Head of US Operations

Coherent•Saxonburg, PA

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Head of US Operations will lead day-to-day and long-range operations across multiple U.S. sites, ensuring consistent performance, shared standards, and coordinated execution. This role is responsible for developing and executing multi-year plans to expand production capacity and technical capability, ensuring scalable manufacturing to support revenue growth, new product introductions, and evolving customer demand. The position also ensures U.S. operations maintain the necessary equipment, processes, and technical capability for future product roadmaps and advanced materials technologies. Additionally, the Head of US Operations will build leadership and technical talent pipelines, ensuring teams are trained and developed for expanded capabilities and increased production volumes. This role owns enterprise KPIs for delivery, cost, quality, yield, and productivity, and leads initiatives for operational excellence, including Lean, automation, and digital transformation. The position oversees integrated production planning, scheduling, inventory control, and capacity balancing across all U.S. sites, and determines optimal product placement. Collaboration with Asia operations leadership is key for global product transfers and coordinated scaling. The Head of US Operations drives a culture of operational discipline, collaboration, and high performance aligned with Coherent’s ICARE values and leads organizational change initiatives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or Business Management required
15+ years of manufacturing leadership experience, including multi‑site responsibility.
Proven leadership of large, diverse, multi‑site teams
Strong understanding of precision machining and optical fabrication
Excellent communication and executive‑level presentation skills
Demonstrated success driving continuous improvement and operational transformation
Knowledge of ISO 9001:2015 and Lean methodologies
ERP/MES proficiency
Must meet ITAR requirements (U.S. Citizen, Permanent Resident, or Protected Individual)

Nice To Haves

MBA preferred
Experience with global operations, including Asia, strongly preferred.
SAP and Power BI preferred

Responsibilities

Leads day‑to‑day and long‑range operations across Saxonburg, Santa Rosa, and Eugene, ensuring consistent performance, shared standards, and coordinated execution.
Develops and executes multi‑year plans to expand both production capacity and technical capability across all U.S. sites.
Ensures scalable manufacturing to support revenue growth, new product introductions, and evolving customer demand while maintaining quality, cost discipline, and technical readiness for advanced manufacturing processes.
Ensures U.S. operations maintain the equipment, processes, and technical capability required for future product roadmaps and advanced materials technologies.
Builds leadership and technical talent pipelines across all U.S. sites.
Ensures teams are trained, developed, and prepared for expanded capabilities and increased production volumes.
Owns delivery, cost, quality, yield, and productivity metrics across all U.S. operations, ensuring performance supports business growth targets.
Leads Lean, automation, and digital transformation initiatives to improve throughput, reduce variation, and strengthen competitiveness.
Directs analysis of cycle times, bottlenecks, and first‑pass yields to maximize efficiency and support scalable growth.
Oversees planning, scheduling, inventory control, and capacity balancing across all U.S. sites to support growth and ensure predictable delivery.
Determines optimal product placement across U.S. and global sites to meet delivery, cost, and technology objectives.
Maintains alignment with Asia operations leadership to support global product transfers, shared learning, and coordinated scaling.
Ensures shipments meet export guidelines, customer requirements, and global logistics standards.
Drives a culture of operational discipline, collaboration, and high performance aligned with Coherent’s ICARE values.
Leads organizational change initiatives, including digital transformation and cross‑site standardization to support scalable growth.