What are the responsibilities and job description for the Cost & Supplier Integration Engineer position at Air Lift Company?
Cost & Supplier Integration Engineer
Air Lift, a third-generation family-owned company, was founded in 1949 in Lansing, Michigan. Air Lift supplies the automotive aftermarket with load assist products and performance suspensions for show and track. Our goal is to consistently provide products and services that meet and exceed customers’ requirements and expectations. We do this by recruiting top talent and retaining them through our commitment to professional development and preservation of our culture.
Job Description Summary
This role will serve as the primary interface between Engineering and Purchasing for value analysis and value engineering initiatives. This role ensures that engineering intent, cost-reduction concepts, and design changes are commercially sound, supplier-feasible, and effectively executed.
Translates engineering ideas into actionable sourcing and supplier strategies, while bringing supplier capabilities, cost drivers, manufacturing realities, and total cost considerations into engineering discussions. The role exists to ensure alignment between design decisions and purchasing strategy, and to drive measurable, sustainable cost improvements.
This role goes beyond traditional sourcing by combining engineering-driven value analysis with deep supplier engagement. The position ensures that products are designed and sourced at the lowest total cost, without sacrificing performance, quality, or supply continuity.
Essential results-based duties
- Act as the primary integrator between Engineering, Purchasing, and Suppliers for all VA/VE initiatives.
- Drive early involvement in product design to ensure cost, manufacturability, and supplier capabilities are embedded upfront, not addressed after design release.
- Partner with Engineering to challenge designs that introduce unnecessary complexity, over-specification, or cost.
- Work directly with suppliers and engineering teams to co-develop products and components, ensuring alignment on design intent, manufacturability, and cost targets.
- Leverage supplier expertise to introduce alternative materials, processes, and design simplifications that reduce cost while maintaining performance.
- Evaluate all VA/VE initiatives through a total cost of ownership (TCO) lens, including piece price, tooling, capital investment, freight, duties, lead time, risk, inventory, and lifecycle cost.
- Lead detailed cost breakdown analysis with suppliers to identify, challenge, and eliminate cost drivers at the component and system level.
- Identify and drive practical, day-to-day cost reduction opportunities through process simplification, cycle time reduction, and elimination of non-value-added activities.
- Spend time on the shop floor and with suppliers to observe real operations, identify inefficiencies, and streamline workflows that reduce cost without impacting quality or delivery.
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in engineering, or a related field is preferred; however, equivalent practical experience in manufacturing, sourcing, and cost analysis will be considered in lieu of a formal degree.
- 5 years of buying or sourcing experience in a manufacturing environment.
- Strong understanding of manufacturing processes, materials, and total cost of ownership.
- Demonstrated experience evaluating supplier pricing beyond piece price.
- Ability to interpret engineering drawings and specifications.
- Knowledge of APQP, PPAP, and supplier quality processes.
- Experience working with domestic and international suppliers.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Exposure to manufacturing processes and materials including metals, rubber, injection molding, machining, and castings.
- Experience acting as a liaison between Engineering and Supply Chain.
- Prior involvement in VA/VE or cost-reduction initiatives.
- Ability to read mechanical blueprints.
- ISO auditor training/Lean concepts.
- Knowledge of CE and TUV requirements.
- Negotiation of long- and short-term contracts.