General Manager - Precision Machining

Gradel Professional Search; Denver (NC); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Gradel Professional Search seeks a General Manager to lead a precision manufacturing facility serving space, aerospace, and defense. You will own P&L, drive strategic growth, and align capacity with revenue commitments.

This hands-on leader will manage manufacturing, quality, engineering, and program execution while developing talent, investing in automation, and ensuring safe, compliant production delivering on-time, profitable performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations, or related discipline; substantial leadership experience may substitute.
• 10+ years of progressively responsible manufacturing experience.
• 5+ years senior leadership in machining, aerospace, defense, or similar technical environment.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary functions such as operations, engineering, quality, and production planning.
• Demonstrated responsibility for the financial performance of a plant or operating company.
• Strong customer-management, negotiation, communication, and organizational-development skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the company's P&L and cash-flow performance.
• Develop the annual operating plan and budget and maintain accurate forecast.
• Convert objectives into clear priorities and measurable expectations.
• Monitor results against plan and take corrective action when needed.
• Improve margins through disciplined pricing and job costing.
• Increase labor efficiency and capacity utilization.
• Evaluate capital investments for customer demand and ROI.
• Provide direction across site functions from manufacturing through administration.
• Ensure production schedules are realistic and properly resourced.
• Improve throughput, reduce setup time, raise productivity and on-time delivery.
• Track operating metrics: backlog, earned hours, spindle utilization, schedule attainment, quality losses.
• Promote lean practices and preventive maintenance; maintain safe workplace.
• Coordinate engineering, programming, production, and quality from quotation to delivery.
• Oversee new program launches from manufacturability to production readiness.
• Maintain compliance with AS9100D, ISO 9001:2015, ITAR; ensure containment and corrective actions.
• Maintain audit readiness and protect traceability and confidential info.
• Lead customer visits and negotiations; ensure quotes reflect risk and capacity needs.
• Build an effective leadership team and succession plans.
• Collaborate with corporate leadership and other sites to drive growth.

Skills

Strategic leadership

P&L management

Operational excellence

Lean & 5S

Customer relationships

Capital investment

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations, or related discipline

Tools

ERP systems

Capital budgeting

Job description

The General Manager is responsible for the overall leadership and performance of our client's facility specializing in complex, close-tolerance components for space, aerospace, and defense applications.

This individual will have full responsibility for the company’s profit-and-loss performance, customer relationships, manufacturing operations, quality, workforce development, and strategic growth. The General Manager will lead the development and execution of the company’s annual operating plan while ensuring that revenue objectives are aligned with available capacity, technical capabilities, customer commitments, and profitability expectations.

The successful candidate will be a visible, hands-on leader who can operate effectively on the shop floor, with customers, and as part of the corporate executive leadership team. This person must balance daily operating discipline with longer-term priorities such as customer diversification, capacity expansion, automation, organizational development, and capital investment.

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Business and Financial Leadership

Own the company's P&L and cash-flow performance.

Develop the annual operating plan and budget and maintain an accurate forecast.

Convert business objectives into clear priorities and measurable expectations.

Monitor results against plan and take corrective action when performance falls short.

Improve margins through disciplined pricing and job costing.

Increase labor efficiency and capacity utilization.

Evaluate capital investments for customer demand, strategic fit, and financial return.

2. Operational Excellence

Provide direction across all site functions from manufacturing through administration.

Ensure production schedules are realistic and properly resourced.

Improve throughput and machine utilization. Reduce setup time. Raise labor productivity, first-pass yield, and on-time delivery.

Track the operating metrics that drive performance. Focus on backlog, earned hours, spindle utilization, schedule attainment, and quality losses.

Promote lean practices and 5S. Reinforce preventive maintenance, standard work, and root-cause problem-solving.

Maintain a safe and professional workplace.

3. Automation and Capacity Management

Maximize productive use of the facility's automated 5-axis systems and unattended capacity.

Coordinate the resources needed to increase productive spindle hours.

Schedule for extended and lights-out production.

Protect quality and equipment reliability.

Identify production constraints and lead efforts to remove them.

Build repeatable processes that allow revenue to grow faster than labor or overhead.

Base equipment and facility investments on sustainable demand.

(Note: Automated high-precision systems are central to the facility's strategy to increase throughput, shorten lead times, and leverage 5-axis, mill-turn, and automated pallet capacity.)

4. Engineering, Quality, and Program Execution

Coordinate engineering, programming, production, and quality from quotation through delivery.

Oversee new program launches from manufacturability review through production readiness.

Improve established processes. Reduce cycle time and handling. Increase tool life, process stability, and unattended runtime.

Maintain compliance with AS9100D, ISO 9001:2015, and ITAR requirements to meet all customer and government-contract obligations.

Monitor quality performance. Ensure prompt containment and effective corrective action.

Maintain audit readiness. Protect product traceability, controlled information, and customer confidentiality.

Ensure engineering and quality decisions support reliable delivery and profitable production.

5. Commercial Growth and Customer Leadership

Maintain strong relationships with key customers and serve as the senior escalation point.

Partner with the corporate commercial team to win new customers and expand existing accounts.

Diversify the company’s customer and program portfolio while protecting strategic accounts.

Lead important customer visits and business reviews. Support contract negotiations and major quote decisions.

Ensure quotations reflect technical risk and capacity needs.

Establish clear approvals for pricing and major commercial commitments.

6. People and Organizational Leadership

Build an effective leadership team. Set clear authority and accountability.

Maintain a strong presence throughout the facility and communicate openly with employees.

Build the staffing and technical depth needed for current commitments and future growth.

Develop successors for critical leadership and technical roles.

Assist with cultivation of career paths for technical employees and emerging leaders.

Promote teamwork and disciplined execution. Reinforce continuous learning and personal accountability.

Preserve the team's technical craftsmanship and collaborative culture while adding the systems needed for growth.

7. Parent Company Collaboration

Participate in corporate leadership meetings and portfolio initiatives.

Share capacity and technical knowledge across the corporate portfolio. Surface cross-company customer opportunities.

Transfer work when it improves service or balances capacity.

Use corporate resources to strengthen site performance and support growth.

Support customer programs that benefit from the parent company's broader capabilities.

Preserve operating site autonomy while meeting corporate strategic and financial objectives.

Qualifications and Education Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in engineering, manufacturing, operations, business, or a related discipline; substantial directly relevant leadership experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

10+ years of progressively responsible manufacturing experience.

5+ years of senior leadership responsibility within a machining, aerospace, defense, or similar technical manufacturing environment.

Demonstrated responsibility for the financial performance of a plant, business unit, or operating company.

Working knowledge of manufacturing financials, including revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, labor utilization, overhead absorption, working capital, and capital investment.

Experience leading multidisciplinary functions such as operations, engineering, quality, production planning, supply chain, and customer service.

Demonstrated success improving safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and profitability.

Strong customer-management, negotiation, communication, and organizational-development skills.

Preferred Skills

Direct experience leading a precision CNC machining operation serving space, aerospace, or defense customers.

Understanding of complex simultaneous 5-axis machining, mill-turn operations, automation, pallet systems, and unattended production.

Experience machining titanium, Inconel, stainless steel, aluminum, and other aerospace materials.

Familiarity with AS9100D, ISO 9001, ITAR, CMMC, NIST SP 800-171, and customer‑specific quality requirements.

Experience with new-product introduction (NPI), first‑article inspection (FAI), program transfers, and production scaling.

Experience improving customer and program diversification.

Familiarity with ERP-based scheduling, job costing, capacity planning, and performance reporting.

Experience within a private-equity-backed or multi‑site manufacturing organization.

Lean, Six Sigma, or comparable continuous‑improvement training.

MBA or advanced technical or business degree.

Additional Notes

This position reports to the Chief Executive Officer of the parent company and has overall responsibility for the performance of the operating company. The General Manager is expected to maintain a strong on‑site presence while collaborating regularly with corporate executive leadership and the leaders of other operating companies.