run-at-rate, first article inspection, validation builds, reliability testing, and capability studies.
Inverter and Battery Technical Quality
Evaluate manufacturing and test processes for inverter assemblies, battery modules and packs, BMS hardware, power electronics, thermal management, enclosures, harnesses, busbars, sensors, and controls.
Assess electrical safety, insulation resistance, dielectric withstand, grounding, creepage and clearance, thermal performance, EMC/EMI, vibration, ingress protection, and battery abuse risks.
Review validation evidence for capacity, performance, reliability, environmental durability, and end-of-line test coverage.
Ensure traceability at unit, lot, serial number, and component level as needed for warranty, regulatory, and field-failure investigation.
Quality Performance and Corrective Action
Lead supplier NCR, SCAR, 8D, and root-cause activities, with disciplined containment and verified effectiveness.
Drive measurable improvement in DPPM, first-pass yield, PPAP timing, NCR cycle time, supplier escapes, field failures, and cost of poor quality.
Use 8D, DMAIC, fault tree analysis, DOE, SPC, and other structured problem-solving…