Full-Time

Director of Manufacturing Operations

Updated on 8/1/2026

NOX METALS

NOX METALS

Automates custom-cut metal sourcing with software

No salary listed

Detroit, MI, USA

In Person

Category
Operations & Logistics (1)
Required Skills
Incident Response
Supply Chain Management
Six Sigma
Machine Learning
Data Analysis

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Requirements
  • At least 4 to 5 years of experience running an entire factory or major production operation is required.
  • Experience in metals, machining, computer numerical control, sawing, or comparable precision manufacturing environments is required.
  • Ability to lift up to 50 pounds and operate heavy equipment while standing for a full shift is required.
  • Ability to work outside normal hours when needed is required.
Responsibilities
  • Own end-to-end manufacturing operations across day, evening, night, and weekend shifts.
  • Run a 24/7 factory with clear standards and accountability.
  • Manage all shift leads and operators, set the standard, and hold the team accountable.
  • Own production throughput, on-time delivery, quality, scrap rate, and safety performance.
  • Drive operational metrics and make them visible across the company every day.
  • Walk the factory floor every day and maintain a hands-on operational presence.
  • Run daily production meetings, shift handoffs, and weekly operational reviews.
  • Build and enforce standard operating procedures, work instructions, safety protocols, and quality procedures.
  • Own factory layout, capacity planning, and equipment utilization across every machine and cell.
  • Partner with engineering and software teams to deploy automation, artificial intelligence tools, and process improvements on the production floor.
  • Own DFARS, AMS, ASTM, and customer-specific quality compliance, including certifications and shipments.
  • Lead incident response and root cause analysis, and implement corrective actions.
  • Build the team, hire shift leads and operators, develop them, hold them accountable, and support their advancement.
  • Continuously improve processes, machines, and operational efficiency.
  • Work safely every shift and hold the entire factory to the same safety standard.
Desired Qualifications
  • Military, defense manufacturing, aerospace, or high-output industrial leadership background is strongly preferred.
  • Military service, especially in logistics, ordnance, or operational leadership roles, is preferred.
  • Experience in metals, aluminum, or aerospace/defense supply chains is preferred.
  • Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable operational excellence credentials are preferred.
  • A track record of building factory automation or deploying machine learning or artificial intelligence on the production floor is preferred.
  • Forklift and/or overhead crane certification is preferred.
  • Comfort using artificial intelligence tools to work faster and smarter is preferred.

Nox Metals builds tech-enabled factories to supply custom-cut aluminum blocks for North America’s industrial sector, pairing manufacturing with software that automates quoting, scheduling, and factory operations. Its system handles cut planning, inventory selection, and quality assurance using AI to convert repetitive tasks into rapid automated actions. The company differentiates itself by offering an end-to-end platform that ties metal sourcing, machining-ready cutting, and production management into one workflow, reducing lead times and costs for CNC machining and fabrication. The goal is to scale across the United States, delivering online quotes and turning multi-day delivery timelines into actions that take seconds.

Company Size

N/A

Company Stage

Seed

Total Funding

$11.6M

Headquarters

Detroit, Michigan

Founded

2025

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Simplify Jobs

Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • ISO 9001:2015 certification formalizes quality for aerospace and defense buyers.
  • $11.5M seed funding accelerates scaling of AI-powered metal platform.
  • Next-day delivery outperforms industry standard of 4–5 days.

What critics are saying

  • Legacy service centers undercut Nox by 15–20% on standard plates.
  • AS9100 certification mandated by Q4 2026 blocks $18M+ of defense orders.
  • Section 232 tariffs raise raw material costs by $2.3M annually.

What makes NOX METALS unique

  • AI-driven quoting cuts lead times from days to seconds.
  • Vertically integrated model eliminates brokers and multi-step handoffs.
  • Real-time order tracking ensures predictable delivery from quote to shipment.

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Benefits

Flexible Work Hours

Company News

NOX METALS
Jun 29th, 2026
NOX METALS is now ISO 9001:2015 certified.

