Director, Contract Manufacturing Operations

Aether Biomachines•Menlo Park, CA

About The Position

Aether is a Series A company that engineers enzymes to produce materials that are difficult or impossible to make through conventional methods. Its advanced print materials are shipping into defense and unmanned systems. Aether operates with a small team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Director, Contract Manufacturing Operations owns the day-to-day performance of Aether’s contract manufacturing organization (CMO) network across chemical synthesis, compounding, and finished material production. The VP of Manufacturing selects and qualifies CMO partners; this role ensures they deliver on schedule, specifications, and agreed costs. As Aether’s representative at partner sites, the director manages production plans, holds partners accountable to supply agreements, and addresses issues with site and plant leadership. The role works closely with process engineering, quality, commercial, and supply chain teams to coordinate production across sites and align manufacturing execution with commercial demand. The director will be among the first hires in a new manufacturing organization and will help establish how Aether manages its CMO partners. The position involves travel 30–50% of the time.

Requirements

10+ years in manufacturing operations, with significant time managing contract manufacturers or outsourced production.
Experience in chemicals, polymers, specialty materials, or similar process industries.
A track record of holding external partners to commitments.
Comfort escalating issues to plant leadership while maintaining partner relationships.
Working fluency in supply agreements, production scheduling, and manufacturing cost drivers.
Strong organizational and program management skills across multiple sites.
Willingness to travel 30–50% of the time.

Nice To Haves

Experience working at a CMO or tolling facility.
Experience at an early-stage or fast-growing company.
Familiarity with ISO 9001 quality systems.

Responsibilities

Own day-to-day performance of Aether’s CMO network across multiple sites and production stages.
Ensure each partner has credible production plans that meet Aether’s schedule, specifications, and cost targets.
Hold partners accountable to supply agreements, and escalate and resolve issues directly with site and plant leadership.
Be on site for production campaigns and new CMO onboarding, and support the VP of Manufacturing in standing up new partners.
Coordinate schedules and handoffs between partners where different stages of production happen at different sites.
Translate commercial demand into production plans the CMO network can execute, in partnership with the commercial and supply chain teams.
Track partner performance on delivery, cost, and output, and report it to manufacturing leadership.
Work with quality and process engineering so that CMO execution reflects Aether’s specifications and process requirements.