Build Operations Manager
$150,000–$200,000 year
On-siteScotts Valley, California, United States
Job Summary
Own end-to-end build program execution for prototype and early engineering builds, managing schedule, resourcing, and readiness gates while driving ramp-to-volume strategy. Build and lead the pilot technician team, scaling structure and career paths as build volume grows. Serve as cross-functional glue for design engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, and quality to coordinate builds against a shared plan. Maintain build readiness plans tracking part availability, tooling, and engineering changes ahead of each build. Own the manufacturing transition of early processes to the production plant, defining production readiness and managing engineering change cutovers. Monitor yield and build-related issues, driving resolution and root-cause analysis. Maintain program visibility through dashboards and KPI reporting on build health, on-time delivery, and launch readiness. Identify cost and process improvement opportunities, leading tradeoff discussions to balance savings against payoff.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related technical field; equivalent demonstrated experience will be considered
- 7+ years in NPI, prototype build, or manufacturing engineering in hardware, including 2–3+ years managing a technician or build team
- Direct experience owning prototype or early engineering builds as a program — schedule, resourcing, and readiness gates end-to-end, not just executing to someone else's plan
- Experience transitioning work from prototype to a production manufacturing organization, including ramp-to-volume execution
- Comfortable with the ambiguity of an early-stage hardware startup — willing to be hands-on on the floor while building the team and process so that eventually you don't have to be
- A strong communicator who can hold engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing accountable to build readiness without owning the technical decisions yourself
Desired Qualifications
- Power electronics, energy storage, or comparably complex electromechanical hardware background
- Experience with PPAP, APQP, or similar supplier and industrialization qualification frameworks
- Experience building program dashboards and KPI reporting for executive audiences
- Familiarity with cost-down or VAVE initiatives in a hardware manufacturing environment
- Proficiency with Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence) or similar platforms for program tracking
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