DIRECTOR ENGINEERING OPERATIONS
About The Position
Align Production Systems (APS) is a growing engineer-to-order and custom products manufacturer. We serve customers with complex, precision-engineered solutions across two business lines: Engineer-to-Order (ETO) and Core Products / Standards (CPT). This is a newly created senior role — the connection between engineering execution and business outcomes at APS. You will manage two Engineering Leads directly and carry project delivery authority across both teams. You are not here to do engineering work. You are here to build the operating system that makes both teams scalable, accountable, and commercially effective: Stage Gate process, engineering standards, ERP adoption, and the development of the Engineering Leads themselves.
Requirements
- 8+ years in engineering; 3+ years in program, operations, or engineering leadership
- Demonstrated ownership of Stage Gate or structured project lifecycle processes
- Background in ETO, custom engineered, or low-volume high-complexity manufacturing
- Proven ability to hold accountability without direct engineering authority
- Experience managing customer-facing project delivery and change management
- Familiarity with ERP systems in an engineering context (Acumatica, SAP, NetSuite, or equivalent) preferred
Nice To Haves
- Experience in a mid-size manufacturer ($10M–$50M revenue range)
- Exposure to distributed or offshore engineering team management
- PMP, PMI, or equivalent certification preferred
- Working knowledge of SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or similar CAD environments
Responsibilities
- Design, implement, and own the Stage Gate process across ETO and CPT engineering
- Conduct go/no-go gate reviews with binding authority — not advisory input
- Serve as PM of record on high-value or complex ETO projects: own customer-facing schedule, milestones, and change orders
- Standardize kickoff, milestone, and escalation cadence across all ETO projects
- Own documentation, drawing, and BOM quality standards across both teams
- Drive Acumatica (ERP) adoption within engineering — hour tracking, BOM management, project cost reporting
- Establish and report weekly/monthly engineering variance metrics (cost, schedule, delivery) to COO
- Define 'done' criteria: what complete engineering output looks like before handoff to production
- Directly manage both Engineering Leads — goal setting, performance reviews, and development
- Translate APS revenue targets and sales pipeline into engineering capacity requirements
- Contribute to make/buy decisions, resource trade-offs, and capital investment justification
- Own the 3-year engineering capacity plan, updated annually against revenue targets
- Support integration of the Philippines-based engineering team into APS workflows
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
