Director of Production

What You’ll Do:

Take aircraft from low-rate builds to repeatable, scalable production

Stand up manufacturing systems that actually run under real conditions

Build, staff, and lead production, manufacturing engineering, and quality as one organization, including hiring, development, and the management layer beneath you

Own headcount planning and budget for the production function

Work side-by-side with engineering to close the gap between design and build

Drive daily execution on the floor. Identify what's breaking and fix it fast

Own throughput, yield, cost, and schedule. Be accountable when they miss

Build supply chain that can support aggressive production targets, not just prototypes

Reduce BOM cost without compromising reliability

Establish a production cadence that increases speed without losing control

Ensure compliance with ITAR, safety, and quality requirements without slowing the team down

Represent production on the leadership team and in board, customer, and investor conversations

What You’ll Bring:

You have personally led a production ramp for a complex hardware system

You have built and led production organizations, including hiring and developing managers, not just engineers

You have owned a function's headcount and budget and made the tradeoffs that come with it

You have built manufacturing processes that were used daily, not just designed on paper

You have been accountable for output. Throughput, yield, cost, and delivery

You have worked in environments where things were unclear and still moved them forward

You are comfortable on the floor, in the build, and in the details when needed

You can push engineering, supply chain, and operations to align and deliver

You know how to move fast without letting quality collapse

Bonus Points:

Built a factory or production line from scratch

Experience in regulated environments (FAA, DoD, etc.)

Deep experience with DFM, yield improvement, and reliability in the field

You thrive in ambiguity and love solving problems no one has solved before

Want to join our mission? Apply to learn more!

Due to U.S. government contract requirements, this role is limited to U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, or candidates from specific countries authorized under applicable export control regulations.

Skyways is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, protected veteran status or any other factor protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.