Director, Quantum Manufacturing & Program Development

Front Door Defense; Louisville, Northern (CO, KY); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Infleqtion seeks a Director of Manufacturing and Program Development Operations to lead the development, maturation, and execution of manufacturing capabilities for optical clock quantum technologies. This hands-on leader will bridge advanced development and scalable production, partnering with Engineering, QSS leadership, Quality, Supply Chain and others to turn prototypes into robust, repeatable systems.

The role requires building people, processes, and infrastructure to support prototype

Responsibilities

• Lead manufacturing operations supporting advanced development, prototype, engineering development, qualification, and pilot-production builds.
• Establish and mature manufacturing processes capable of transitioning new technologies from laboratory and engineering environments into repeatable production.
• Develop the manufacturing strategy, operating model, staffing plan, equipment roadmap, and infrastructure required to support program and product objectives.
• Own execution of build schedules, manufacturing readiness, capacity planning, resource allocation, and day-to-day production priorities.
• Create scalable operating processes appropriate to both low-volume/high-complexity development builds and future production growth.
• Establish clear ownership, accountability, and operating cadence across manufacturing activities.
• Partner with engineering teams early in the product lifecycle to influence design for manufacturability, assembly, testability, reliability, and serviceability.
• Lead manufacturing readiness reviews and ensure appropriate maturity of bills of material, routings, work instructions, tooling, test equipment, training, and material availability prior to builds.
• Establish disciplined processes for prototype-to-production transitions, including New Product Introduction (NPI) gates, build readiness criteria, lessons learned, and closure of manufacturing risks.
• Drive development of repeatable assembly, integration, test, inspection, and acceptance processes.
• Identify manufacturing constraints early and lead cross-functional actions to resolve them.
• Ensure effective transition of mature products and processes into sustained production organizations when appropriate.
• Provide leadership and direction for manufacturing engineering activities supporting advanced development.
• Drive process definition, documentation, characterization, validation, and continuous improvement.
• Establish appropriate manufacturing standards, process controls, tooling strategies, and production methods.
• Lead development of production equipment, fixtures, workstations, and manufacturing test capabilities.
• Ensure calibration, preventive maintenance, configuration, and operational readiness of pilot-line and manufacturing equipment.
• Apply lean manufacturing, structured problem solving, and statistical methods where appropriate to improve quality, throughput, and predictability.
• Establish and manage key manufacturing metrics, including schedule performance, first-pass yield, quality, cycle time, labor efficiency, throughput, material availability, and cost.
• Build operational dashboards and review mechanisms that provide timely visibility into performance, risks, constraints, and corrective actions.
• Drive root-cause analysis and corrective action for manufacturing and development issues.
• Develop capacity and labor models to support program schedules, business planning, and future production requirements.
• Identify opportunities to reduce manufacturing cost and complexity while protecting product performance and quality.
• Create a culture of disciplined execution and continuous improvement.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Work with Engineering, QSS/T&F leadership, Product Management, Quality, Supply Chain, Finance, Facilities, and other stakeholders to achieve program objectives.

Job description

Infleqtion seeks a Director of Manufacturing and Program Development Operations to lead the development, maturation, and execution of manufacturing capabilities for optical clock quantum technologies. This hands-on leader will bridge advanced development and scalable production, partnering with Engineering, QSS leadership, Quality, Supply Chain and others to turn prototypes into robust, repeatable systems.

The role requires building people, processes, and infrastructure to support prototype