Fiber Optic Manufacturing Engineering Lead

Flint Hills Resources; Naperville (IL); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Molex in Naperville, IL seeks a Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor to lead the development and continuous improvement of fiber optic manufacturing processes. You will build a strong team, translate prototype methods into scalable production, and ensure safe, repeatable operations across the plant.

You will partner with Product Engineering and Quality to optimize design for manufacturability, drive readiness for new product introduction, and sustain manufacturing excellence with data-driven

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Optical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 7+ years of experience in manufacturing engineering, process engineering, industrialization, or a related discipline within a production environment.
• People-leadership experience within an engineering, manufacturing, or technical organization.
• Demonstrated experience developing and scaling prototype or low-volume manufacturing processes into stable, repeatable production.
• Hands-on experience supporting manufacturing operations, production personnel, equipment, tooling, fixtures, and process troubleshooting.
• Experience developing manufacturing processes, documentation, controls, layouts, cells, or production methods.
• Strong root cause analysis, corrective action, risk assessment, data analysis, and structured problem-solving skills.
• Ability to interpret engineering drawings, specifications, bills of material, tolerances, and technical requirements.
• Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, allocate resources, lead technical teams, and drive accountability in a fast-paced, high-mix environment.
• Effective communication and influencing skills across manufacturing, technical, supplier, customer, and leadership groups.

Responsibilities

• Provide Manufacturing Engineering leadership for facility planning and transition activities, including manufacturing layouts, equipment relocation, process requalification, production readiness, and operational continuity.
• Build and lead the Manufacturing Engineering team by establishing priorities, technical ownership, accountability, operating routines, and resource plans aligned with plant and business needs.
• Prioritize engineering resources based on customer commitments, manufacturing risk, capacity requirements, and business needs while driving ownership, urgency, and follow through.
• Lead the development, validation, implementation, optimization, and sustainment of safe, controlled, repeatable, and scalable manufacturing processes for new and existing fiber optic products.
• Lead manufacturing readiness for prototype, pilot, pre-production, new product introduction, product transfer, launch, and stabilization activities.
• Develop scale-up and capacity plans covering process flow, work content, cycle time, labor, equipment, tooling, floor space, material flow, process controls, and training requirements.
• Lead the development and implementation of manufacturing cells, layouts, production methods, equipment, fixtures, tooling, automation, standard work, and material-flow improvements.
• Partner with Product Engineering to evaluate designs, specifications, drawings, bills of material, tolerances, and assembly requirements for manufacturability, scalability, process capability, and production risk.
• Partner with Quality to establish process controls, inspection methods, acceptance criteria, PFMEAs, measurement-system requirements, and corrective-action practices.
• Ensure product and process characteristics affecting optical performance, reliability, manufacturability, and product quality are understood and appropriately controlled.
• Use manufacturing data and shop-floor observations to identify variation, capacity constraints, recurring problems, and improvement opportunities.
• Apply Lean Manufacturing, structured problem solving, visual management, standard work, and daily accountability practices to improve safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost.
• Establish standards and accountability for manufacturing documentation, process validation, training requirements, engineering records, and change control.
• Develop long-term organizational capability through recruiting, onboarding, mentoring, cross training, technical development, and succession planning.
• Communicate manufacturing risks, technical decisions, capacity constraints, resource needs, timing, and required actions across organizational levels, and serve as the escalation point for complex manufacturing issues.
• Champion Principle Based Management™ within the Manufacturing Engineering organization.

Skills

Manufacturing leadership

Process development

Lean manufacturing

Cross-functional teamwork

Root cause analysis

PFMEA

Manufacturing layout

Team mentoring

Process validation

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Manufacturing, Mechanical, Industrial, Electrical, Optical Engineering, or related field

Job description

Molex in Naperville, IL seeks a Manufacturing Engineering Supervisor to lead the development and continuous improvement of fiber optic manufacturing processes. You will build a strong team, translate prototype methods into scalable production, and ensure safe, repeatable operations across the plant.

You will partner with Product Engineering and Quality to optimize design for manufacturability, drive readiness for new product introduction, and sustain manufacturing excellence with data-driven