Shipyard Production Strategy Lead

NightDragon Acquisition Corp.; Brownsville (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental and Vision Insurance

Time Off

Parental Leave

401(k) plan with company match

Stock Options

Life and Disability Insurance

Pet Insurance

Free lunch and snacks

Job summary

Saronic Technologies in Brownsville, TX, is seeking a Production Engineering Manager to lead the production engineering function for stand-up and scale shipyard manufacturing operations. This role requires defining the build strategy, developing production processes, and ensuring that vessel designs are compatible with facility capabilities.

The Production Engineering Manager serves as the technical bridge between engineering, manufacturing, and facilities, translating ship designs into

Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in shipbuilding, heavy manufacturing, or large-scale industrial production engineering.
• Strong experience developing build strategies for large fabricated structures.
• Experience with heavy lift engineering, rigging, or large assembly operations.
• Demonstrated ability to translate product design into manufacturing processes.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with engineering and operations teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and maintain the shipyard’s production build strategy, including panelization, block construction, and erection sequencing.
• Develop block breakdown structures and manufacturing strategies aligned with facility capabilities.
• Ensure vessel designs align with yard constraints such as crane capacities, transportation limits, and assembly workflows.
• Develop engineering strategies for lifting, transporting, and erecting ship blocks and major modules.
• Define lift plans, rigging concepts, and transport methods for large assemblies.
• Coordinate with heavy lift equipment operators and infrastructure teams to validate lifting and movement strategies.
• Develop standardized manufacturing processes for steel fabrication, block assembly, and erection.
• Establish production workflows, takt planning concepts, and throughput assumptions.
• Identify opportunities for automation and process optimization within shipyard operations.
• Lead development of the Facilities Production Manual, establishing design rules for engineering teams.
• Define constraints including maximum block weights, dimensions, lifting interfaces, transport paths, and production tolerances.
• Ensure naval architects and vessel design teams incorporate facility manufacturing requirements early in the design process.
• Work closely with ship design teams to ensure production feasibility.
• Translate vessel design into manufacturing work packages and build sequences.
• Support development of digital models and production simulations.
• Support the startup of new shipyard facilities and manufacturing systems.
• Validate production processes during early vessel builds.
• Capture lessons learned and refine production engineering standards.
• Partner with engineering, facilities, automation, and operations teams to align production systems.
• Provide production engineering input to equipment selection and facility design.
• Support strategic planning for future production capacity expansion.

Skills

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Heavy lift engineering

Rigging

Manufacturing process development

Engineering translation to production

Job description

Saronic Technologies in Brownsville, TX, is seeking a Production Engineering Manager to lead the production engineering function for stand-up and scale shipyard manufacturing operations. This role requires defining the build strategy, developing production processes, and ensuring that vessel designs are compatible with facility capabilities.

The Production Engineering Manager serves as the technical bridge between engineering, manufacturing, and facilities, translating ship designs into