Spirit Defense - Senior Operations Engineering Manager
About The Position
This role is at Spirit AeroSystems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company, within Spirit’s Defense Business Unit. Spirit Defense supplies the defense and space marketplace with engineering, rapid prototyping, and customer support capabilities. The Senior Operations Engineering Manager leads manufacturing and operations engineering teams at the Wichita, Kansas location. The position is expected to be 100% onsite. The manager develops employees and oversees technical approaches, products, processes, budgets, resource plans, and operational goals. The role defines factory vision and strategy, manages performance planning, and leads industrial and manufacturing engineering work to improve production system design and operational efficiency. The team handles long-range asset and headcount planning, short- and medium-range resource planning, emergent support, and factory operations metrics and improvement to support safe, on-time delivery of quality products. The position also develops departmental plans and procedures, contributes to business and technical strategies, manages supplier technical work and process-improvement initiatives, and maintains relationships with customers, stakeholders, peers, partners, suppliers, and direct reports. The manager provides status updates to executive leadership, customers, and program stakeholders, helps resolve key issues and roadblocks, and provides technical input for derivatives and future requests for proposals. The role requires the ability to obtain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance and Special Program Access; an interim and/or final U.S. Secret Clearance is required after starting.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in engineering or a related four-year technical degree.
- 10 or more years of experience in one or more Manufacturing Operations functions, such as shop-floor manufacturing operations, production/manufacturing engineering, integration and test engineering, or industrial engineering.
- 10 or more years of experience leading problem-solving methods such as Root Cause Analysis, 5 Whys, or other assessment, audit, and investigative models.
- Five or more years of related management, supervisory, and/or leadership experience.
- Ability to obtain a U.S. Secret Security Clearance and Special Program Access; U.S. citizenship is required by the U.S. Government.
- Ability to obtain a U.S. Security Clearance; an interim and/or final U.S. Secret Clearance is required after starting.
Nice To Haves
- Master's degree in engineering or a related field.
- Active U.S. Secret Security Clearance and Special Program Access.
- Experience in the aerospace industry, particularly with military or defense programs.
- Strong knowledge of mechanical assemblies, manufacturing processes, or industry standards.
- Thorough understanding of root cause analysis and related analytical methods, including Five Whys, Fishbone/Ishikawa Analysis, and 8D, as well as root-cause-driven engineering changes.
- Experience or relevant coursework in Six Sigma, Lean+, manufacturing, or process improvement.
- Leadership in major business transformation initiatives.
- Progressive leadership experience with increasing scope and responsibility.
- Strategic leadership mindset.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
Responsibilities
- Manage, develop, and motivate employees to achieve high performance.
- Oversee and approve technical approaches, products, and processes.
- Establish and administer processes, policies, and practices, and determine resource requirements, acquisition, and redeployment plans.
- Oversee and manage organizational and development-project budgets.
- Understand full life-cycle requirements for product development.
- Define factory vision and strategy.
- Work with subordinates to establish and evaluate employee performance plans.
- Coordinate with internal and external organizations, customers, and suppliers on project and program priorities, accomplishments, approvals, and roadblock resolution.
- Manage employees and multiple levels of management, applying industrial and manufacturing engineering methods to optimize production-system design and operational efficiency.
- Develop and execute integrated departmental plans, policies, and procedures, and provide input to departmental business and technical strategies, goals, and objectives.
- Develop and maintain relationships with customers, stakeholders, peers, partners, suppliers, direct reports, and team members.
- Plan long-range assets and headcount, short- and medium-range resources, and emergent support as needed.
- Lead factory and operations metrics and improvement efforts to identify opportunities and drive safe, on-time delivery of quality products.
- Set operational goals and acquire resources needed for projects and processes.
- Provide technical management of suppliers and lead process-improvement initiatives.
- Provide technical input for derivatives and future requests for proposals.
- Interface regularly with executive leadership, customers, and program stakeholders to provide status updates and drive resolution of key issues.
Benefits
- Competitive base pay and variable compensation opportunities.
- Eligible employees may enroll in health insurance, flexible spending accounts, health savings accounts, retirement savings plans, life and disability insurance programs, and programs providing paid and unpaid time away from work.
- Potential eligibility for a $5,000 Kansas aviation tax credit for up to five years.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
