Production Manager

Oshen; Plymouth; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative robotics company in Plymouth is seeking a Manufacturing Lead to oversee the full manufacturing lifecycle of ocean robots. The role focuses on developing scalable production processes and leading a small team while also engaging in hands-on assembly work. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in hardware production and a strong ability to improve operational systems. Competitive salary plus stock options are offered.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Meaningful stock options

Qualifications

• Experience in hands-on hardware production from a startup, marine yard, or fabrication shop.
• Ability to balance between practical assembly and strategic planning.
• Confidence in leading teams in workshop or factory environments.

Responsibilities

• Own the full manufacturing lifecycle: sourcing, supplier management, QC, assembly, and testing.
• Build and refine processes, SOPs, and quality controls for repeatable production.
• Lead mechanical and electronics assembly, including 3D-printing workflows.
• Manage a small production team, balancing hands-on work and leadership.

Skills

Organisational skills

Hands-on hardware production experience

Leadership

Process improvement mindset

Comfortable in practical environments

Job description

About the role We’re scaling from small, surge-built batches of robots to continuous, high-volume production. Your mission is to “McDonaldise” our manufacturing: build processes so clear and robust that a new team member can be assembling C-Star parts confidently within an hour.

You’ll ideally join in January, learn the ropes during our next fleet build, then lead production of our new concept design (small batch) and a larger 50-unit customer delivery over the following six months. You’ll start as a team of one, with part-time builders, working closely with the executive and engineering teams to build a smooth, scalable production operation.

What you’ll do

• Own the full manufacturing lifecycle: sourcing, supplier management, QC, assembly, testing, and commissioning sea trials.
• Build and refine processes, SOPs, and quality controls that make production repeatable and teachable.
• Lead mechanical and electronics assembly, including 3D-printing workflows and post-processing, improving speed, repeatability, and cost as we scale.
• Balance one-off R&D builds with scalable production, and provide design-for-manufacture feedback into engineering.
• Build and lead a small production team, managing priorities and timelines. Early on, you’ll be hands‑on and building robots yourself.
• Contribute to high-level decisions on scaling strategy, facility layout, tooling and investments.

The Package

• Salary: Competitive + meaningful stock options. We’re open to a wide range of candidates and can reward compensation accordingly
• Location: In person at our Plymouth waterfront office & workshop

Who you are

• Organised and methodical. You take satisfaction in building clean, reliable processes.
• Experienced in hands‑on hardware production: whether from a startup, marine yard, fabrication shop, or similar environment.
• Comfortable moving between the bench and the boardroom. You can build a fixture one day and present a scaling plan the next.
• Confident leading people: in a workshop, factory line, crew, or any practical environment.
• Curious and resourceful, with a builder’s mindset and the drive to improve systems every time you touch them.

Why Oshen?

The ocean is still a blind spot for the planet, there’s no persistent, wide-area sensing network. Solving this requires nodes that are mass‑deployable, persistent, and navigable. Persistence means surviving multi-month missions through the worst winter storms. Navigability means reliably going from A→B or holding station. And mass deployment means units must be small, low-cost, and easy to field in swarms.

Oshen is the only company to have solved all three. Our one‑metre ocean robots have completed multi-month missions, navigated autonomously at sea, and are the only surface robots in the world known to have sailed into, and survived, a Category 5 hurricane.

We’re signing new contracts rapidly and expanding the team to meet demand. You’ll be joining at an inflection point, where your work helps lay the foundations of a global ocean network that moves missions, customers, and climate science forward.

Our hiring process

• Apply: Apply on hiring.oshendata.com
• Step 1: 15‑minute intro call
• Step 2: Detailed interview
• Final: Half‑day with the Oshen team in Plymouth (expenses covered)

Applications close on the 28th November. We encourage early applicants.