Responsibilities
- Lead, grow, and resource a team of skilled opto-mechanical and electrical manufacturing technicians; design and maintain advanced training programs to accelerate technical development, career growth, and optical alignment capacity.
- Coach and partner with Production Support Engineers to rapidly resolve non-conformances and provide real-time build support during late-stage NPI and production runs.
- Own production execution and customer deliveries, continuously optimizing short- and long-term build plans.
- Dynamically re-factor schedules and re-allocate labor in real-time, effectively absorbing change in the manufacturing environment similar to late stage NPI programs.
- Partner with Supply Chain Management (SCM) to align on component lead times, critical-path bottlenecks, and material readiness, helping mitigate supply chain delays and material shortages in production.
- Optimize the physical manufacturing floor layout and point-of-use inventory strategies in partnership with the Inventory and Logistics team to maximize throughput and minimize waste.
- Design, implement, and maintain advanced training programs for technicians with the goal of improving quality, and partnering with Manufacturing and Test Engineering to develop optical alignment capacity.
- Participate in NPI Programs as a Production representative, partnering with leadership to allocate resources for NPI builds as capacity allows.
- Collaborate with leadership, owning team resource planning, which includes filling open roles and forecasting future staffing needs.
- Develop and improve production processes, including refining 5S and LEAN principles, collaborating with Manufacturing and Quality Engineering to formalize and sustain established workflows.
- Effectively communicate priorities, production progress, risks, and resource needs to senior leadership while facilitating cross-functional alignment.
- Maintain and improve current production management systems while helping define the future roadmap for scalable shop-floor tracking and digital tools.
- Partner with Quality Management to analyze yield data, identify throughput trends, root-cause failures, and leverage data to implement corrective actions (CAPA).
- Serve as a champion for cleanroom protocols (ISO standards), laser safety compliance, and the specialized handling of sensitive components.
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience managing production/manufacturing operations in a high-mix, low-volume environment (e.g., aerospace, defense, medical devices, semiconductor, or advanced scientific instrumentation).
- Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Engineering Management, or a related technical discipline.
- An equivalent of an alternate degree coupled with hands-on leadership experience in an advanced technology hardware manufacturing environment (aerospace, semiconductor, medical devices) will also be considered.
- Demonstrated track record of effective people leadership, with a focus on talent development, employee upskilling, and performance management.
- Proven track record of managing highly dynamic build plans where changing variables require rapid, flexible pivot planning.
- Strong experience driving operational maturity by establishing standardized practices from legacy or uncodified processes.
- High-level understanding of complex electromechanical and optomechanical assemblies to accurately gauge build complexities and resource constraints.
- Strong proficiency using ERP tools like NetSuite, project management software (like Jira), collaborative spreadsheets, and basic data visualization tools like Power BI to track progress and schedules.
Nice to Have
- Experience implementing, migrating, or heavily configuring a formal Manufacturing Execution System (MES) or expanding modern ERP features on a shop floor.
- Experience scaling teams of 10-15 to XX – optimizing organizational structures, including implementing shift coverage, expanding leadership tiers, and architecting specialized technical teams to maximize performance.
- Experience working directly within cleanrooms (ISO classes) and managing laser safety protocols.
- Background in specialized component handling (e.g., fiber optics, ultra-high vacuum/UHV systems).
- Lean Manufacturing or Six Sigma certification with a focus on value stream mapping and bottleneck elimination.
Work Arrangement
Remote (City/Region) — College Park, Maryland, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Washington, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, United Kingdom
Additional Information
- Must serve as a champion for cleanroom protocols (ISO standards), laser safety compliance, and the specialized handling of sensitive components.
