MANAGER, FABRICATION AND ASSEMBLY (R&D)

Marvin Group•Inglewood, CA

1d•$135,000 - $180,000

About The Position

The Manager of R&D Fabrication and Assembly is an integral role in MEC’s Research & Development Engineering Department that leads and manages build activity for high mix, low volume hardware assemblies required for Engineering Development Programs; including prototypes, test articles, and customer deliverables. The successful candidate will lead and collaborate with multiple disciplines within MEC to facilitate realization of R&D hardware assemblies in support of successful execution of Engineering Development Programs. Prior experience in directing build activity for R&D Programs in an Aerospace or Defense product engineering and manufacturing environment is a plus.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree in Business, Operations, STEM (e.g., Manufacturing Engineering), or Project Management. Various educational backgrounds will be considered contingent on relevant experience.
A minimum 5 years of experience in fabrication and assembly of complex hardware systems, preferably aerospace and/or defense products.
A minimum 5 years of experience leading teams to support high mix, low volume hardware assembly processes.
Aerospace & Defense manufacturing industry experience.
Ability to read and interpret engineering BOMs, manufacturing routings, etc. to understand and guide fabrication and assembly processes for hardware builds.
Experience using an Enterprise Resource Planning system, preferably SAP, to lead and manage hardware build activity.
Strong analytical, problem solving, and communication skills (verbal and written).
Ability to identify challenges in hardware build activity, and translate them into actionable information for relevant Stakeholders.
Ability to summarize large information sets associated with hardware build activity into high impact, actionable summaries for relevant Stakeholders.
Self-starter that leads and motivates a team focused on hardware builds for Engineering Development Programs, balancing multiple priorities in a fast-paced technical development environment.

Nice To Haves

Working knowledge of assembly of pneumatics, mechanical, and electromechanical systems and structures.
Previous experience supporting DoD acquisition programs and/or aerospace systems development.
Knowledge of airborne weapon systems and /or weapon carriage equipment.
Experience supporting an R&D function.

Responsibilities

Owns, leads, manages, and coordinates build activities for all high mix, low volume product assemblies required by Programs for Research & Development Engineering: including prototypes, test articles, and customer deliverables.
Develops and/or enhances Work Instructions, Standard Practices, and other process documentation in collaboration with other disciplines within MEC to streamline the R&D build process, and to optimize and reduce time between kickoff of build activity to completion of hardware builds.
Finds and implements creative solutions to challenges in build activity through MEC’s ERP System, SAP.
Manages Direct and Dotted line Reports to support fulfillment of build activity: Material Program Managers (MPM) and Material Expeditors.
Organizes and direct activity across cross-functional teams, including MPMs, Material Expeditors, Production Planning, Quality, Receiving Inspection, Schedulers, and Risk & Opportunity to ensure hardware is fabricated and assembled within cost and schedule budgets.
Responsible for all material movement required to ensure assembly floor is equipped with product assembly kits to assemble R&D hardware. Includes ensuring Quality Notices (QN) levied against noncompliant material and internal/external Rework Jobs (R-Jobs) to repair/rework material are supported, managed, and followed through to meet build schedules.
Liaison with Technical Program Managers (TPM) to ensure configuration of hardware builds aligns to latest released Bill of Material (BOM) from R&D Engineering and to Contractual requirements.
Highlights technical, hardware, and other issues precluding successful build activity to appropriate internal and external Stakeholders: TPM, Systems Engineering, R&D Engineering, Test Engineering, Quality Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Subject Matter Experts, Supply Chain, External Suppliers, etc. Coordinates cross-functional meetings, actions, and follow up activity to identify and resolve issues and implement corrective actions.
Leads and participates in strategic planning sessions and program reviews to inform the R&D Engineering Organization of build activity health for Engineering Development Programs. Summarizes status, challenges, outlook, alignment to schedule, support needed, and other relevant information.
Interfaces with Test Engineering function to coordinate handoffs from build activity to test activity for in-process testing and final acceptance testing of hardware builds.
Comfortable in a concurrent engineering environment, where design, assembly, and test may occur simultaneously.
Other tasks and duties as assigned.