O&R General Manager

Smiths Group•Laconia, NH

About The Position

STS Aerospace in Laconia, New Hampshire, is seeking an O&R General Manager to lead the overall performance, operational leadership, and strategic growth of its MRO operation. The role combines strategic management with hands-on operational involvement, including stepping into the process to address workflow gaps, staffing needs, bottlenecks, or critical work. The General Manager owns the operation’s P&L and is responsible for safety, quality, delivery, cost, regulatory compliance, workforce development, and customer engagement. The position leads two subordinate supervisors overseeing 40–60 employees across Sales, Operations, Engineering, and manufacturing, and directly supervises 3–5 nonsupervisory employees. The General Manager is responsible for the direction and evaluation of these units, including hiring, training, work planning, performance appraisal, employee relations, and problem resolution. The role works with executive leadership and internal teams to plan growth, capital investment, and capability expansion, while ensuring repair station compliance and audit readiness.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Aviation, Operations Management, Business, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
At least 10 years of progressive leadership experience in MRO, aviation, manufacturing, or a regulated industrial environment, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
Proven experience leading teams through growth, change, and operational constraints.
Strong operational acumen and ability to move between strategic leadership and hands-on execution.
Demonstrated success developing inexperienced or early-career teams.
Experience as a working or player-coach leader in an MRO or production environment.
Strong understanding of aviation regulatory environments and repair station operations.

Nice To Haves

FAA Repairman Certificate (preferred, not required).
Familiarity with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or continuous improvement methodologies.

Responsibilities

Own full P&L responsibility for the MRO operation and drive safety, quality, delivery, and cost performance.
Lead daily operations to ensure on-time delivery, regulatory compliance, and adherence to customer and contractual requirements.
Step into operational processes as needed to troubleshoot issues, cover staffing gaps, and accelerate critical work.
Identify, prioritize, and resolve production constraints.
Uphold Smiths Leadership Behaviors and organizational values of Passion, Integrity, Respect, Ownership, Customer Focus, and Ethics.
Maintain consistent, regular, predictable, and punctual attendance.
Lead, coach, and develop the workforce by setting expectations and providing structured training and mentorship.
Build workforce capability through hiring, onboarding, cross-training, and succession planning.
Promote safety, accountability, and continuous improvement; partner with HR on labor shortages and attrition.
Ensure compliance with 14 CFR Part 145, the Repair Station Manual, the Quality Control Manual, training program requirements, customer and regulatory standards, and applicable FAA and EASA requirements.
Promote and enforce a zero-harm culture; train team members on safety rules and enforce safe behaviors.
Conduct safety meetings, safety observations, safety leadership tours, and incident investigations.
Lead site repair station compliance, audit readiness, and corrective and preventive action (CAPA).
Ensure personnel authorization, training, and qualification requirements are met and documented.
Develop and maintain an effective internal control structure for the business.
Implement Lean, continuous improvement, innovation, and capacity-expansion initiatives to support market growth.
Develop and execute strategies to balance demand growth with labor, tooling, and facility constraints.
Collaborate with executive leadership on long-term growth, capital investments, and capability expansion.
Serve as a senior customer contact, communicating transparently and resolving issues.
Partner with supply chain, engineering, quality, and commercial teams to align priorities and drive results.
Promote the organization in industry, manufacturing, or trade associations.
Direct, coordinate, and evaluate Sales, Operations, Engineering, and manufacturing units; interview, hire, train, assign and direct work, appraise performance, reward or discipline employees, address complaints, and resolve problems.