Directed Energy Materials Planning and Production Control Manager

Worker Type

Regular

Job Description

 

Summary

The Directed Energy Materials Planning and Production Control Manager is responsible for managing the end-to-end flow of materials, resources, production planning, material planning, and manufacturing execution throughout the complete product lifecycle from proof of concept and prototype development through research and development, Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP), and Full-Rate Production (FRP).

This position ensures that material availability, production capacity, planning systems, supplier performance, inventory levels, and manufacturing schedules are aligned with program objectives, engineering requirements, customer commitments, quality standards, and financial targets. The manager partners closely with Engineering, Program Management, Operations, Supply Chain, Quality, Finance, and Manufacturing to establish scalable processes that support product maturity and successful transition into production.

Position Responsibilities

Product Lifecycle and Program Support

• Establish materials and production control strategies appropriate for each phase of the product lifecycle:
  • Proof of concept
  • Prototype development
  • Research and development
  • Engineering and design validation
  • Low-Rate Initial Production
  • Full-Rate Production
  • Sustaining production and lifecycle support
• Participate in program/material planning, design reviews, manufacturing readiness reviews, and production readiness assessments.
• Translate program requirements, engineering plans, demand forecasts, and customer commitments into executable material and production plans.
• Establish appropriate planning rigor, inventory strategies, lead-time assumptions, and control processes for each phase of product maturity.
• Identify risks associated with long-lead materials, constrained components, sole-source suppliers, capacity limitations, obsolescence, and design changes.
• Support product transition from development into production by defining readiness criteria, production control requirements, and material flow processes.
• Ensure lessons learned from prototype and R&D builds are incorporated into LRIP and FRP planning.

Materials Management

• Develop and maintain material requirements, purchasing plans, replenishment strategies, and inventory objectives.
• Ensure timely availability of direct materials, indirect materials, tooling, consumables, and production support items.
• Manage material allocation and prioritization when components are constrained or program requirements compete for the same resources.
• Establish controls for excess, obsolete, slow-moving, nonconforming, and program-specific inventory.
• Monitor inventory accuracy, material shortages, material availability, and inventory health.
• Coordinate with Engineering and Supply Chain on approved substitutions, alternate sources, component obsolescence, and engineering changes.
• Support material disposition activities in coordination with Quality, Engineering, and Operations.
• Ensure proper handling and traceability of serialized, lot-controlled, customer-furnished, and special-process materials.
• Develop strategies for long-lead and high-risk components, including early procurement, strategic buys, safety stock, and supplier capacity reservations.

Production Planning and Control

• Own the development and maintenance of master production schedules, material plans, build plans, and detailed production schedules.
• Convert demand signals, sales orders, contracts, forecasts, and program schedules into realistic production plans.
• Balance customer delivery requirements, available capacity, material constraints, labor availability, and manufacturing priorities.
• Establish production control processes that support prototype builds, engineering builds, pilot production, LRIP, FRP, rework, repair, and sustaining production.
• Coordinate build readiness activities to verify that materials, documentation, tooling, equipment, labor, and work instructions are available before production starts.
• Monitor work-in-process, schedule adherence, production output, bottlenecks, and order status.
• Lead recovery planning for schedule disruptions, material shortages, quality issues, engineering changes, and capacity constraints.
• Establish appropriate batch sizes, lot sizes, reorder points, safety stocks, and production release methods.
• Ensure timely release, sequencing, and closure of production orders in the enterprise resource planning system.
• Develop and maintain capacity plans for labor, equipment, work centers, manufacturing cells, and critical processes.
• Support make-versus-buy decisions and the internal or external allocation of production work.

Production Readiness and Scale-Up

• Define materials and production control requirements for progression from prototype and R&D builds into LRIP and FRP.
• Establish production readiness gates and metrics for material availability, supplier readiness, capacity, process maturity, inventory, and schedule performance.
• Support factory layout, line balancing, work-center planning, labor modeling, and capacity expansion activities.
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering and Operations to identify constraints and improve production flow.
• Develop scalable planning and control processes that support increased production volume without compromising quality, cost, or delivery.
• Support pilot builds, first article activities, rate demonstrations, qualification builds, and customer acceptance activities.
• Identify and implement process improvements that reduce cycle time, shortages, excess inventory, expediting, and production interruptions.
• Ensure production control processes are capable of supporting changing demand, configuration variations, and product improvements.

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead cross-functional shortage reviews, production planning meetings, material review meetings, and program supply reviews.
• Partner with Program Management to communicate schedule risks, material risks, production status, and recovery actions.
• Work closely with Engineering to understand design maturity, bills of material, configuration changes, effectivity, and release timing.
• Coordinate with Supply Chain and Procurement to address supplier commitments, purchase order timing, lead times, delivery performance, and escalation actions.
• Collaborate with Quality to manage nonconforming materials, supplier quality issues, inspection requirements, and material disposition.
• Coordinate with Finance to align inventory, working capital, cost, and program financial objectives.
• Provide clear, timely status updates to leadership regarding material availability, production performance, constraints, and risks.
• Develop strong working relationships with internal stakeholders, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.

Systems, Data, and Process Governance

• Maintain accurate bills of material, planning parameters, item attributes, sourcing rules, lead times, and inventory policies within the ERP/MRP system.
• Establish data governance and transactional discipline for production orders, purchase orders, inventory transactions, work-in-process, and material movements.
• Ensure alignment between engineering configuration management, manufacturing bills of material, planning bills, and production documentation.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures, work instructions, planning policies, and materials management processes.
• Drive continuous improvement of ERP/MRP functionality, planning processes, reporting, and system utilization.
• Establish meaningful dashboards and performance metrics for materials and production control.
• Ensure compliance with applicable company procedures, contractual requirements, quality standards, export controls, and regulatory requirements.

