Team Leader

GKN Aerospace; Garden Grove (CA); On-site; USD 86,000 - 107,000; Full time

Job summary

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel with a focus on safety, quality and productivity. This role leads manufacturing teams to produce aerospace transparencies on time and at target cost, while building employee capability and engagement.

You will execute daily management, lead problem solving, and coordinate with quality, engineering, planning, and maintenance in a fast-paced, regulated environment. Strong Lean and leadership skills are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Five years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated ability to organize daily work, communicate expectations, address operating issues, and work effectively with production employees and support functions.
• Ability to work on-site in an active manufacturing environment and support the schedule required by the assigned operation.
• Must satisfy all position-specific employment eligibility, export-control, site-access, and security requirements applicable to the work performed, including ITAR/EAR requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead daily work with a safety-first mindset; verify hazards and controls before work begins.
• Supervise daily activities to ensure conformity to quality and manufacturing standards.
• Translate the production plan into shift priorities and staffing; coordinate with support functions.
• Execute Daily Management and Leader Standard Work to improve safety, quality, delivery and cost.
• Drive Lean methods to reduce waste and strengthen repeatable performance.

Skills

Five years experience

Organize daily work

On-site work

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

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Fantastic challenges. Amazing opportunities.

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025. There are no limits to where you can take your career.

Job Summary

Lead assigned manufacturing teams to safely produce conforming aerospace transparencies on time, at the required cost and productivity levels, while building employee capability and engagement.

Execute daily management, leader standard work, performance coaching, and structured problem solving to improve safety, quality, delivery, cost, and people performance in a fast-paced, regulated manufacturing environment.

Serve as the first-line connection between employees and site leadership by setting clear expectations, removing barriers, escalating risk, and sustaining disciplined operating standards.

Job Responsibilities

1. Safety, Environmental and Workplace Control

• Lead daily work with a safety-first mindset; verify employees understand applicable hazards, controls, personal protective equipment, and site procedures before work begins.
• Conduct routine floor presence, safety observations, pre-shift communications, and prompt escalation of hazards, injuries, near misses, environmental concerns, and unsafe conditions.
• Ensure compliance with lockout/tagout, machine guarding, material handling, housekeeping, chemical, ergonomic, emergency, and other requirements applicable to the assigned area.
• Stop or redirect work when conditions could compromise employee safety, product integrity, equipment, or the environment.

2. Production, Quality and Delivery Execution

• Supervise daily activities of assigned employees so parts, products, materials, and production records conform to established quality and manufacturing standards.
• Translate the production plan into clear shift priorities, staffing assignments, work sequencing, and escalation needs; coordinate constraints with support functions and peer Team Leaders.
• Monitor safety, quality, delivery, cost, productivity, attendance, work-in-process, scrap, rework, and downtime performance; take timely action when results deviate from plan.
• Ensure required work instructions, process specifications, tooling, materials, training, and resources are available and used as intended.

3. Daily Management and Structured Problem Solving

• Execute Daily Management and Standardized Work through Leader Standard Work, tiered communication, visible metrics, routine floor reviews, and disciplined action follow-up.
• Identify abnormalities, contain immediate risks, elevate barriers, and support root-cause analysis and corrective actions with accountable owners.
• Use practical Lean and continuous-improvement methods to reduce waste, improve flow, simplify work, and strengthen repeatable performance.
• Verify that improvements are documented, communicated, trained, and sustained without compromising safety, quality, configuration control, or customer requirements.

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4. People Leadership, Engagement and Development

• Build and lead a highly engaged team; set clear expectations, ensure employees have the resources needed to succeed, and recognize meaningful contributions.
• Create and sustain a culture aligned with Great Place to Grow values through visible leadership, respectful communication, consistency, and follow-through.
• Provide timely, candid performance feedback; conduct performance appraisals; coach employees to close gaps and strengthen capability.
• Identify development opportunities, support cross-training and succession readiness, and help employees leverage their strengths and pursue growth.
• Drive employee engagement actions and partner with Human Resources on attendance, performance, conduct, labor-relations, and employee-support matters in accordance with company practices.

5. Cross-Functional Coordination and Compliance

• Collaborate with other Team Leaders and with quality, engineering, planning, maintenance, EH&S, supply chain, Human Resources, and continuous-improvement partners to optimize site performance.
• Communicate shift status, risks, constraints, priorities, and required decisions accurately and promptly across shifts and leadership levels.
• Comply with applicable Equal Employment Opportunity, Affimative Action, Export Control, labor, security, quality, environmental, health, and safety requirements.
• Perform other related duties consistent with the role and business needs.

Job Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED equivalent.
• Five years of experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Demonstrated ability to organize daily work, communicate expectations, address operating issues, and work effectively with production employees and support functions.
• Ability to use basic business and manufacturing systems for communication, performance tracking, documentation, and follow‑up.
• Ability to work on‑site in an active manufacturing environment and support the schedule required by the assigned operation.
• Must satisfy all position‑specific employment eligibility, export‑control, site‑access, and security requirements applicable to the work performed, including ITAR/EAR requirements.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Operations, Management, Business, or a related field.
• Experience supervising and leading production personnel in aerospace, defense, aviation, or another regulated manufacturing environment.
• Experience leading teams in a unionized environment.
• Demonstrated ability to engage, train, coach, evaluate, and develop direct reports.
• Experience with Lean manufacturing, daily management, leader standard work, structured problem solving, or continuous improvement.
• Experience supporting aerospace manufacturing operations or supply‑chain commitments.

Compensation Data

Salary Range: $85,898 -$107,372

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?

A Great Place to work needs a Great Way of Working

Everyone is welcome to apply to GKN. We believe that we can only achieve our ambitions through a coming together of diverse minds who enjoy collaborating in an inspirational environment. Through our commitment to diversity, inclusion and belonging and by living our five powerful principles we’ve created a culture where everyone feels welcome to contribute. It’s a culture that won us ‘The Best Workplace Culture Award’. By embracing and celebrating what makes us unique we encourage everyone to bring their full self to work.

We’re also committed to providing an accessible recruitment process, so if you require reasonable adjustments at any stage during our recruitment process please get in touch and let us know.

We arethe place where human dreams, plus humanendeavour, shape the future of aerospace innovation and technology.

Nearest Major Market: Orange County
Nearest Secondary Market: Los Angeles