Engineering Operations Manager – Solar Center of Excellence

BLUE ORIGIN•Hutto, TX

About The Position

The Engineering Operations Manager is part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE) and supports the Solar Center of Excellence (Solar COE). The role owns the factory infrastructure, equipment lifecycle, and business-system integration behind Solar COE production, leading Operations Engineers and Production Technicians from facility build-out through high-rate production of high-performance space solar modules. It spans operations, engineering, and information systems, with a focus on reducing downtime, accelerating equipment delivery, and building the digital backbone—including MES, ERP, and mBOM processes—needed to scale production. The position is responsible for facility readiness, production equipment installation and qualification, manufacturing-system deployment and integration, equipment reliability, and operational readiness for new product introduction. It also manages and develops the operations team and coordinates with Facilities, EHS, Site Operations, IT, Digital Manufacturing, Manufacturing Engineering, Development, and NPI stakeholders. Travel is expected to be up to 25% during ramp and approximately 10% during steady-state operations. Relocation is provided. Interviews include a technical assessment. Applicants must meet the stated U.S. citizenship or immigration-status requirements.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, or Systems Engineering, or a closely related field.
10 or more years of progressive manufacturing or production operations experience, including ownership of facility setup, equipment deployment, or factory infrastructure programs.
Verifiable experience supporting mid- or high-rate production lines.
Hands-on MES configuration, deployment, or administration experience, including routing, electronic work instructions, and traceability.
Experience creating and managing mBOMs in a PLM or ERP system such as Windchill, Arena, SAP, Oracle, or an equivalent system.
Experience leading engineering and/or technician teams in a production setting.
Experience with equipment FAT/SAT, production qualification, and OEE or uptime improvement.
Strong project-management skills, including scheduling, risk tracking, stakeholder communication, and cross-functional coordination.
Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. permanent resident (current Green Card holder), or lawfully admitted into the U.S. as a refugee or granted asylum.

Nice To Haves

Aerospace, defense, or space manufacturing experience, including AS9100, MIL-SPEC, or equivalent.
Solar module, solar array, or photovoltaic (PV) production experience.
Capital equipment installation and commissioning in a precision or clean manufacturing environment.
Digital manufacturing infrastructure experience, including ERP-MES integration, IoT equipment monitoring, SCADA, or digital twins.
Lean or Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or Black Belt), and experience with VSM or similar methods.
NPI experience in an operations capacity, including DFM/DFA, pilot builds, and PRRs.
Proficiency with MS Project, Smartsheet, JIRA, and PLM, ERP, and MES systems.
PMP or equivalent certification, a Master’s degree in Engineering or Engineering Management, or an MBA.

Responsibilities

Own Solar COE production-floor facility setup, including space planning, utilities, ESD, cleanroom zoning, and phased buildout aligned with ramp milestones.
Maintain the Facility Readiness Matrix and track civil, MEP, and infrastructure deliverables against equipment installation schedules.
Partner with Facilities, EHS, and Site Operations to meet safety and workmanship standards; define zone acceptance criteria and lead walk-downs, punch-list closure, and handoff to Production.
Own the production equipment lifecycle, including sourcing support, Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), shipping, installation, Site Acceptance Testing (SAT), and production qualification.
Maintain the Equipment Master Register, including asset status, warranties, calibration, preventive maintenance, and spares for production and metrology equipment.
Develop equipment installation plans and coordinate utilities, personnel, software, and tooling; track deliveries and mitigate critical-path risks.
Lead setup and deployment of the Solar COE Manufacturing Execution System (MES), including traveler workflows, genealogy and traceability, electronic work instructions, and production data collection.
Integrate MES, ERP, PLM, and quality systems to enable paperless data flow from order release through final test and shipment.
Work with IT and Digital Manufacturing to prioritize Solar COE enhancements and resolve integration issues.
Define and monitor system KPIs, including traveler completion rate, data-entry cycle time, genealogy completeness, and MES-ERP synchronization accuracy.
Partner with Manufacturing Engineers to translate eBOMs into mBOMs, including routings, work centers, and labor standards.
Establish and own the Solar COE Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) framework, set baselines, and lead cross-functional OEE improvement.
Build a preventive and predictive Planned Maintenance (PM) program for production, metrology, and test equipment; set availability targets, track compliance, and escalate gaps.
Lead root-cause analysis of recurring equipment failures using methods such as 5-Why, Fishbone, and Fault Tree Analysis, and verify corrective-action effectiveness.
Manage critical spares and supplier service-level agreements to minimize mean time to repair (MTTR).
Provide operations-readiness input at NPI gate reviews, assessing facility, equipment, tooling, and system status against milestones.
Own the critical-path equipment schedule within the NPI program plan and report delivery progress.
Escalate compliance issues and bottlenecks, including EHS, FOD, calibration, and quality escapes, that could delay NPI transition or production release.
Provide Development with capacity, cycle-time, and equipment-utilization data to inform Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) decisions.
Own the operations-readiness checklist for Production Readiness Reviews (PRR) and support pilot-line builds with staffing, equipment access, and process documentation.
Manage Operations Engineers and Production Technicians supporting facility operations, equipment maintenance, and system administration.
Set performance expectations and development goals, conduct regular one-on-ones and formal reviews, and foster continuous improvement, safety ownership, and data-driven decisions.

Benefits

Medical, dental, and vision insurance.
Basic and supplemental life insurance.
Paid parental leave.
Short- and long-term disability.
401(k) with company match of up to 5%.
Education Support Program.
Stock options for regular employees working at least 20 hours per week.
Up to four weeks of paid time off per year based on weekly scheduled hours.
Up to 14 company-paid holidays.
Relocation provided.
Employees may be eligible for benefits and bonuses depending on role type and job level; amounts and eligibility are not guaranteed.