Plant Director: Defense Manufacturing & Start-Up

Leidos; Huntsville (AL); On-site; USD 139,000 - 251,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Health and Wellness programs

Income Protection

Paid Leave and Retirement

Job summary

Leidos in Huntsville, AL, seeks a Plant Manager to lead a brown-field facility startup supporting defense systems. You will direct safe, compliant, high‑volume electronics production, oversee production planning, and drive continuous improvement across safety, quality, and cost metrics.

You will coordinate with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Program Management to align milestones, manage budgets, and ensure on‑time delivery while building organizational capability for current programs

Qualifications

• Experience in defense, aerospace, or other highly regulated manufacturing environments.
• Direct experience with complex machining or complex system assembly/integration/testing in a high‑mix, low‑volume manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading facility start‑ups, capital activation, and site construction planning and execution.
• Experience implementing lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, statistical process control, Theory of Constraints, or other structured operational excellence methodologies.
• Experience scaling production, activating manufacturing facilities, introducing new products, expanding capacity, or transitioning programs from development and low‑rate initial production to higher production rates.
• Experience with ERP/MRP systems, MES, production scheduling, and data‑driven performance management.
• Experience leading capital equipment investments, facility modernization, test‑capacity expansion, and manufacturing layout optimization.
• Experience managing multiple product lines with differing production volumes, process requirements, technical complexity, and customer priorities.

Responsibilities

• Lead all manufacturing and production activities, including missile subsystem integration, system‑level assembly, test operations, and high‑volume electronics manufacturing.
• Foster a zero‑harm culture and ensure compliance with environmental, health, safety, hazardous‑material handling, and facility requirements.
• Partner with Quality and Engineering to maintain process controls, configuration management, and test documentation; ensure regulatory compliance.
• Translate program demand into executable production plans, staffing, material priorities, and test schedules; identify constraints and implement recovery plans.
• Lead lean manufacturing, root‑cause analysis, corrective and preventive actions, waste reduction, and standard work improvements.
• Own plant operating budgets, labor and overhead performance, manufacturing cost, capital planning, and resource utilization.
• Collaborate with Supply Chain, Procurement, and Planning to improve material availability and supplier performance; establish escalation for material constraints.
• Lead and develop a high‑performing organization spanning production supervisors, technicians, engineers, and support functions.
• Ensure equipment, utilities, and facilities are reliable and capable of meeting demand; prioritize maintenance and capital investments.
• Establish and monitor KPIs: safety, quality, on‑time delivery, throughput, yield, labor productivity, and inventory.

Skills

Defense manufacturing experience

Lean manufacturing

Six Sigma

Data-driven performance management

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

ERP/MRP systems

MES

Production scheduling

Job description

Leidos in Huntsville, AL, seeks a Plant Manager to lead a brown-field facility startup supporting defense systems. You will direct safe, compliant, high‑volume electronics production, oversee production planning, and drive continuous improvement across safety, quality, and cost metrics.

You will coordinate with Quality, Engineering, Supply Chain, and Program Management to align milestones, manage budgets, and ensure on‑time delivery while building organizational capability for current programs