Technical Manager

Kaiser Aluminum • Richmond, VA

6d • Onsite

About The Position

Kaiser Aluminum is seeking a metallurgy-focused Technical Manager for its Bellwood, Virginia facility. This onsite role oversees the integrated process of converting cast heat-treatable aluminum billet into high-strength automotive tubing, maintaining alignment among process history, microstructure, dimensions, and performance. The manager leads a small technical team, resolves multistage metallurgical problems, develops plant expertise, and drives manufacturing development, design, implementation, and execution. The role serves as the facility’s technical authority for seamless tube manufacturing and product knowledge, supporting production, customers, suppliers, and quality systems while ensuring compliance with industry specifications. The manager fosters cross-department collaboration to implement effective process changes.

Responsibilities include ownership of thermal and mechanical processing for seamless aluminum tubing; compliance with AIAG, customer, and industry requirements; reviewing manufacturing methods and process plans; evaluating new products and customer requirements; determining product conformity and dispositions; supporting testing and calibration systems; investigating failures; and signing customer certifications. The role also manages heat-treatment and thermal-process controls, including Thermal Uniformity Surveys (TUS), System Accuracy Tests (SAT), and Thermal Instrument Calibration (TIC). It provides supplier and customer technical support, leads complaint investigations, develops personnel, and leads continuous-improvement and root-cause activities using methods such as Lean Six Sigma, DOE, and SPC.

The position is onsite. Kaiser Aluminum states that it cannot offer visa sponsorship for this role now or in the future and cannot proceed with candidates who require sponsorship or are on visas such as H-1B, F-1, STEM OPT, or OPT.

Requirements

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering; Metallurgical or Chemical Engineering is preferred.
• At least 3 years of experience in labs and with metallurgists, and at least 5 years of metallurgy/process engineering experience.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office products, including Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, and OneDrive, and other PC-based software programs.
• Ability to communicate professionally about technical issues with internal and external parties at all organizational levels.
• Ability to manage personnel from engineers to operators within the department and advise or coach personnel across the facility.
• Familiarity with Lean Six Sigma concepts and product/process quality-system techniques.
• Strong knowledge of heat-treatment requirements and pyrometry controls.

Nice To Haves

• 8–15 years of experience in metal processing and manufacturing, heat treatment, automotive quality systems, a metallurgical laboratory, or process engineering.
• Experience with seamless tube manufacturing.
• Knowledge of metallography and mechanical property testing.
• Knowledge of automotive and general-industry material specifications.
• Root-cause analysis, Design of Experiments, and statistical process control skills.
• Experience with Minitab or other statistical software.
• Experience with calibration systems and heat-treat furnace compliance.

Responsibilities

• Own thermal and mechanical processing for seamless aluminum tubing.
• Maintain compliance with AIAG, customer, and industry requirements.
• Review press recipes, draw plans, heat-treatment practices, and manufacturing methods.
• Evaluate technical feasibility of new products and customer requirements.
• Determine product conformity or nonconformity and approve product dispositions.
• Support testing programs and calibration systems.
• Investigate failures and implement corrective actions.
• Sign customer certifications.
• Manage heat-treatment and thermal processes, including TUS, SAT, and TIC.
• Perform or support supplier audits and evaluate supplier deviations.
• Lead customer complaint investigations and provide technical support during customer visits and problem-solving activities.
• Mentor Process Engineers; train operators and technical personnel; and conduct competency evaluations.
• Influence quality and process improvements across the facility and coordinate process improvements with Operations and Maintenance.
• Lead root-cause investigations and support RCCA activities.
• Analyze scrap, complaints, and audit findings.
• Apply Lean Six Sigma, DOE, SPC, and statistical analysis techniques.

What This Job Offers

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