Sr Director, Operations Engineering

Flex; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Flex is seeking a Sr Director, Operations Engineering to lead the global engineering organization across RES sites, ensuring alignment of engineering strategy with manufacturing readiness, automation deployment, and process excellence. This role reports to the VP, Global Operations and is located in San Jose, CA.

The leader will drive a unified global engineering model, enable scalable growth, and partner with Operations, Quality, and Finance to support growth and profitability.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience in manufacturing environments.
• 10+ years leading global or multi-site engineering organizations.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the global engineering strategy aligned to business growth objectives.
• Build and lead a high-performing global engineering organization across multiple regions.
• Establish global engineering standards, governance, processes, tools, and performance expectations.
• Drive a culture of accountability, innovation, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Lead automation strategy and deployment across the global footprint.
• Ensure robust engineering support for NPI, product transfers, and sustaining programs.

Skills

Global engineering leadership

Manufacturing engineering

Automation engineering

NPI & product introduction

Cross-functional collaboration

Strategic thinking

Budget & resource planning

Education

Bachelor's degree in Engineering

Master's degree or MBA preferred

Job description

Flex is the diversified manufacturing partner of choice that helps market-leading brands design, build and deliver innovative products that improve the world. A career at Flex offers the opportunity to make a difference and invest in your growth in a respectful, inclusive, and collaborative environment. If you are excited about a role but don't meet every bullet point, we encourage you to apply and join us to create the extraordinary.

To support our extraordinary team who build great products and contribute to our growth, we’re looking to add a Sr Director, Operations Engineering located in San Jose, CA.

Reporting to the VP, Global Operations the Sr Director, Operations Engineering is responsible for leading the global engineering organization across all RES sites, ensuring consistent execution of engineering strategy, manufacturing readiness, automation deployment, industrial engineering practices, capacity planning, process excellence, and customer technical support.

This leader will establish a unified global engineering model that enables scalable growth, operational excellence, improved productivity, accelerated new product introduction (NPI), and best-in-class customer performance. The role provides technical and organizational leadership across Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Automation Engineering, NPI Engineering, Process Engineering, Quote Engineering, and Engineering Program Execution. The position partners closely with Operations, Quality, Program Management, Supply Chain, Finance, and Business Unit leadership to support growth and profitability objectives.

What a typical day looks like:

Engineering Strategy & Leadership

• Develop and execute the global engineering strategy aligned to business growth objectives.
• Build and lead a high-performing global engineering organization across multiple regions.
• Define global engineering standards, governance, processes, tools, and performance expectations.
• Establish clear roles, competencies, career paths, and succession plans for engineering teams.
• Drive a culture of accountability, innovation, technical excellence, and continuous improvement.

Global Engineering Operations

• Standardize engineering workflows, handoffs, KPI management, and execution practices across all regions.
• Lead global engineering reviews to monitor performance, risks, resource requirements, and strategic initiatives.
• Develop resource balancing strategies to optimize capability and workload across sites.
• Ensure engineering support aligns with operational requirements, customer commitments, and business priorities.

Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering

• Drive manufacturing process optimization, labor productivity improvement, and operational efficiency.
• Establish global standards for capacity modeling, factory layouts, labor planning, and line balancing.
• Lead footprint studies and manufacturing optimization initiatives supporting business growth and transfers.
• Partner with Operations leaders to eliminate constraints and improve throughput and scalability.

Automation & Digital Manufacturing

• Lead automation strategy and deployment across the global footprint.
• Develop and prioritize automation roadmaps supporting productivity, quality, safety, and capacity objectives.
• Sponsor advanced manufacturing initiatives including AI‑enabled solutions, smart factory technologies, data analytics, and digital engineering tools.
• Ensure automation investments deliver measurable ROI and operational benefits.

New Product Introduction & Customer Support

• Ensure robust engineering support for NPI, product transfers, customer ramps, and sustaining programs.
• Improve speed‑to‑revenue through disciplined engineering execution and launch readiness processes.
• Serve as executive escalation point for significant engineering and technical issues.
• Support customer engagements, technical reviews, design‑for‑manufacturing initiatives, and strategic business opportunities.

Financial & Business Performance

• Develop and manage global engineering budgets, capital plans, and resource requirements.
• Support business case development for expansion, automation, capacity investments, and strategic initiatives.
• Drive productivity improvements that improve margins and operational performance.
• Partner with business leaders to support growth, quoting, and strategic planning activities.

Talent Development

• Build global engineering leadership capability and succession pipelines.
• Develop technical talent through competency frameworks, training, mentoring, and career development programs.
• Ensure engineering capabilities evolve to meet future technology and customer requirements.
• Promote global knowledge sharing and best‑practice deployment across sites.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Engineering productivity improvements
• NPI launch success rate
• Customer satisfaction metrics
• Automation ROI and savings realization
• Capacity utilization and engineering efficiency
• Product transfer execution performance
• Manufacturing yield improvement
• Labor productivity improvement
• Engineering project execution performance
• Talent retention and succession readiness

The experience we’re looking to add to our team:

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Industrial, Manufacturing, Electrical, Automation, or related discipline).
• Master's degree or MBA preferred.
• 15+ years of progressive engineering leadership experience within manufacturing environments.
• 10+ years leading global or multi‑site engineering organizations.
• Strong experience in manufacturing engineering, industrial engineering, automation, and new product introduction.
• Proven track record leading large-scale transformation, productivity, automation, and growth initiatives.
• Experience supporting complex global customers and multi‑region operations.

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Thinking
• Executive Presence
• Customer Focus
• Operational Excellence
• Change Leadership
• Talent Development
• Financial Acumen
• Cross‑functional Collaboration
• Global Leadership
• Innovation & Digital Mindset

Scope

• Global engineering organization across all RES sites.
• Responsibility for Manufacturing Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Automation Engineering, NPI Engineering, Process Engineering, Quote Engineering, and Engineering Centers of Excellence.
• Direct engagement with Operations, Quality, Supply Chain, Program Management, Finance, and Customer Business Teams.
• Significant influence on capital deployment, productivity initiatives, factory design, growth planning, and customer satisfaction.

Flex is an Equal Opportunity Employer and employment selection decisions are based on merit, qualifications, and abilities. We do not discriminate based on: age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, pregnancy status, or any other status protected by law. We're happy to provide reasonable accommodations to those with a disability for assistance in the application process. Please email [e-mail] and we'll discuss your specific situation and next steps (NOTE: this email does not accept or consider resumes or applications. This is only for disability assistance. To be considered for a position at Flex, you must complete the application process first).