Director of Manufacturing - Scale-Up Ops Leader

Rheo Engineering; Peoria (IL); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Relocation assistance

Health insurance

401(k) with match

Dental, vision, life insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Rheo Engineering seeks a Director of Manufacturing to own the shop floor safety, quality, schedule, and people behind the growth of our equipment division. You will lead supervisors and trades, scale the workforce, drive lean improvements, and ensure on-time delivery while maintaining cGMP-aligned documentation and strong collaboration with Quality and Supply Chain.

This role requires a bachelor's degree, 5+ years leadership in engineer-to-order or fabrication settings, and a track record of

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree preferred in engineering, manufacturing, industrial, or operations.
• 5+ years of progressive manufacturing leadership experience.
• Demonstrated success scaling manufacturing capacity and skilled-trades workforce.
• Track record of delivering complex builds on time, on quality, and on cost.

Responsibilities

• Lead shop-floor supervisors, leads, and trades teams to build a strong frontline leadership bench.
• Coach teams in structured problem-solving and lean methods to eliminate waste and improve flow.
• Foster ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement across the floor.
• Partner with HR on hiring, onboarding, training, and workforce development for a growing trades organization.
• Own daily and weekly shop-floor execution to hit build milestones and ship dates.
• Develop and execute a manufacturing capacity plan to scale ahead of demand.
• Define and own manufacturing KPIs and drive corrective actions when targets are missed.

Skills

Shop-floor leadership

Lean manufacturing

Data-driven decisions

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering or related field

Tools

Epicor Kinetic

Microsoft Office

Job description

Rheo Engineering seeks a Director of Manufacturing to own the shop floor safety, quality, schedule, and people behind the growth of our equipment division. You will lead supervisors and trades, scale the workforce, drive lean improvements, and ensure on-time delivery while maintaining cGMP-aligned documentation and strong collaboration with Quality and Supply Chain.

This role requires a bachelor's degree, 5+ years leadership in engineer-to-order or fabrication settings, and a track record of