Vice President of Production

Confidential; United States; On-site; USD 250,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

Confidential | Advanced Defense Manufacturing is creating a new, high-end manufacturing operation to build mission-critical systems at scale. You will lead design, launch and scale-up of production, directing strategy, factory layout, and workforce in a ground-up facility.

The role demands rapid decision-making, cross-functional leadership, and a track record of turning prototypes into repeatable, high-volume production while introducing selective robotics and automation.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to build and scale a greenfield manufacturing operation.
• Experience leading complex electromechanical assemblies in regulated environments.
• Track record of transitioning prototypes to high-volume production.
• Ability to design flexible assembly lines for product evolution and demand shifts.
• Experience introducing robotics and automation to improve quality and throughput.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration with engineering, supply chain and quality teams.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a world-class production organization within a newly established advanced manufacturing facility.
• Design the production operating model, factory layout, assembly cells, material flow and line architecture to support growth.
• Industrialize complex electromechanical products for repeatable, high-quality production at scale.
• Develop the transition from prototype to low-rate initial production and sustained volume manufacturing.
• Introduce robotics, automation, digital work instructions and manufacturing technologies.
• Create a production system delivering speed and flexibility without compromising quality or traceability.
• Establish operating rhythms across safety, quality, delivery, cost and workforce performance.
• Build capacity models, production plans and labor strategies aligned with demand.
• Collaborate with engineering to improve manufacturability and reliability.
• Partner with supply chain and quality to ensure material availability and disciplined incoming quality.
• Establish rigorous processes for inspection, testing, non-conformance, and RCA.
• Recruit, organize and develop a high-performing workforce across leadership and technicians.
• Create a culture of accountability, urgency, craftsmanship and continuous improvement.
• Lead production readiness for new products and capture floor lessons for design improvements.
• Deliver measurable improvements in throughput, yield, cycle time and unit cost.

Skills

Leadership

Operations strategy

Factory design

Automation

Lean manufacturing

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

MES

Robotics integration

Automation systems

Job description

Confidential | Advanced Defense Manufacturing

We are creating a new manufacturing capability for a rapidly growing defense technology business building sophisticated, mission-critical systems at meaningful volume.

This is a greenfield mandate, supported by significant investment in a new, high-end manufacturing operation. The objective is not simply to increase output. It is to establish a modern production system capable of assembling complex hardware with exceptional quality, repeatability and speed.

The products combine precision mechanical components, advanced electronics, propulsion, sensors and embedded technologies. They must perform reliably in demanding operational environments, yet be manufactured at a pace and scale more closely associated with high-performance automotive, consumer electronics and modern contract manufacturing than with traditional defense production.

We need a Vice President of Production who can build that capability from the ground up.

The mandate

You will lead the design, launch and scale-up of the company’s production operation, taking sophisticated products from engineering-led builds and low-rate production into disciplined, repeatable manufacturing at volume.

This is a highly visible operating role with responsibility for production strategy, factory design, assembly operations, manufacturing engineering, workforce planning, production quality, throughput and continuous improvement.

You will determine how the facility should operate, how production lines should be configured, where automation creates genuine value and how people, equipment, systems and materials should work together. You will also remain close enough to the factory floor to understand what is affecting output on any given day.

You will:

• Build and lead a world-class production organization within a newly established advanced manufacturing facility.
• Design the production operating model, factory layout, assembly cells, material flow and line architecture required to support substantial growth.
• Industrialize complex electromechanical products for repeatable, high-quality production at scale.
• Develop the transition from prototype and engineering builds into low-rate initial production and sustained volume manufacturing.
• Introduce appropriate robotics, automation, digital work instructions, test equipment and manufacturing technologies.
• Create a production system that delivers speed and flexibility without compromising quality, traceability or configuration control.
• Establish clear operating rhythms across safety, quality, delivery, cost and workforce performance.
• Build capacity models, production plans and labor strategies aligned with demand and future product introduction.
• Work closely with engineering to improve manufacturability, assembly efficiency, component commonality, serviceability and product reliability.
• Partner with supply chain and quality leadership to ensure material availability, supplier performance and disciplined incoming quality.
• Establish rigorous processes for in-process inspection, end-of-line testing, non-conformance management and root-cause corrective action.
• Recruit, organize and develop a high-performing workforce spanning production leadership, manufacturing engineering, technicians and skilled assemblers.
• Create a culture of accountability, urgency, craftsmanship and continuous improvement.
• Lead production readiness for new products and ensure that lessons from the factory floor are rapidly incorporated into design and process improvements.
• Deliver measurable improvements in throughput, first-pass yield, cycle time, labor efficiency and unit cost.

The profile

We are interested in accomplished production leaders who have built or scaled the manufacture of small, complex and highly engineered products.

Relevant experience may come from modern defense technology, aerospace systems, robotics, autonomous platforms, advanced electronics, high-performance automotive, electric vehicles, medical devices, consumer technology or sophisticated contract manufacturing.

The strongest candidates will have direct experience with:

• Complex mechanical and electronic assembly in a regulated or mission-critical environment.
• Establishing or significantly expanding a greenfield manufacturing operation.
• Moving products from engineering development into stable, repeatable volume production.
• Designing flexible assembly lines capable of accommodating product evolution and changing demand.
• Introducing robotics and automation selectively, with a clear understanding of where automation improves quality, throughput or consistency.
• Building production systems that combine precision manual assembly with automated processes and testing.
• Operating within robust quality, traceability and configuration-control requirements.
• Recruiting and scaling production teams during periods of rapid organizational growth.
• Using production data to expose constraints, solve problems and improve performance.
• Working directly with engineering, supply chain, quality and product leadership rather than operating production as an isolated function.

This role requires more than experience managing an established factory. We need someone who has created manufacturing capability, introduced operating discipline and personally led a production organization through significant scale.

You should be equally credible discussing factory architecture with senior leadership, design changes with engineers and an assembly problem with technicians on the line. You will need the judgement to distinguish between essential control and unnecessary bureaucracy, and the confidence to challenge legacy assumptions about how quickly complex defense products can be built.

Traditional defense manufacturing experience can be valuable, but only when combined with evidence of speed, innovation and successful production scale-up. This organization intends to outperform the conventional defense industrial base in responsiveness, manufacturing efficiency and rate of execution.

The opportunity

This is an opportunity to shape a major new manufacturing operation from its earliest stage, supported by substantial capital investment and ambitious growth plans.

The successful candidate will have considerable influence over the facility, production technology, organizational structure and operating culture. Few roles offer the same opportunity to build an advanced manufacturing capability at this level of scale and strategic importance.

The position requires relocation and a significant on-site presence. Location and relocation details will be shared during the next stage of the process.

All expressions of interest will be handled in strict confidence.