Senior Second-Shift Production Leader for 400-Employee Ops

Sterling Engineering; Vernon Hills (IL); On-site; USD 104,000 - 127,000; Full time

Job summary

Sterling Engineering is seeking an experienced Production Manager for the second shift to lead a large manufacturing operation supporting up to 400 employees. The role emphasizes safety, quality, and productive execution with close collaboration across Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, and HR.

The ideal candidate has a strong hands-on manufacturing background in high-volume environments, excellent leadership on the shop floor, and the ability to drive continuous improvement with limited senior

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Business, or related discipline.
• 7+ years of progressive manufacturing or production leadership experience.
• Experience leading large, high-volume production teams.
• Lean manufacturing, continuous improvement, or operational excellence experience preferred.

Responsibilities

• Provide leadership for second-shift manufacturing operations supporting up to 400 employees.
• Lead production supervisors, team leads, and manufacturing personnel to meet safety, quality, delivery, productivity, and cost goals.
• Maintain a strong, visible leadership presence on the production floor to support execution.
• Drive daily production performance against schedules, demand, and labor requirements.
• Identify constraints, staffing issues, equipment concerns, and take action to maintain output.
• Collaborate with Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, HR for second-shift support.
• Strengthen handoffs between first and second shifts for continuity.
• Develop and coach supervisors and frontline leaders with clear accountability.
• Promote a culture of safety, quality, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Lead root-cause problem solving for production performance and disruptions.
• Review KPIs and implement corrective actions when needed.
• Support employee engagement and retention initiatives for the second shift.

Skills

Leadership

Manufacturing operations

Staffing and scheduling

Lean / continuous improvement

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Autonomy

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Operations, Manufacturing, Business, or related discipline

Tools

Quality systems

Job description

Sterling Engineering is seeking an experienced Production Manager for the second shift to lead a large manufacturing operation supporting up to 400 employees. The role emphasizes safety, quality, and productive execution with close collaboration across Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, and HR.

The ideal candidate has a strong hands-on manufacturing background in high-volume environments, excellent leadership on the shop floor, and the ability to drive continuous improvement with limited senior