Senior Manager Operations - Battery Cell Development Center

Description

Onsite: This position requires an employee to be on-site on a full-time basis

The Role

The Senior Manager Operations is responsible for leading all operations for the Battery Cell Development Center. This role ensures cell builds are met while maintaining safety, quality, cost, and delivery standards. The ideal candidate brings experience in standing up new organizations and driving manufacturing discipline while maintaining agility needed in ambiguous development environment with regular and frequent pivots.

What You'll Do

Strategic & Operational Leadership

• Guide team through regular and frequent pivots while maintaining focus on outcome goals.
• Lead all day-to-day operations of the center, including production, logistics, and facilities.
• Develop/manage production schedules, capacity planning, & resources to meet build milestones.
• Translate strategic goals into operational plans aligned with objectives.
• Ensure build readiness for validation runs, process trials and scale builds.

• Lead and develop a team of salaried supervisors and technicians.
• Establish clear performance expectations, handoff protocols, and escalation procedures.
• Drive a culture of safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.

• Support flexibility balancing trials, process validation, & scale builds without compromise.
• Implement and sustain lean manufacturing practices while driving continuous improvement.
• Monitor and optimize throughput, cycle times, and changeover efficiency.
• Collaborate with maintenance to ensure equipment uptime & preventive maintenance.

• Coordinate supply chain and logistics to ensure material availability and inventory.
• Manage WIP (work-in-progress) flow and minimize bottlenecks or idle time.
• Ensure timely availability of raw materials, components, and consumables.
• Collaborate on supplier readiness, inventory control, and material traceability.

• Coordinate with facilities teams on, utilities, HVAC, cleanroom etc. operations
• Ensure infrastructure supports evolving process and safety requirements.
• Plan for facility upgrades and expansions in alignment with production needs.

• Collaborate on process validation, control plans, and root cause investigations.
• Support NPI builds and feedback loops for continuous improvement.

• Adhere to corporate metrics/standards.
• Enforce EH&S policies and lead incident response and root cause investigations.
• Conduct regular safety audits and ensure compliance with regulatory and internal standards.
• Partner to implement and enforce safety protocols, hazardous material handling, and emergency response plans.

• Bachelor of Science in Engineering, or related technical field.
• 15+ years of experience in varying product and manufacturing roles.
• Demonstrated ability to deal with ambiguity and frequent pivots to achieve success.
• Understanding of lithium-ion cell manufacturing processes (electrode, assembly, formation).
• Understanding of production systems and automation in development environments.
• Strong analytical skills with experience in root cause analysis and data-driven decision-making.
• Experience scaling operations.
• Strong leadership, communication, and change management skills.

• Management experience.
• Advanced degree in battery/energy related field.
• Experience leading teams within a manufacturing environment.
• Experience working in a development/startup environment.