Director of Manufacturing

The Director of Manufacturing will be responsible for leading all manufacturing operations will report directly to the CEO. The Director will be a key member of the executive team and a contributor to the overall strategy. You will work closely with the CTO, COO, Chief Engineer, and Director of Engineering to rapidly scale the satellite production to support for the core business plan.

WILL ONLY REVIEW CANDIDATES WITH EXP IN MANUFACTURING SATELLITES IN VOLUME.

You will become intimately familiar with our spacecraft design, how we build them today, and how the design will evolve over time. You will be tasked with the continuous enhancement, improvement, and automation of our spacecraft production and Assembly, Integration, and Test (AI&T) procedures and processes. You will actively participate in and influence make-buy decisions and establish organizational capabilities to match the growth strategy.

The ideal candidate will excel in a fast-paced rapidly-scaling satellite production environment quickly understand the technical design of our satellites. You will have a track record of standing up and operating manufacturing facilities that utilize, design, and produce large volumes of technically complex machines, robots, tools, and/or equipment. Experience with mass production of satellites is a MUST.

MUST HAVE EXP MANUFACTURING SATELLITES IN HIGH VOLUME.

Job Responsibilities:

• Oversee all manufacturing operations across manufacturing facilities. You will be responsible for every aspect of standing up our satellite production facilities and recruiting, leading, and training the production teams.

• Plan, prioritize, and simplify manufacturing requirements and then implement manufacturing designs/processes to meet those requirements.

• Ensure the manufacturing team engages extremely closely with the design, product and technology teams to:

o Understand satellite designs and suggest design modifications for manufacturing and product improvement.

o Introduce next generation designs/subsystems as rapidly and efficiently as possible into the existing (and future) satellite production processes.

o Create a healthy Dev-Ops relationship between our satellite technology R&D team and our satellite production/manufacturing team.

• Implement methods to inspect, test and evaluate satellites and production equipment.

• Enable rapid-production and testing of new spacecraft technologies on the ground and in orbit.

• Serve as a thought leader to eliminate unnecessary and ill-conceived requirements.

• Collect, analyze, and utilize data as a living tool for management and manufacturing personnel.

• Help company vertically-integrate spacecraft subsystems and components as necessary. Enable long-term production flexibility for future make/buy decisions and re-evaluate make/buy decisions as events dictate.

• Implement procedures to track satellites (and their subsystems/components) through the manufacturing process to guarantee that each part of the process is correct and consistently executed.

Job Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s Degree (or better) in Mechanical Engineer, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, or other relevant technical degree.

• Previous experience (10+ years) designing, standing up, and operating a manufacturing or production facility for satellites, satellite components, space payloads. In-depth understanding of industry best practices for quality in the manufacturing process at scale.

• Experience leading the production of satellites or satellite components at scale is a plus.

• Experience in leading, developing and managing large production teams.

• Experience managing overseas suppliers is a plus.