Sr. Manager - Manufacturing Ops and Assembly - Engines Concepts

Blue Origin • Huntsville, AL

2d

About The Position

At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Blue Origin Operations, which is comprised of Integrated Supply Chain, Test Operations, Safety, Quality, and Mission Assurance. This includes Manufacturing and Supply Chain support across all Blue Origin facilities. We are looking for someone to apply their technical expertise, leadership skills, and commitment to quality to positively impact safe human spaceflight. Passion for our mission and vision is required! This role is the Senior Manager of Production Operations for a new advanced hardware program at Blue Origin. The successful candidate will build the production team from scratch and own day-to-day tactical execution across every phase of the product lifecycle — prototyping, development builds, first articles, and transition into rate production. This person manages all touch labor: machinists, welders, assemblers, post-processing technicians, and NDT operators. The role starts by hiring the first technicians, standing up the shop floor, and personally driving prototype and development hardware through the facility. As the program scales, this leader builds the supervisory structure, shift model, training programs, and production rhythms needed to support an expanding factory. This is the person the Head of Operations relies on to get hardware out the door — on time, with quality, and safely.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Industrial Technology, or related discipline; equivalent experience in production leadership will be considered
• 10+ years of experience in manufacturing or production operations with at least 5 years in a leadership role managing skilled trades teams (machinists, welders, assemblers, or similar)
• Team-building experience — has hired, developed, and scaled a production workforce, not just inherited an existing team
• Full product lifecycle experience — has managed shop floor execution from prototype or development builds through rate production
• Strong tactical execution skills — has run a shop floor day-to-day, managed shifting priorities, and delivered hardware on schedule in a dynamic environment
• Workforce development — has built training programs, skills certifications, or apprenticeship pipelines for skilled trades
• Safety leadership — demonstrated track record of building and maintaining a strong safety culture in a manufacturing environment
• Ability to read and interpret engineering drawings, GD&T, and manufacturing work instructions across multiple disciplines
• Strong communication skills — effective with technicians on the shop floor, engineers in design reviews, and executives in status updates

Nice To Haves

• Experience building a production team from scratch for a new program or greenfield facility — first hires through full shift operations
• Background in aerospace, turbomachinery, industrial gas turbines, or precision industrial hardware manufacturing
• Experience managing multi-discipline shops (machining, welding, assembly, post-processing, and test under one roof)
• Experience with prototype and development manufacturing where processes, tooling, and work instructions are evolving in real time
• Familiarity with lean manufacturing tools (standard work, 5S, visual management, daily accountability, value stream mapping)
• Experience with MES/ERP systems for production scheduling, labor tracking, and work order management
• Familiarity with AS9100 or equivalent quality management systems from the production floor perspective
• Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent
• Experience managing a multi-shift operation
• Customer focused with a proven track record to work cooperatively with teams of different skills across large geographic distances
• Strong organizational and analytical skills

Responsibilities

• Building the production organization from the ground up — recruiting, hiring, and onboarding machinists, welders, assemblers, post-processing technicians, NDT operators, and production supervisors
• Owning day-to-day tactical execution of all manufacturing operations — prototype builds, development hardware, first articles, and production units; ensuring work moves through the shop floor on schedule
• Establishing the production operating rhythm — daily standups, shift handovers, weekly schedule reviews, and escalation protocols that keep hardware moving and problems visible
• Managing the transition from prototype to development to production — adapting shop floor processes, staffing levels, and work cell configurations as hardware maturity and build rates evolve
• Building the supervisory and shift structure as the team scales — defining spans of control, shift patterns, and lead/supervisor roles to maintain execution quality as headcount grows
• Developing the workforce — training programs, skills matrices, certification tracking, cross-training plans, and career progression pathways for skilled trades personnel
• Owning production safety — establishing a safety-first culture, conducting safety briefings, managing PPE compliance, driving hazard identification, and ensuring zero tolerance for unsafe practices
• Driving quality at the point of production — ensuring technicians follow work instructions, perform in-process inspections, and document results; partnering with quality engineering on NCR disposition and corrective action
• Coordinating with manufacturing engineering on process issues, tooling needs, work instruction development, and new work center activation — translating engineering intent into shop floor execution
• Managing production resources — labor allocation across work centers, overtime decisions, temporary staffing, and equipment availability to meet the build schedule
• Supporting NPI and first-article builds — ensuring production teams have the training, tooling, fixtures, and materials needed; capturing lessons learned and feeding them back to engineering
• Tracking and reporting production metrics — daily output, schedule adherence, first-pass yield, safety incidents, attendance, and labor productivity; driving root-cause analysis when metrics deviate

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance, paid parental leave, short and long-term disability, 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%, and an Education Support Program.
• Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours, and up to 14 company-paid holidays.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager