Injection Molding Operations Lead | Scale & Optimize Production

LHH; South Bend (IN); On-site; USD 125,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Paid time off

401(k) with company match

Health insurance

Job summary

LHH is seeking an Operations Manager with Injection Molding experience for a Direct Hire, Permanent Placement near South Bend, IN. This role combines hands-on technical molding with strategic operations leadership to scale a growing manufacturing operation.

You will strengthen manufacturing standards, partner with engineering and production, develop technical talent, and drive continuous improvement across programs, shifts, and tooling.

Qualifications

• Bachelor degree in Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, or Plastics Engineering is required.
• Minimum of 5+ years of leadership experience within the manufacturing industry is required.
• Minimum of 10+ years of experience within engineering, operations, and/or production-related roles is required.

Responsibilities

• Lead manufacturing operations to achieve safety, quality, productivity, cost, and delivery objectives.
• Establish consistent manufacturing standards, operating expectations, and accountability across multiple shifts.
• Implement scientific molding principles to improve process stability, repeatability, quality, and efficiency.
• Partner with engineering to successfully industrialize and launch new programs into production.
• Strengthen collaboration between manufacturing, engineering, quality, maintenance, materials, and technical teams.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives targeting throughput, scrap, downtime, changeovers, labor, and material utilization.
• Establish KPIs and use manufacturing data to identify performance gaps and improvement opportunities.
• Lead structured problem-solving and root-cause efforts addressing recurring manufacturing and process challenges.
• Evaluate capacity, equipment utilization, workflows, and plant layouts to support future growth.
• Assess automation, equipment, and technology investments to improve productivity, consistency, safety, and scalability.
• Develop technical capabilities among supervisors, processors, technicians, and other manufacturing personnel.
• Establish standardized process setup, validation, documentation, monitoring, and troubleshooting practices.
• Support production readiness, tooling trials, process qualifications, capacity planning, and manufacturing launches.
• Promote an accountable, collaborative culture focused on operational discipline and continuous improvement.
• Communicate operational performance, capital requirements, improvement priorities, and project progress to leadership.

Skills

Injection molding

Leadership

Process optimization

Data-driven decision making

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor degree in Engineering / Manufacturing / Plastics

5+ years leadership in manufacturing

10+ years experience in engineering/ops/production

Job description

LHH is seeking an Operations Manager with Injection Molding experience for a Direct Hire, Permanent Placement near South Bend, IN. This role combines hands-on technical molding with strategic operations leadership to scale a growing manufacturing operation.

You will strengthen manufacturing standards, partner with engineering and production, develop technical talent, and drive continuous improvement across programs, shifts, and tooling.