Design for Manufacturing Director

SMA: The Program Lifecycle Company; Franklin (MA); On-site; USD 138,000 - 197,000; Full time

Job summary

SMA: The Program Lifecycle Company is seeking an experienced Design for Manufacturing Director to lead the transition of complex products from development into scalable production for federal contracts. The role connects design, engineering, supply chain, quality, and manufacturing to optimize cost, quality, reliability, and delivery.

The ideal candidate brings hands-on manufacturing experience and a proven record of moving products from concept to sustained production, including pilot builds,

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering or related field.
• 10+ years in product development, manufacturing engineering, or production launch roles.
• DFM/DFA knowledge and familiarity with manufacturing processes.
• Experience with suppliers, contract manufacturers and production partners.
• Knowledge of machining, injection molding, sheet metal fabrication, electronics assembly or similar.
• Experience with BOM management, ECRs, configuration control, and production documentation.
• Strong program management, problem solving, and cross-functional leadership.
• Experience supporting federal government contracts or similarly regulated requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead product industrialization and manufacturing readiness for transition from prototype to scalable production.
• Evaluate designs for manufacturability, cost, reliability, and assembly efficiency.
• Develop and implement DFM and DFA strategies and establish manufacturing requirements.
• Partner with engineering to resolve production-readiness issues and ensure readiness criteria.
• Manage supplier and contract manufacturers, RFQ development, evaluations, and cost analyses.
• Develop NPI plans, production-readiness milestones, and cross-functional action plans.
• Coordinate pilot production, early builds, and ramp-to-production.
• Drive continuous improvement in quality, yield, and process capability.
• Balance cost and schedule objectives while meeting contractual requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Manufacturing readiness

DFM / DFA

Program management

Supplier management

Cost/quality optimization

Problem solving

Prototyping to production

Regulated contracts experience

Education

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical/Manufacturing/Industrial Engineering

Tools

Job description

SMA is seeking an experienced Design for Manufacturing Director to lead the transition of complex products from development and prototyping into scalable, repeatable production in support of federal government contracts.

The Director will connect product design, engineering, supply chain, quality, program management, and manufacturing partners to ensure products are optimized for cost, quality, reliability, manufacturability, and delivery. This individual will own manufacturing readiness, supplier and process development, pilot builds, and successful production launch.

The ideal candidate combines strong engineering and program leadership with hands-on manufacturing experience and a demonstrated record of taking products from concept through sustained production.

Key Responsibilities

Product Industrialization and Manufacturing Readiness

• Lead the transition of products from prototype and development into scalable production.
• Evaluate product designs and identify opportunities to improve manufacturability, assembly efficiency, reliability, and cost.
• Develop and implement Design for Manufacturing and Design for Assembly strategies.
• Establish manufacturing requirements, production workflows, tooling needs, process controls, and readiness criteria.
• Partner with engineering teams to resolve design issues that affect production readiness or execution.

Supplier and Contract Manufacturer Management

• Partner with Supply Chain Management to identify, evaluate, select, and onboard manufacturing partners and suppliers.
• Lead or support RFQ development, supplier evaluations, source selection, and manufacturing cost analysis.
• Align suppliers and contract manufacturers on production schedules, technical requirements, capacity, and quality expectations.
• Develop productive relationships with contract manufacturers, tooling vendors, and component suppliers.
• Establish and monitor supplier quality, delivery, readiness, and performance metrics.

New Product Introduction

• Develop and execute NPI plans, production-readiness milestones, schedules, and cross-functional action plans.
• Support Program and Engineering Management in prototype builds, engineering validation builds, pilot production, and production ramp-up.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams to ensure successful product launch and resolve issues during pilot and early production phases.
• Ensure lessons learned from early builds are incorporated into product design, tooling, documentation, and manufacturing processes.

Quality and Process Development

• Partner with Quality to establish manufacturing quality standards, inspection requirements, test protocols, and acceptance criteria.
• Ensure development and control of work instructions, assembly procedures, test documentation, quality plans, and other production records.
• Lead or support root-cause analysis and corrective and preventive actions for manufacturing issues.
• Drive continuous improvement in production quality, repeatability, and process capability.

Cost and Production Optimization

• Develop manufacturing cost models and identify cost-reduction and value-engineering opportunities.
• Optimize production processes to improve yield, throughput, efficiency, reliability, and scalability.
• Support forecasting, capacity planning, resource planning, and production-scaling decisions.
• Balance cost and schedule objectives without compromising product performance, quality, or contractual requirements.

Cross Functional Leadership

• Serve as the primary manufacturing lead within cross-functional product and program teams.
• Own manufacturing-readiness schedules, production-launch deliverables, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Provide leadership with clear, evidence-based updates on readiness, constraints, decisions, and required actions.
• Align Engineering, Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Program Management, and manufacturing partners around a common production plan.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related field.
• 10 or more years of experience in product development, manufacturing engineering, new product introduction, industrialization, or production launch roles.
• Demonstrated success taking complex products from prototype through repeatable production.
• Strong knowledge of DFM, DFA, manufacturing processes, and quality systems.
• Experience working with suppliers, contract manufacturers, and production partners.
• Knowledge of relevant manufacturing methods such as machining, injection molding, sheet-metal fabrication, electronics assembly, or comparable processes.
• Experience with bill-of-material management, engineering change control, configuration discipline, and production documentation.
• Strong program management, problem-solving, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Experience supporting federal government contracts or similarly regulated customer requirements.

Highly Desired Qualifications

• Experience in aerospace and defense, industrial equipment, medical devices, electronics, or another highly regulated manufacturing environment.
• Experience scaling products from pilot production to sustained or volume manufacturing.
• Working knowledge of Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, APQP, PPAP, FMEA, and formal quality-management systems.
• Experience developing or improving manufacturing-readiness and NPI processes.
• PMP, Lean, Six Sigma, or related professional certification.

Key Attributes

• Hands-on manufacturing leader who can move comfortably between design reviews, supplier discussions, pilot builds, and executive program reviews.
• Able to translate engineering intent into executable production processes and measurable readiness criteria.
• Proactive in identifying production risks and personally driving issues to closure.
• Effective at influencing across functions and external partners without relying solely on formal authority.
• Focused on durable processes, disciplined execution, and measurable business results.

Measures of Success

• On-time achievement of production-readiness and launch milestones.
• Successful completion of prototype, validation, and pilot builds.
• Achievement of manufacturing cost, yield, quality, reliability, and delivery targets.
• Supplier readiness and sustained supplier performance.
• Reduced time to production and effective scaling of manufacturing capacity.
• Effective closure of production risks, design issues, and corrective actions.
• Documented continuous-improvement and cost-reduction results.

Preferred Candidate Profile

The strongest candidate is a practical manufacturing leader who can establish the operating discipline required for production while remaining close enough to the work to resolve design, supplier, tooling, quality, and build issues. Within the first year, this individual will be expected to establish manufacturing-readiness processes, successfully launch products, strengthen the supplier network, and put scalable systems in place to meet cost, quality, and delivery commitments.

Location:

Prefer Franklin, MA or Lorton, VA, travel available.

POP

6 Months

Pay (Range: hourly or annual salary)

$121.5/hour

Reference ID (O number from TOD)

O-016479.01