NOX METALS is now ISO 9001:2015 certified. By Will Cammell What an independently certified quality management system means for buyers sourcing aluminum plate for aerospace and defense. NOX METALS is now ISO 9001:2015 certified, meeting the international standard for quality management systems. Certification is not a statement about one good order. It is independent confirmation that quality is built into a repeatable system that performs the same way every time. For engineers and buyers sourcing aluminum plate for aircraft, defense systems, and other critical applications, that consistency is the entire point. This article covers what ISO 9001:2015 is, what the certification actually verifies, and why it matters for your procurement. What ISO 9001 is. ISO 9001 is the world's most widely adopted quality management standard, published by the International Organization for Standardization and used by more than a million organizations across roughly 170 countries. It is not a product specification, and it does not certify any individual part. It certifies that an organization runs a documented, repeatable system for producing consistent quality, with the same result on order one and order one thousand. The standard is about the system behind the part, not the part alone. What the 2015 standard requires. The 2015 revision is built on a process approach and on risk-based thinking. Its core requirements include leadership accountability for quality, a clear understanding of customer requirements, control of documented information, identification and traceability of product, control of nonconforming output, and continual improvement driven by corrective action that reaches the root cause. The emphasis is preventive rather than reactive: design quality into every process, and address risks before they become failures. Note ISO 9001 certification is granted by an accredited third-party body, not self-declared. It is maintained through regular surveillance audits and a full recertification every three years, so the system is verified on an ongoing basis, not just once. What certification actually verifies. Certification means an independent auditor examined how the work actually gets done and confirmed the system holds up under scrutiny. At NOX METALS, that means every order is checked against spec before a single cut is made. Every part is traceable to its mill certificate, its heat number, and the operator who ran the job. And when something goes wrong, the process requires finding the root cause and correcting the process itself, so the same problem cannot recur. The discipline lives in the documentation and the follow-through, not in good intentions. Why it matters for aluminum procurement. For a buyer, a certified quality management system is a measurable reduction in risk. It means fewer defects, tighter consistency from lot to lot, and a supplier you can rely on to deliver the same way at any volume. That matters most because of where the metal goes: critical parts in aircraft, defense systems, and the technology that keeps this country strong. In those applications, a single nonconforming plate can cascade into a scrapped part, a blown schedule, or a failed audit. For your parts, a certified QMS means: * Specification verification before production begins * Full traceability across the mill certificate, heat number, and operator * Documented corrective action that fixes the process, not just the symptom * Consistent results across repeat orders, at any quantity * Audit-ready documentation through every step of the supply chain Certification vs an informal quality claim. There is a real difference between a supplier that says it cares about quality and one that operates a certified system proving it. ISO 9001 is also the foundation for AS9100, the aerospace quality management standard, which layers industry-specific requirements on top of the ISO 9001 framework. Many aerospace and defense programs require a certified quality management system as a condition of doing business, and in some cases before a supplier can even quote the job. A certified QMS is what allows a prime contractor to flow its own quality obligations down the supply chain with confidence. ISO 9001:2015 certification formalizes a discipline NOX METALS has operated under from day one. The takeaway is simple: a certified quality management system turns quality from a promise into a process, with specifications verified before production, full traceability on every part, and root-cause correction when something goes wrong. NOX METALS is now ISO 9001:2015 certified and provides full traceability and certification documentation with every order. This is how Nox Metals reindustrialize America. Get a Quote Ready to order aluminum plate? NOX METALS stocks 6061, 7075, 7050, and 5000 series plate in Detroit, MI. DFARS and domestic-origin available. Quotes in under 60 seconds.

NOX METALS
Jun 14th, 2026
NOX METALS raises an $11.5M Seed round to reindustrialize America.

NOX METALS raises an $11.5M Seed round to reindustrialize America. NOX METALS exists so America can build 100x more factories and technologically abundant industrial capacity in the West. Nox Metals is announcing its $11.5M Seed round led by Hyperion, with participation from Palmer Luckey, Y Combinator, Jared Friedman, RoboStrategy, Operator Collective, DTX, Alumni Ventures, and others. Over the past few decades, America has neglected domestic production. Nox Metals lost its dominating ability to build in the world of atoms while jobs on the factory floor plummeted. It's time to build for America again. As its grandparents once did. Since launching production only 7 months ago, Nox Metals has shipped metal to hundreds of American factories. Countless truckloads to America's industrial base. And Nox Metals is nowhere near slowing down. Its metal has gone to space. It has protected its troops. It is in your car and in the machine that scanned your chest. It is all around Nox Metals. And Nox Metals can't stop supplying at warp speeds. Nox Metals will be revitalizing a WW2-era, 30,000 SQFT factory in Detroit this summer where Nox Metals will have its techno-industrialists working hard to further pursue its mission. Nox Metals will be tripling down on technology, which has allowed Nox Metals to move this fast for America thus far. More code. More machines. More metal. More production. - Zane Hengsperger Join Its Mission Help Nox Metals build for America again. Nox Metals is hiring techno-industrialists to write more code, run more machines, and ship more metal from Detroit.