Vice President of Manufacturing & Production

What you’ll be doing:

Production System Ownership

• Own the single metric that defines success: 5 spacecraft/day sustained at or below DTC target
• Assume full production ownership at MRR — from that point, all production line decisions route through this role
• Manage production design changes through the Configuration Control Board (CCB) — ECOs require your concurrence before release
• Provide direct accountability for first-pass yield, automation uptime ≥95%, and ATE fault coverage ≥95%

Product Manufacturing Engineering

• Lead DFM reviews at PDR and CDR; close all critical and major DFM findings before CDR
• Direct process engineering, tooling design, production BOM control, and work instruction development
• Lead manufacturing readiness assessment and MRR preparation — present manufacturing readiness evidence to the CTO

Automated Assembly & Test

• Design, commission, and operate robotic assembly systems; maintain automation uptime ≥95%
• Own ATE design and development — board, subsystem, and spacecraft-level automated test
• Achieve ≥95% fault detection to LRU level and ≤0.5% false failure rate
• Own Test Program Set (TPS) development, validation, and production test software

Production Line Operations

• Manage daily rate at the 5 SC/day target through factory layout optimization and workforce planning
• Maintain station utilization balance (60–90% per station) and enforce hold point compliance
• Drive headcount growth capped at 20% of volume growth rate

Manufacturing Data & Quality

• Implement and operate the MES including work order management, traveler control, and ATE data integration
• Monitor SPC, yield trending, and defect pareto analysis
• Enforce workmanship standards per IPC-A-610 Class 3; maintain dotted-line to VP, MA&Q for quality system compliance

What you bring to this role:

• 15+ years of progressive manufacturing and production engineering experience; at least one program carried from factory design through full-rate production at a sustained rate of ≥100 units/week
• Direct accountability for production rate, yield, and unit cost on a high-complexity electromechanical or aerospace product at rate — low-rate experience is not a substitute
• Demonstrated experience designing, commissioning, and operating robotic assembly systems, ATE, and automated material handling
• Direct accountability for ATE design, fault coverage validation, and production test software
• Track record of embedding DFM discipline in product design teams during development — not as a production afterthought
• Hands-on MES experience including work order management, traveler control, ATE data integration, and as-built genealogy
• Demonstrated record of building multi-discipline manufacturing engineering teams including managing embedded engineers
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, or related field — or equivalent verifiable experience

Bonus Points for the Following

• Experience in aerospace or defense high-rate production (satellites, missiles, avionics, or comparable complex systems)
• Direct experience with satellite manufacturing or space hardware production
• Familiarity with Design-to-Cost (DTC) methodologies and production cost modeling
• Experience with lean manufacturing transformation in a high-complexity environment
• Familiarity with digital twin and model-based manufacturing approaches

Additional Requirements

This is a fast-paced, high-impact environment - flexibility to occasionally work extended hours or weekends during critical periods is expected.