Senior Director, Plant Manager – Missile Integration & Electronics

Leidos•Huntsville, AL

About The Position

The Plant Manager provides overall leadership, performance management, and operational direction for a brown-field facility start-up supporting missile integration and test operations and high-volume electronics manufacturing. The role will lead the non-recurring effort to reconfigure or remodel an existing facility in the Huntsville area and position it to support rapidly growing programs in Leidos’ Defense portfolio. The role provides strategic and hands-on leadership across production, manufacturing engineering, quality, materials management, maintenance, facilities, and talent acquisition. The Plant Manager is responsible for safe, compliant, efficient, and predictable execution of customer commitments, while building a culture of operational excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement. The leader balances defense-product integration and test requirements with the throughput, process-control, and scalability demands of high-volume electronics production. The position drives performance across safety, quality, cost, delivery, inventory, and productivity; develops organizational capability; and ensures readiness for current programs and future growth. Candidates must reside in North Alabama or be willing to relocate to the Huntsville–North Alabama area, be a U.S. citizen, and be able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations Management, Business, or a related discipline, plus 12 or more years of related experience; equivalent relevant experience may be considered in lieu of education.
Significant progressive leadership experience in manufacturing operations, with responsibility for production performance, workforce leadership, and operational results.
Experience managing complex manufacturing environments with demanding quality, delivery, cost, and compliance requirements.
Experience leading production teams and cross-functional organizations in a factory or multi-workstream manufacturing operation.
Ability to develop and execute production plans, manage constraints, allocate resources, and recover performance against challenging delivery commitments.
Understanding of manufacturing quality systems, root-cause analysis, corrective action, process control, and continuous improvement.
Experience managing operating budgets, labor costs, productivity, capital requirements, and manufacturing performance metrics.
Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and organizational skills, with the ability to engage from the production floor through senior leadership.
Must be a U.S. citizen and able to obtain and maintain a Secret Clearance.
Must reside in North Alabama or be willing to relocate to the Huntsville–North Alabama area.

Nice To Haves

Experience in defense, aerospace, missile systems, military electronics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.
Direct experience with missile or complex electronic-system integration, verification, qualification, and test operations.
Experience leading high-volume electronics manufacturing, including printed circuit board assembly, electronic assembly, automated production equipment, test, inspection, and process controls.
Familiarity with IPC workmanship standards, AS9100, ISO 9001, configuration management, product traceability, and defense customer quality requirements.
Experience implementing lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, statistical process control, Theory of Constraints, or other structured operational excellence methods.
Experience scaling production, activating manufacturing facilities, introducing new products, expanding capacity, or transitioning programs from development and low-rate initial production to higher production rates.
Experience with ERP/MRP systems, manufacturing execution systems (MES), production scheduling, and data-driven performance management.
Experience leading capital equipment investments, facility modernization, test-capacity expansion, and manufacturing layout optimization.
Experience managing multiple product lines with differing production volumes, process requirements, technical complexity, and customer priorities.

Responsibilities

Lead manufacturing and production activities, including missile subsystem integration, system-level assembly, test operations, and high-volume electronics manufacturing.
Establish operating rhythms, production priorities, and performance reviews to meet customer delivery commitments.
Promote a zero-harm culture and ensure compliance with environmental, health, safety, hazardous-material handling, facility, and other applicable requirements.
Partner with Quality and Engineering to maintain process controls, product traceability, configuration management, workmanship standards, test documentation, and nonconformance resolution.
Translate program demand and customer commitments into production plans, staffing requirements, material priorities, equipment capacity, and test schedules; identify constraints and implement recovery plans.
Improve high-volume electronics production efficiency, yield, defect rates, process repeatability, equipment utilization, and throughput.
Oversee integration, verification, and test activities using qualified personnel, controlled work instructions, calibrated equipment, approved test procedures, and cross-functional coordination.
Lead lean manufacturing, root-cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, waste reduction, standard work, and production-flow improvements.
Improve first-pass yield, cycle time, labor productivity, equipment effectiveness, and overall operational performance.
Own plant operating budgets, labor and overhead performance, manufacturing cost, capital planning, and resource utilization.
Develop and execute cost-competitiveness initiatives without compromising safety, quality, or delivery.
Partner with Supply Chain, Procurement, and Planning to improve material availability, inventory accuracy, supplier performance, work-in-process flow, and shortage resolution.
Lead and develop an organization spanning production supervisors, manufacturing personnel, technicians, engineers, and support functions.
Establish accountability, workforce development, cross-training, succession planning, and staffing strategies aligned with production demand.
Maintain the reliability and capacity of production equipment, test assets, utilities, infrastructure, and manufacturing workspaces; prioritize maintenance, acquisitions, facility modifications, and capital investments.
Establish and monitor key performance indicators, including safety, quality, on-time delivery, throughput, first-pass yield, scrap and rework, labor productivity, inventory, schedule attainment, and cost.
Communicate operational risks, recovery actions, and business results to senior leadership.
Collaborate with Program Management, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, and customer representatives to align production with contractual requirements, program milestones, technical readiness, and business objectives.