Production Manager Jobs

About The Position

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain Management, Operations Management, Business, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent years of service.
• U.S. citizenship is required due to support of Government programs.
• Typically 3–5 or more years of progressive experience in materials management, production planning, manufacturing operations, supply chain, or program operations.
• Experience supporting multiple product lifecycle phases, including new product introduction, prototype development, R&D, LRIP, and FRP.
• Experience managing or supporting ERP/MRP systems and production planning processes.
• Demonstrated experience with bills of material, material requirements planning, capacity planning, inventory management, and production scheduling.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams and resolving complex material or production constraints.
• Strong analytical, organizational, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage competing priorities in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to interpret engineering documentation, production plans, schedules, forecasts, and program requirements.
• Ability to work extended hours or adjust schedules periodically to support critical program milestones or production requirements.
• Ability to sit, stand, stoop, reach, bend, and lift up to 10 pounds; hand and wrist dexterity to use a computer.
• Ability to work in office and manufacturing environments and in a team environment; travel may be required.
• Must qualify as a U.S. person under ITAR/EAR or be eligible for an export license; some positions require current U.S. citizenship due to contract requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in aerospace, defense, electronics, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.
• Experience with high-mix, low-volume and/or complex electromechanical products.
• Experience with configuration management, engineering change control, and product lifecycle management systems.
• Experience supporting government contracts, customer audits, or regulated production environments.
• Experience with production rate transitions, factory scaling, contract manufacturing, or supplier development.
• Familiarity with DOD or aerospace quality standards and requirements.
• Experience managing serialized, lot-controlled, export-controlled, or customer-furnished materials.

Responsibilities

• Develop materials and production control strategies for each phase of the product lifecycle, from proof of concept and prototype development through R&D, LRIP, FRP, and sustaining production.
• Participate in program and material planning, design reviews, manufacturing readiness reviews, and production readiness assessments.
• Translate program requirements, engineering plans, demand forecasts, and customer commitments into executable material and production plans.
• Identify risks involving long-lead materials, constrained components, sole-source suppliers, capacity, obsolescence, and design changes; plan mitigations and support transitions into production.
• Develop and maintain material requirements, purchasing plans, replenishment strategies, inventory objectives, and long-lead/high-risk component strategies.
• Ensure timely availability of direct and indirect materials, tooling, consumables, and production support items; manage allocation and prioritization of constrained resources.
• Establish inventory controls and monitor accuracy, shortages, availability, inventory health, excess and obsolete stock, and material disposition.
• Coordinate with Engineering and Supply Chain on substitutions, alternate sources, obsolescence, and engineering changes; ensure traceability of serialized, lot-controlled, customer-furnished, and special-process materials.
• Own master production schedules, material plans, build plans, detailed production schedules, and production order release, sequencing, and closure in the ERP system.
• Balance customer delivery needs with available capacity, materials, labor, and manufacturing priorities; monitor work-in-process, schedule adherence, output, bottlenecks, and order status.
• Establish production controls for prototype, engineering, pilot, LRIP, FRP, rework, repair, and sustaining production; verify build readiness before production starts.
• Lead recovery planning for schedule disruptions, shortages, quality issues, engineering changes, and capacity constraints.
• Develop capacity plans for labor, equipment, work centers, manufacturing cells, and critical processes; support make-versus-buy and internal or external work allocation decisions.
• Define production readiness requirements and gates for progression from development into LRIP and FRP; support factory layout, line balancing, labor modeling, and capacity expansion.
• Partner with Manufacturing Engineering and Operations to improve production flow and scale planning processes while maintaining quality, cost, and delivery performance.
• Support pilot builds, first article activities, rate demonstrations, qualification builds, and customer acceptance activities; improve processes to reduce cycle time, shortages, excess inventory, expediting, and interruptions.
• Lead cross-functional shortage reviews, production planning meetings, material review meetings, and program supply reviews; communicate risks, status, and recovery actions to leadership and program stakeholders.
• Coordinate with Program Management, Engineering, Supply Chain, Procurement, Quality, Finance, suppliers, and contract manufacturers on schedules, configuration, supplier performance, nonconforming materials, inventory, cost, and program objectives.
• Maintain accurate bills of material, planning parameters, item attributes, sourcing rules, lead times, and inventory policies in ERP/MRP systems; establish transactional discipline and data governance.
• Maintain standard operating procedures, work instructions, planning policies, and materials management processes; improve ERP/MRP functionality, reporting, and system utilization.
• Establish dashboards and performance metrics and ensure compliance with company procedures, contractual requirements, quality standards, export controls, and regulatory requirements.
• Lead, mentor, and develop materials, production planning, inventory control, and production control personnel; establish team objectives, expectations, staffing plans, and development activities.
• Promote accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement, proactive risk management, and standardized processes across programs and manufacturing locations; ensure the organization is capable of supporting production scale-up.

Benefits

• Medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Vision insurance
• 401(k) with company matching
• Flexible work schedule options
• Select programs may offer a 9/80 work schedule
• Select programs may offer a paid holiday shutdown