VP 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