Head of Manufacturing Engineering
About The Position
Ensurge is seeking a Head of Manufacturing Engineering to lead the industrialization and transfer of breakthrough solid-state battery technology into scalable manufacturing. This role is the critical interface between Technology and Manufacturing — responsible for ensuring that processes developed in R&D are designed for manufacturability, robustness, yield, and scale as products progress through key roadmap milestones (POC → EVT → DVT → Pilot → Volume). Reporting to the COO, this leader will own process definition, equipment readiness, documentation, and manufacturing handoff, enabling Ensurge to transition from innovation-driven development to repeatable, high-confidence execution. This is a builder role — hands-on, highly cross-functional, and central to Ensurge’s ability to commercialize with confidence. As Ensurge’s products mature, disciplined manufacturing execution becomes the differentiator.
Requirements
- Proven experience leading manufacturing engineering and process transfer in advanced manufacturing environments (semiconductor, battery, thin-film, electronics, or similar)
- Demonstrated success moving technology from R&D into stable production
- Strong grounding in process development, equipment integration, and yield improvement
- Experience operating within phase-gate product development frameworks.
- Ability to lead through ambiguity while bringing structure and discipline
- Minimum Bachelor’s degree in relevant engineering discipline(s)
- Located in, or willing to regularly work on-site in, the San Jose area
Nice To Haves
- Experience scaling pilot manufacturing into higher-volume production
- Familiarity with roll-to-roll processing, thin films, vacuum deposition, or semiconductor-style fabs
- Experience working closely with R&D organizations and translating research into production
- Background integrating quality systems, SPC, and documentation into daily operations
- Advanced degree(s) (MS/PhD) in Engineering or equivalent practical experience
- Comfortable operating in a fast-moving, scaling environment with high visibility
- Strong systems thinker who balances technical depth with operational pragmatism
- Builder mindset — thrives on turning ideas into working production systems
- Collaborative, low-ego leader who earns trust across functions
- Disciplined, curious, and relentless about continuous improvement
Responsibilities
- Own the end-to-end process transfer from Technology/R&D into Manufacturing
- Define clear phase-gate criteria for readiness at each product and process milestone
- Translate experimental processes into manufacturable, repeatable, and controlled flows
- Ensure Design for Manufacturability (DFM) and Design for Scale principles are embedded early
- Establish and maintain best-known methods, critical process parameters (CPPs), and control plans
- Lead process characterization, capability development (Cp/Cpk), and yield ramp
- Drive standardization across 75 µm and 10 µm platforms while enabling future variants
- Partner with Quality to embed process control, SPC, and change management discipline
- Partner with Equipment Engineering to define process-driven equipment requirements
- Lead equipment qualification, process acceptance, and handoff to operations
- Define process windows, tool-to-tool matching strategies, and uptime requirements
- Ensure equipment design supports throughput, reliability, and maintainability
- Act as the primary integration point between Technology, Manufacturing, Quality, and Operations
- Resolve ownership gaps between “who develops” and “who runs” the process
- Enable Manufacturing teams with clear documentation, training, and escalation paths
- Support Operations in the daily execution once processes are released
- Build the manufacturing engineering roadmap aligned to Ensurge’s product and customer milestones
- Support pilot line scale-up, sampling, and customer shipments with disciplined execution
- Identify process risks early and drive mitigation plans before they impact delivery
- Provide leadership-level visibility into readiness, gaps, and trade-offs
- Build and lead a high-performing Manufacturing Engineering team
- Define roles, ownership, and interfaces across process, equipment, and quality engineering
- Establish a culture of rigor, learning, and accountability
- Mentor engineers to think beyond experimentation toward industrial systems
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
