Job Information
Philips Global Supplier Audit Manager in Suzhou, China
Key Responsibilities
Leadership & Team Management
Lead, mentor, and develop a global team of Lead Auditors responsible for executing recurring supplier surveillance audits.
Manage a supplemental team of contract auditors to ensure adequate global capacity and coverage.
Ensure auditor qualifications are maintained and verified, including ISO 13485/ISO 9001 (and/or applicable regulations) lead auditor credentials, audit experience requirements, and ongoing training needs.
Establish clear expectations, accountability, and performance measurement for the audit team.
Ownership of Audit Procedures
Serve as global Process Owner for supplier audit procedures, including authoring, maintaining, updating, and harmonizing audit SOPs across all regions.
Drive standardization and compliance of audit processes across business units, aligned with quality governance and CoE process design principles.
Identify, scope, and implement efficiency improvements in audit workflows, tooling, checklists, data accuracy, and reporting.
Partner with tool owners to ensure audit systems include correct criteria validation, qualification checks, and automated compliance monitoring.
Global Audit Schedule Ownership
Own and manage the global sustaining supplier audit schedule , ensuring all risk‑based surveillance audits are planned and executed across all regions.
Maintain compliance with audit frequencies determined by supplier risk level and regulatory expectations (e.g., MDR, MDSAP, 21 CFR 820).
Ensure timely scheduling and coordination between Lead Auditors, business unit segments, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.
Monitor adherence to the schedule and escalate risks related to overdue or delayed audits.
Oversight of Audit Execution Quality
Ensure that all sustaining audits follow approved procedures, standardized methods, and correct audit criteria.
Oversee audit planning quality, including scope selection, criteria alignment, and auditor qualification verification.
Review audit outcomes, verify process effectiveness, and ensure consistent report quality and closure of findings.
Ensure surveillance audits meet internal and regulatory compliance requirements and support regulatory inspection readiness.
Cross‑Functional & Executive Collaboration
Work closely with Supplier Quality Engineering, Procurement, Quality Operations, Engineering, and Business Unit leadership to align audit priorities and escalate significant findings or systemic supplier risks.
Support organizational change initiatives and CoE deployment strategies related to audit and ASL management.
Represent the audit function in cross‑functional forums, audits, and leadership reviews.
Program Governance & Continuous Improvement
Develop dashboards, KPIs, and governance metrics for audit execution, findings, cycle time, audit backlog, and closeout performance.
Identify systemic gaps, inefficiencies, and automation opportunities, including AI or tool-supported enhancements where appropriate.
Ensure consistent and accurate documentation in audit management systems globally.
Minimum required Education:
Bachelor's/ Master's Degree in Engineering Science, Supply Chain Management, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering or equivalent.
Minimum required Experience:
Minimum 10 years of experience with Bachelor's OR Minimum 7 years of experience with Master's in areas such as Quality Engineering, Safety Engineering, Process Engineering, Continuous Improvement Techniques or equivalent.
Required
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Quality, Life Sciences, or related field.
Proven experience in supplier quality, auditing, or medical device QMS (ISO 13485).
Lead Auditor certification (ISO 13485/ISO 9001 or equivalent).
Experience managing teams, ideally in a global or matrixed environment.
Strong understanding of global regulatory requirements (MDR, MDSAP, FDA QSR).
Preferred
Experience leading process ownership or continuous improvement initiatives.
Familiarity with supplier risk management and surveillance audit programs.
Experience with audit management tools such as Archer or equivalent.
Prior leadership of contract auditor networks or external audit resources.
Key Competencies
Strategic leadership & global mindset
Strong communication and influencing skills
Process ownership and continuous improvement capability
Ability to manage complexity across regions, time zones, and diverse stakeholders
High level of organization, accountability, and decision‑making judgment
How we work together
We believe that we are better together than apart. For our office-based teams, this means working in-person at least 3 days per week.
Onsite roles require full-time presence in the company’s facilities.
Field roles are most effectively done outside of the company’s main facilities, generally at the customers’ or suppliers’ locations.
Indicate if this role is an office/field/onsite role.
About Philips
We are a health technology company. We built our entire company around the belief that every human matters, and we won't stop until everybody everywhere has access to the quality healthcare that we all deserve. Do the work of your life to help the lives of others.
Learn more about our business.
Discover our rich and exciting history.
Learn more about our purpose.
If you’re interested in this role and have many, but not all, of the experiences needed, we encourage you to apply. You may still be the right candidate for this or other opportunities at Philips. Learn more about our culture of impact with care here.