Key Performance Indicators

Performance may be measured using the following metrics:

• On-time production completion
• Customer on-time delivery
• Schedule adherence
• Material availability at production start
• Material shortage aging and closure rate
• Inventory accuracy
• Inventory turns and days of supply
• Excess and obsolete inventory
• Supplier on-time delivery
• Production plan attainment
• Work-in-process aging
• Manufacturing cycle time
• Capacity utilization
• Expedite frequency and cost
• Build readiness performance
• Forecast and schedule stability
• First-pass yield and production disruption related to material issues

Basic Qualifications (Required Skills & Experience)

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, a related field or equivalent years of service.
• Must be a US citizen due to supporting Government programs
• Typically, 3-5 or more years of progressive experience in materials management, production planning, manufacturing operations, supply chain, or program operations.
• Experience supporting multiple phases of a product lifecycle, including new product introduction, prototype development, R&D, LRIP, and FRP.
• Experience managing or supporting ERP/MRP systems and production planning processes.
• Demonstrated experience with bills of material, material requirements planning, capacity planning, inventory management, and production scheduling.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and resolving complex material or production constraints.
• Strong analytical, organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to interpret engineering documentation, production plans, schedules, forecasts, and program requirements.

Other Qualifications & Desired Competencies

• Experience in aerospace, defense, electronics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with high-mix, low-volume and/or complex electromechanical products.
• Experience with configuration management, engineering change control, and product lifecycle management systems.
• Experience supporting government contracts, customer audits, or regulated production environments.
• Experience with production rate transitions, factory scaling, contract manufacturing, or supplier development.
• Familiarity with DOD or aerospace quality standards and requirements.
• Experience managing serialized, lot-controlled, export-controlled, or customer-furnished materials.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop materials, production planning, inventory control, and production control personnel.
• Establish team objectives, performance expectations, staffing plans, and professional development activities.
• Build a culture of accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, and proactive risk management.
• Promote standardization and common processes across programs and manufacturing locations.
• Ensure appropriate staffing and organizational capability as products progress from development through production scale-up.

Working Environment

• Work is primarily performed in an office, manufacturing, laboratory, or warehouse environment.
• Regular interaction with production floors, engineering laboratories, warehouses, suppliers, and manufacturing partners may be required.
• Occasional travel may be required to support suppliers, contract manufacturers, customer activities, program reviews, or other company locations.
• Ability to work extended hours or adjust schedules periodically to support critical program milestones or production requirements.

Success Profile

The successful candidate will be a strategic and hands-on leader who can build effective materials and production control processes while responding quickly to changing program requirements. This individual will be comfortable operating across engineering, supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and program management functions and will bring the discipline necessary to mature products from concept through production while maintaining focus on schedule, cost, quality, and customer commitments.

Physical Demands

• Ability to sit, stand, stoop, reach, lift (up to 10 lbs.), bend, etc.
• Hand and wrist dexterity to utilize the computer
• Ability to work in an office and manufacturing environment
• Ability to work in a team environment
• May require travel to sites/program and special functions (10%)
• May have some exposure to outside environment while traveling
• This is a full-time position. Days and hours of work are typically Monday through Friday, and flexible work hours may be accommodated.

Clearance Level

 

No Clearance

The salary range for this role is:

$106,500 - $181,000

AeroVironment considers several factors when extending an offer, including but not limited to, the location, the role and associated responsibilities, a candidate’s work experience, education/training, and key skills.

ITAR Requirement:

This position requires access to information that is subject to compliance with the International Traffic Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) and/or the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). In order to comply with the requirements of the ITAR and/or the EAR, applicants must qualify as a U.S. person under the ITAR and the EAR, or a person to be approved for an export license by the governing agency whose technology comes under its jurisdiction. Please understand that any job offer that requires approval of an export license will be conditional on AeroVironment’s determination that it will be able to obtain an export license in a time frame consistent with AeroVironment’s business requirements. A “U.S. person” according to the ITAR definition is a U.S. citizen, U.S. lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or protected individual such as a refugee or asylee. See 22 CFR § 120.15. Some positions will require current U.S. Citizenship due to contract requirements.

Benefits:  AV offers an excellent benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401(k) with company matching, and flexible work schedule options. Depending on your business unit, role, and customer contract requirements, select programs may offer a 9/80 work schedule and paid holiday shutdown. For more information about our company benefit offerings please visit:  http://www.avinc.com/myavbenefits.

We also encourage you to review our company website at http://www.avinc.com to learn more about us.

Principals only need apply.  NO agencies please.

About AV:

AV isn’t for everyone. We hire the curious, the relentless, the mission-obsessed. The best of the best.

We don’t just build defense technology—we redefine what’s possible. As the premier autonomous systems company in the U.S., AV delivers breakthrough capabilities across air, land, sea, space, and cyber. From AI-powered drones and loitering munitions to integrated autonomy and space resilience, our technologies shape the future of warfare and protect those who serve.

Founded by legendary innovator Dr. Paul MacCready, AV has spent over 50 years pushing the boundaries of what unmanned systems can do. Our heritage includes seven platforms in the Smithsonian—but we’re not building history, we’re building what’s next.

If you're ready to build technology that matters—with speed, scale, and purpose—there’s no better place to do it than AV.

We are proud to be an EEO/AA Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability/veterans. AeroVironment, Inc. is an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer and welcomes all qualified applicants. Qualified applicants will receive fair and impartial consideration without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, genetic data, sexual orientation, gender identity or other legally protected status.

ITAR