Senior Operations Engineering Manager

Vulcan Elements•Benson, NC

About The Position

Vulcan Elements is seeking a Senior Operations Engineering Manager to build and lead its Magnet Manufacturing organization ahead of equipment installation. The organization will include production operators, operations engineers, and technicians. Working closely with the Commissioning Leader and cross-functional teams, this leader will guide operational readiness, commissioning support, equipment startup, and turnover to production. The role owns Magnet Manufacturing process performance during qualification and production ramp, including safety, throughput, OEE, yield, quality, and cost. It also establishes the sintered-block cost of goods sold (COGS) model and owns the Magnet Manufacturing operations budget. The manager will build the staffing model, hire and develop the team, define training and qualification standards, and establish the routines and standard work required for safe, high-volume, multi-shift production. The position covers hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, blending, pressing, sintering, and heat treatment. It partners with engineering, process technology, capital execution, automation, maintenance, quality, EHS, finance, and supply chain to prepare equipment and people for startup, qualify processes, improve production performance, and deliver consistent sintered blocks to downstream machining. The role requires regular presence on the production floor and the ability to navigate the facility, including climbing stairs and standing and walking for extended periods. Work may take place in hot, humid, or noisy environments. The employee must use required PPE, including respirators, complete fit testing, follow safety procedures, and respond safely to changing production conditions.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Materials Science, Metallurgical, Chemical, Mechanical, Manufacturing, or Industrial Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
8+ years in complex industrial manufacturing, including 5+ years leading production, operations engineering, or technical teams in a continuous or multi-shift environment.
Strong working knowledge of industrial process equipment, automated materials handling, controlled-atmosphere or thermal processing, production controls, material balances, and drivers of process variation and equipment performance.
Demonstrated experience in greenfield or major-expansion commissioning, including collaboration with a commissioning leader on integrated plans, operating readiness, startup execution, equipment turnover, and production ramp.
Proven ability to build and lead operators, engineers, and technicians, including staffing plans, hiring, technical training, qualification, standard work, and frontline leadership development.
Direct accountability for OEE, throughput, and process yield, with strong command of root-cause analysis, manufacturing quality systems, statistical process control, and data-driven improvement.
Experience establishing manufacturing cost models and managing operating budgets, standard-versus-actual cost performance, productivity, and resource forecasts.
Demonstrated leadership of safety and compliance in a high-hazard manufacturing environment, including LOTO, combustible or reactive materials, gas handling, thermal hazards, and safe startup.
Must be a U.S. Person due to required access to U.S. export-controlled information or facilities.
Must be able to navigate all areas of the facility, climb stairs, stand and walk for extended periods, and work in environments that may be hot, humid, or noisy.
Must use required PPE, including respirators, complete required fit testing, follow applicable safety policies and regulatory requirements, and respond safely to changing production conditions.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience manufacturing NdFeB magnets, powder metallurgy products, advanced ceramics, or comparable precision sintered materials.
Knowledge of hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, magnetic-field pressing, controlled-atmosphere sintering, heat treatment, or oxygen-sensitive powder processing.
Experience commissioning automated equipment with international suppliers, including FAT/SAT, robotics or controls integration, and process technology transfer.
Experience with automotive or defense manufacturing requirements, process capability, control plans, product traceability, PPAP, IATF 16949, or AS9100.
Experience deploying MES, historian/shop-floor data collection, advanced process monitoring, or digital manufacturing systems.
Lean or Six Sigma experience.

Responsibilities

Own operational readiness for Magnet Manufacturing across hydrogen decrepitation, jet milling, blending, pressing, sintering, and heat treatment, from design review and factory acceptance testing through site acceptance, commissioning, process qualification, and production turnover.
Provide Operations input on powder transfer and containment, equipment layout and access, instrumentation, sampling, maintainability, controls, and material flow; serve as the Operations acceptance authority for equipment turnover.
Work with the Commissioning Leader to develop and support the integrated commissioning plan, equipment startup sequence, resource plan, and execution activities.
Ensure Operations provides personnel, procedures, training, and field support at required commissioning milestones.
Prepare operators, technicians, and operations engineers for equipment startup and qualification; support commissioning and lead production ramp after operational turnover.
Use process data to improve output, quality, availability, and repeatability during production ramp.
Design and grow the Magnet Manufacturing organization for high-volume, multi-shift production, including staffing model, supervisors and shift leads, operator coverage, engineering and technician support, escalation paths, and daily floor leadership.
Build headcount plans based on commissioning and production ramp milestones; recruit, onboard, and develop operators, engineers, and technicians in phases.
Establish qualification standards, training and cross-training, troubleshooting capability, standard work, and shift handoff routines.
Partner with EHS on job hazard analyses, pre-startup safety reviews, procedures, and emergency response for hydrogen, reactive and combustible fine powders, inert atmospheres, dust collection, high-temperature furnaces, moving machinery, oxygen/moisture ingress, and LOTO.
Own manufacturing performance measures, including throughput, equipment and line OEE, availability, first-pass quality, material yield, scrap and rework, labor productivity, and key consumables; define measurement methods, loss categories, and shop-floor data capture before startup.
Partner with Process Manufacturing Engineering, Process Technology, and Quality to implement control plans, critical process parameters, sampling and traceability, product specifications, and statistical monitoring for consistent, qualified sintered blocks.
Lead operations engineering and technician teams in structured troubleshooting and continuous improvement of bottlenecks, cycle times, powder losses, furnace performance, downtime, and process variation.
Partner with Maintenance and Engineering to turn startup lessons into reliable standard work.
Establish and maintain the area COGS model with Finance and Supply Chain, connecting material conversion and yield, labor, power and process gases, tooling and consumables, maintenance, and scrap/rework to cost per kilogram of qualified sintered block.
Own the Magnet Manufacturing operations budget and staffing forecast from commissioning through production ramp and steady state, including labor, utilities, process gases, consumables, operating supplies, and production support.
Manage monthly actual-to-budget variances, resource requirements, and corrective actions.
Translate OEE, throughput, yield, and material losses into unit-cost improvement priorities; optimize equipment utilization, staffing, energy use, consumable life, and material recovery with technical and support teams.