Job Title
Series SQD Principal Engineer
Ref #
58892
Date posted
Thursday, March 19, 2026
Country
United Kingdom
Location
Woking
Business area
SQD
Department
Supplier Quality Assurance
Position level
5 - Supervisory / Professional​ - (L-17)
Working time
Full Time
Contract type
Fixed Term Contract
Duration
24 month FTC
Working pattern
9am - 6pm Monday to Friday
What to Expect
We are recruiting for a Series SQD Principal Engineer to be based in Woking

You will be part of the Series Vehicle Line team within the Supplier Quality and Development department, work related experience with automotive systems, manufacturing processes and quality control is a must. Any previous practical application in a quality or manufacturing engineering environment is essential.
This role is based primarily at the McLaren Production Centre, where you will be assigned a deck of suppliers and be expected to collaboratively work with them to assure McLaren Quality requirements are met.
Support the technical team with effective design of experiments to find the real root cause of the issues that arise on a day-to-day basis. Establish and maintain control of the supply base supporting all change management, part quality and concern resolution to support McLaren’s business objectives.  
Develop strategic supply base improvement initiatives, that underpin the McLaren continuous improvement ethos. 
What You'll Do
  • Liaise with Supplier Management Team and lead on-site MAL response to “emergency” issues (fires, disasters, insolvency, etc.)
  • ·Support the Senior Manager on the department quality strategies to support McLaren’s long-term deliverables, consolidating the supplier performance metrics and liaising with other departments to support procurement strategies.
  • Coordinate Supplier Escalation Process / actions (Level-3 / Executive escalations)
  • Validate project charters, measurement plans, data integrity, and final project savings for business impact.
  • Represent the department on all quality concern forum related to all Series and Legacy programs.
  • Technical lead responsible for the concern resolution process. Act as a mentor to the engineering team and process owner, auditing the engineering team and using the six sigma tools to foster process continuous improvement internally and externally.
  • Competent at conflict resolution and relationship management, supporting whenever required to achieve McLaren business objectives.
  • Manage supplier part concession requests to ensure every known issue is planned and its intrinsic risks mitigated to support production plans, act as an initial escalation point to engage other required departments on concession analysis and approval.
  • Production Sustaining through effective design of experiment creation and root cause analysis of day-to-day supplier quality concerns.
  • Manage the Cost of Non-Quality associated with confirmed supplier quality concerns.
  • Manage SVL readiness risk on change management process and report status to the management team for PPAP delivery forecast / actual confirmation.
  • Drive and integrate supplier improvement outputs into future sourcing decisions and lessons learned documents for future Industrialization. 
What You'll Bring
Business Knowledge 
  • Understanding of supply chain and value stream map. 
  • Knowledgeable on automotive OEM manufacturing processes, specially within McLaren Production Centre.
  • Ability to interrogate control plans and evaluate supplier’s ability to deliver quality, on time to meet company production needs. 
  • Must be capable of planning manufacture of their components at the supplier from goods-in to goods-out, if required.
  • Capable of carrying out effective scenario planning to establish potential mitigation actions, if required.
  • Understanding of Total Quality Management and cost of non-quality management.
Essential Functional / Technical Skills 
  • Technical Engineering qualified to Degree standard; Master preferred.
  • Six Sigma certified to green belt; black belt preferred.
  • Demonstrate leadership competence and ability to motivate the team.
  • Must have previous a minimum of 10 years’ experience in quality, manufacturing or similar in a production environment.
  • Literate in Quality Core tools: Control Plan, PPAP, MSA, FMEA, SPC, APQP.
  • Knowledgeable of DMAIC tools application: VSM, Pareto and Measles Chart, RCA, Design of Experiment, Poka-Yoke.
  • Expert on Problem Solving (8D) technique.
  • Practical use of Microsoft Office and Office 365 apps, SAP, CATIA and Minitab.
  • High literacy of GD&T and tooling concept.
Personal Attributes
  • Highly motivated, team player who can lead by example and act with integrity.
  • Good communication and presentation skills, able to report and interact with senior management and comfortable to elaborate and present technical presentations at both McLaren and externally.
  • Well organised and delivery focused, with a demonstrable track record of on-time delivery in a high-pressure environment.
  • Self-sufficient with ability to prioritise workload and request help when appropriate.
  • Flexibility in terms work patterns and travel, including short notice travel up to 30%.
  • No hybrid working allowed.
  • Capable of representing a world class automotive brand. 
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.