Vice President, Manufacturing

Amro Fabricating Corporation • Mukilteo, WA

6d • $275,000 - $325,000

About The Position

Karman Space & Defense is a market leader providing concept-to-production solutions for mission-critical systems across spacecraft, launch vehicles, missiles, hypersonics, and integrated defense platforms. We are seeking a visionary, highly collaborative Vice President of Manufacturing to spearhead our multi-site production facilities, advance our technological capabilities, and lead high-performing teams in achieving exceptional execution.

Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer, the VP of Manufacturing will oversee all production operations, factory-floor automation, lean manufacturing initiatives, and multi-disciplinary manufacturing engineering frameworks. This executive leader is tasked with bridging the gap between design engineering and volume manufacturing while maximizing throughput, driving down cost-of-quality, and hitting meticulous delivery schedules for prime defense contractors, commercial space enterprises, and agencies like NASA.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a highly related technical discipline (Master's degree or MBA is highly preferred).
• Minimum of 12–15+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience within the aerospace, defense, spacecraft, satellite, or hypersonic industries.
• Proven history of managing multi-site manufacturing facilities or large-scale aerospace fabrication environments.
• Deep expertise in the manufacturing of complex components, including precision CNC machining, sheet metal fabrication, composite layups, automated assembly, and specialized welding operations.
• Expert-level mastery of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma principles, Kaizen, and formal 5S deployment strategies.
• Must be a U.S. citizen or national, U.S. lawful, permanent resident, Refugee, or Asylee under U.S. law, or eligible to obtain necessary authorizations from the U.S. Department of State to conform to U.S. Government export regulations, including ITAR.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience interacting directly with major defense prime contractors, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
• Advanced understanding of aerospace manufacturing software systems, including ERP/MRP programs and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).
• Exceptional executive communication and negotiation skills, with an innate ability to translate intricate shop-floor mechanics into strategic financial forecasts for the C-suite.

Responsibilities

• Architect and execute a comprehensive manufacturing strategy across all facilities to maximize production capacity, optimize equipment utilization, and scale the output of complex composite and metallic flight hardware.
• Partner directly with the Chief Operating Officer, Chief Growth Officer, and VP of Engineering to translate business development pipelines into robust operational capacity and realistic product roadmaps.
• Provide strategic oversight to the Manufacturing Engineering division, guaranteeing flawless transition protocols from concept designs to stable, repeatable, high-volume production runs.
• Build and manage multi-million dollar capital expenditure (CapEx) and operational expense (OpEx) budgets, analyzing cost variances and enacting continuous improvement mandates to improve gross margins.
• Synchronize factory schedules closely with Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP), Material Requirements Planning (MRP), procurement, and quality assurance divisions to guarantee 100% on-time delivery (OTD).
• Enforce uncompromising adherence to AS9100, ISO 9001, and NADCAP aerospace specifications, promoting a zero-defect culture on the manufacturing floor.
• Mentor and develop site plant managers, fabrication supervisors, and senior engineering leads, establishing clear performance metrics (KPIs) and continuous learning pathways.

Benefits

• Karman is committed to equal employment opportunity. We will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment on any legally recognized basis (“protected class”) including, but not limited to race; color; religion; genetic information; national origin; sex; pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; age; disability; citizenship status; uniform servicemember status; or any other protected class under federal, state, or local law. Our management is dedicated to ensuring the fulfillment of this policy with respect to hiring, placement, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, termination, recruitment advertising, pay, and other forms of compensation, training, and general treatment during employment.

What This Job Offers

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