Senior Director of Operations

NextGenEnergyJobs; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is seeking an operations-focused leader to oversee and optimize manufacturing functions across multiple sites. The role emphasizes hands-on presence, safety, and rapid execution in a high-stakes environment.

The successful candidate will mentor Production Directors and work across Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and EHSS to drive continuous improvement while navigating industrial hazards and travel to supplier locations as needed.

Qualifications

• Must work across both office and manufacturing environments.
• May require travel to multiple manufacturing sites and supplier locations.
• Physically capable of typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods.
• Environment includes industrial hazards such as heat, fumes, high voltage, and cryogenics.

Responsibilities

• Active Floor Presence: maintain a highly visible, hands-on presence across 24x7 manufacturing operations to support teams and ensure daily execution.
• Strategic Leadership Buffer: act as a steadying force for the plant and advocate for team needs.
• Execution Driver: anchor operations in a safety culture and help teams remove roadblocks to move faster.
• Executive Coaching: manage, mentor, and empower a team of Production Directors.
• Talent Architecture: design and oversee development frameworks for shift supervisors, line leads, and engineers.
• Culture of Psychological Safety: cultivate an environment balancing accountability with psychological safety to surface first-time failures.
• Strategic Alignment: partner with Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and EHSS for rapid execution.
• Project Lifecycle Mastery: scope, plan, and execute new manufacturing initiatives from inception through commissioning.
• Iterative Lean Culture: implement lean principles to map value streams, optimize flows, and reduce costs.
• Rigorous Quality Assurance: oversee all manufacturing operations to meet quality standards and customer requirements.

Job description

About Commonwealth Fusion Systems:

Responsibilities

• Active Floor Presence: Maintain a highly visible, hands-on presence across our 24x7 manufacturing operations to support teams and ensure seamless daily execution
• Strategic Leadership Buffer: Act as a steadying force for the plant and advocate for team needs
• Execution Driver: Anchor operations in a deeply embedded safety culture. Actively help team remove roadblocks and move faster
• Executive Coaching: Manage, mentor, and empower a team of Production Directors
• Talent Architecture: Design and oversee technical and leadership development frameworks to ensure shift supervisors, line leads, and engineers can operate in a fast-paced environment with high uncertainty
• Culture of Psychological Safety: Cultivate an environment that balances high accountability with the psychological safety required to surface and solve first-time failures collectively
• Strategic Alignment: Partner closely with peers in Engineering, Supply Chain, Quality, and EHSS to ensure rapid execution
• Project Lifecycle Mastery: Scope, plan, and execute new manufacturing initiatives, managing them from inception through commissioning to timely completion within budget constraints
• Iterative Lean Culture: Implement lean manufacturing principles to rapidly map new value streams, optimize process flows, improve efficiency, and reduce operational costs
• Rigorous Quality Assurance: Oversee all manufacturing operations to guarantee that every output meets or exceeds the company's stringent quality standards and customer requirements

Requirements

• This role typically involves working in both office and manufacturing environments
• May require travel to various manufacturing sites and supplier locations
• Perform activities such as typing, standing, or sitting for extended periods of time
• Work in a facility that contains industrial hazards including heat, cold, noise, fumes, strong magnets, lead (Pb), high voltage, high current, pressure systems, and cryogenics