Senior Manager, Optical Fabrication

Socket.dev; Fremont (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Gooch & Housego in Fremont, CA seeks a Senior Manager of Optical Fabrication to lead manufacturing of optical fabrication and coating operations. You will drive safety, quality, yield, throughput, and on-time delivery while building a high-performance team and scaling manufacturing capability.

You will collaborate with Engineering, Quality, and Planning to introduce new products, manage capacity, and ensure robust processes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or related technical discipline preferred.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing experience in precision optics or photonics.
• 7+ years of manufacturing leadership experience managing production teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership across optical fabrication and coating operations, ensuring safety, quality, yield, throughput, cycle time, cost, and on-time delivery.
• Translate business and customer requirements into manufacturing priorities and capacity plans with Production Planning.
• Lead continuous improvement using Lean, 6S, Kaizen and data-driven problem solving to improve flow, yield and process stability.

Skills

Leadership

Manufacturing leadership

Lean

Six Sigma

Kaizen

Cross-functional collaboration

Data-driven problem solving

Operational excellence

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Job description

Description

ABOUT US

Join a Global Photonics Leader: Engineering Solutions from the Deep Ocean to Outer Space!

Gooch & Housego (G&H) is a global precision photonics manufacturer serving the industrial, aerospace & defense, life sciences, and semiconductor markets. With operations across North America, Europe, and Asia, G&H designs and manufactures advanced optical components, systems, and subsystems that enable some of the world’s most demanding applications.

THE OPPORTUNITY

As Senior Manager, Optical Fabrication, you will provide leadership for G&H’s optical manufacturing operations in Fremont, including precision optical fabrication and optical and metal coating deposition. Reporting to the Director of Operations, you will have responsibility for manufacturing performance across these critical production areas, driving safety, quality, yield, throughput, cycle time, cost, and on-time delivery. This is a senior, hands‑on manufacturing leadership role requiring deep experience in optical fabrication and/or coating operations combined with the ability to lead teams, strengthen manufacturing capability, and drive sustained operational improvement. You will work closely with Engineering, Quality, Production Planning, Facilities, Maintenance, and other functions to improve process stability and capacity, support new product and process introduction, and ensure the operation is positioned to meet current and future business requirements.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING

Manufacturing Leadership & Performance

• Provide leadership across optical fabrication and coating operations, establishing priorities and accountability for safety, quality, yield, throughput, cycle time, cost, and on‑time delivery.
• Translate business and customer requirements into manufacturing priorities, capacity and resource plans, partnering with Production Planning to proactively address constraints, WIP, labor, equipment, and production risks.
• Establish and monitor key manufacturing metrics, identify performance gaps and trends, and lead corrective actions to deliver sustained operational improvement.

Operational Excellence & Manufacturing Capability

• Lead continuous improvement across manufacturing operations using Lean, 6S, Kaizen and data‑driven problem solving to improve flow, yield, productivity, equipment utilization, and process stability.
• Partner with Engineering and Quality to strengthen manufacturing processes, resolve complex production issues, and drive root‑cause corrective actions and long‑term process improvements.
• Lead manufacturing readiness for process transfers, new product introduction, equipment/process qualification, capacity expansion, and production ramps, ensuring appropriate staffing, training, documentation, and execution.

People & Organizational Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop production leaders, technicians, and operators, building organizational capability, accountability, succession depth, and a high‑performance manufacturing culture.
• Assess organizational structure, staffing and skills against current and future production requirements and develop workforce and training plans to close capability gaps.
• Establish clear expectations and operating rhythms across manufacturing teams while promoting strong safety, quality, cleanroom, and compliance standards.

Cross-Functional & Strategic Operations Leadership

• Serve as a senior manufacturing partner to the Director of Operations and Fremont leadership team, providing visibility to manufacturing performance, risks, capacity constraints, and investment needs.
• Partner across Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Production Planning, Facilities, and Maintenance to align manufacturing priorities and resolve cross‑functional issues affecting customer delivery and operational performance.
• Support manufacturing strategy, capital and equipment planning, make/buy or capacity decisions, and other initiatives that strengthen Fremont’s long‑term manufacturing capability.

WHAT YOU BRING

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, Operations, or a related technical discipline preferred; equivalent combination of education and significant relevant experience considered.
• 10+ years of progressive manufacturing experience in precision optics, optical fabrication, optical coatings, photonics, semiconductor, or another highly technical manufacturing environment.
• 7+ years of manufacturing leadership experience, including significant responsibility for production teams and manufacturing performance.
• Deep working knowledge of optical fabrication and/or optical coating processes strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated success improving manufacturing performance across safety, quality, yield, throughput, cycle time, cost, and on‑time delivery.
• Proven ability to lead complex manufacturing problem solving using Lean, Six Sigma, SPC, root‑cause analysis, CAPA, or related continuous‑improvement methodologies.
• Experience supporting NPI, process transfers, equipment/process qualification, production ramps, and/or manufacturing capacity expansion.
• Demonstrated ability to develop leaders and technical teams, build organizational capability, and drive accountability in a hands‑on manufacturing environment.
• Strong cross‑functional leadership skills with the ability to influence Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, Planning, Facilities, and other stakeholders.
• Strong business judgment, communication, and analytical skills with the ability to translate production data and operational risks into clear priorities and actions.

Notes: This job description is not intended to be exhaustive in every respect, but rather to clearly define the fundamental purpose, responsibilities and dimensions for the role. Therefore, this job description does not describe any individual role holder. In addition to the contents of this job description, employees are expected to undertake all other reasonable and related tasks allocated by their line manager.

The Company is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees and applicants for employment. The Company does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the grounds of gender, race, religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by national laws under which the Company operates.

Please note that this position will involve having access to items and technical data that may be controlled under U.S. export laws and regulations ("U.S. Export Control Laws"), including but not limited to the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR") and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR"). To comply with the U.S. Export Control Laws, and in conjunction with the review of candidates for those positions within G&H that may present access to export‑controlled technical data, G&H must assess whether candidates are "U.S. persons" as defined under the EAR (15 C.F.R. Part 772) and the ITAR (22 C.F.R. § 120.15). Certain questions asked during the application process are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this position.