Manufacturing Leader: Scale Production & Quality

Wardstone; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Wardstone in Los Angeles is seeking a seasoned Manufacturing Leader to build and scale our production capability from prototype to high-volume interceptor manufacturing. You’ll own the facility, processes, tooling, quality, and the team that makes it all happen; you’ll report to the CEO.

This role partners with founders, engineering, and supply chain to ensure designs are manufacturable, cost-effective, and deliver targets.

Qualifications

• B.S. in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Aerospace Engineering, or related field.
• 7+ years manufacturing experience in aerospace/defense/complex hardware, including at least 5 years in leadership.
• Has scaled a hardware product from prototype to production.
• Experience building and leading manufacturing teams.
• Strong knowledge of quality systems such as AS9100 and production processes.
• Experience planning facilities, equipment, and tooling.
• Must be a U.S. person as defined by ITAR; eligible to obtain a U.S. security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Lead manufacturing and build the manufacturing team.
• Own manufacturing strategy including insourcing/outsourcing decisions.
• Set manufacturing priorities with founders and engineering leads, and make the tradeoffs clear.
• Support prototype builds with fast, quality builds.
• Plan and build production facility, equipment, and tooling.
• Develop production processes for structures, electronics, final assembly, and test; plan path to low-rate and full-rate production.
• Own cost per unit and production rate; drive targets.
• Work with engineering on design-for-manufacturing and design-for-test from early in each design.
• Build a quality system scalable to AS9100 and manage safety.
• Ensure manufacturing meets customer, contract, and regulatory requirements.

Skills

Leadership

AS9100 knowledge

Production planning

Facility planning

Cross-functional collaboration

Regulatory compliance

Education

B.S. in Mechanical, Manufacturing, Industrial, or Aerospace Engineering

Job description

Wardstone in Los Angeles is seeking a seasoned Manufacturing Leader to build and scale our production capability from prototype to high-volume interceptor manufacturing. You’ll own the facility, processes, tooling, quality, and the team that makes it all happen; you’ll report to the CEO.

This role partners with founders, engineering, and supply chain to ensure designs are manufacturable, cost-effective, and deliver targets.