Chief Engineer, Manufacturing Excellence (Hybrid)

Nextpower; Mesa (AZ); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Nextpower in Mesa, Arizona seeks a Chief Engineer, Manufacturing Excellence to lead the technical strategy and governance of manufacturing across internal facilities and contract partners. You will translate product reliability, quality, safety, cost, and delivery requirements into robust, scalable processes for utility-scale inverter systems.

You will drive design-for-manufacturability, establish process architectures, and lead PFMEA, SPC, APQP activities while mentoring teams to improve yield,

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Systems Engineering or related field; master’s degree preferred.
• Twelve or more years in manufacturing engineering, manufacturing excellence, or operations engineering.
• Experience with power electronics, high-voltage products, inverters, energy systems, or complex electromechanical equipment.
• Advanced knowledge of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, SPC, PFMEA, APQP, process validation, and capability analysis.
• Demonstrated leadership for factory readiness, production launches, process development, and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Lead multi-site standardization of manufacturing processes, work instructions, control plans, quality checks, performance metrics, and continuous-improvement practices across internal facilities and contract manufacturers.
• Define manufacturing excellence standards, methods, and technical requirements.
• Lead design-for-manufacturability and design-for-test reviews for new products.
• Establish process architecture, critical-to-quality characteristics, control plans, and standard work.
• Own process capability, PFMEA, SPC, APQP, process validation, and production-readiness activities.
• Direct factory readiness, pilot builds, manufacturing ramp-up, and continuous improvement programs.
• Drive improvements in first-pass yield, throughput, cycle time, cost, and defect reduction.
• Provide technical leadership for automation, tooling, fixtures, end-of-line testing, and manufacturing data systems.
• Resolve complex manufacturing issues using structured problem-solving, 8D, and root-cause analysis.
• Establish capability expectations and technical governance for contract manufacturers and key suppliers.
• Partner with Engineering, Quality, Reliability, Supply Chain, IT, and Operations to implement engineering and process changes.
• Mentor manufacturing engineers and build organizational capability in Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma.
• Review manufacturing KPIs, capability data, audit findings, NCRs, CAPAs, and reliability trends.
• Ensure manufacturing processes comply with applicable safety, quality, regulatory, and customer requirements.

Skills

Lean Six Sigma

Project leadership

Manufacturing excellence

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

PFMEA

APQP

SPC

8D problem solving

Job description

Nextpower in Mesa, Arizona seeks a Chief Engineer, Manufacturing Excellence to lead the technical strategy and governance of manufacturing across internal facilities and contract partners. You will translate product reliability, quality, safety, cost, and delivery requirements into robust, scalable processes for utility-scale inverter systems.

You will drive design-for-manufacturability, establish process architectures, and lead PFMEA, SPC, APQP activities while mentoring teams to improve yield,