Associate Production Manager, Solar Manufacturing

Associate Production Manager, Solar Manufacturing | Tesla

Location: Brookshire, Texas | Req ID: 281260 | Job Type: Full-time

What to Expect

Tesla is seeking an Associate Production Manager to help lead solar manufacturing operations at a massive 100 GW scale. This role will be a key people leader in our new Solar Manufacturing organization, reporting to the Production Manager, and will help build and run a high-volume process area within a new greenfield facility. Depending on experience, this role may support Ingot, Wafer, or Cell manufacturing.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives on developing Supervisors, Leads, Technicians, and Associates, running disciplined floor operations, and delivering world-class safety, quality, delivery, and cost. This role is core to Tesla's mission of accelerating the world's transition to amazing abundance. You will be a critical driver of day-to-day manufacturing performance on the shop floor.

What You'll Do

• Lead, inspire, and develop a production team of Supervisors, Leads, Technicians, and Associates; build team structures, hiring plans, and training programs that enable the ramp schedule
• During launch of this greenfield facility, drive production readiness including commissioning support, staffing, training rollout, and standardized work instruction development and maintenance
• Monitor production KPIs for your area, identify losses, and close performance gaps in safety, quality, yield, throughput, labor efficiency, and cost with engineering, maintenance, quality, and other partners
• Maintain floor discipline through standardized work, 5S, documentation control, and consistent operating practices across shifts and teams
• Lead and support issue resolution including containment, root cause investigation, corrective action tracking, and ensuring no defects leave a station or team area
• Support new product, material, and process introductions through shop-floor readiness, training, pilot runs, and ramp execution
• Partner with Manufacturing Process Engineering on PFMEA and control plans so critical process risks and features are identified and controlled in production

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of production and operations leadership in high-volume manufacturing, with LEAN manufacturing and continuous improvement experience; solar or semiconductor preferred
• Experience managing teams in a production environment, including hiring, coaching, and developing Supervisors, Leads, and production team members
• Experience supporting factory launch, equipment start-up, or production ramp
• Working knowledge of standardized work, production systems and processes, 5S, and structured problem-solving frameworks
• Ability to develop and use production performance metrics (safety, quality, delivery, and cost) and root cause methods to improve yield, uptime, and throughput
• Clear written and verbal communication skills with operators, engineers, and leadership; ability to stay engaged and accountable under pressure with competing demands and tight deadlines

Benefits

Along with competitive pay, as a full-time Tesla employee, you are eligible for the following benefits at day 1 of hire:

• Medical plans > plan options with $0 payroll deduction
• Family-building, fertility, adoption and surrogacy benefits
• Dental (including orthodontic coverage) and vision plans, both have options with a $0 paycheck contribution
• Company Paid (Health Savings Accounts) HSA Contribution when enrolled in the High-Deductible medical plan with HSA
• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
• 401(k) with employer match, Employee Stock Purchase Plans, and other financial benefits
• Company paid Basic Life, AD&D
• Short-term and long-term disability insurance (90 day waiting period)
• Employee Assistance Program
• Sick and Vacation time (Flex time for salary positions, Accrued hours for Hourly positions), and Paid Holidays
• Back-up childcare and parenting support resources
• Voluntary benefits to include: critical illness, hospital indemnity, accident insurance, theft & legal services, and pet insurance
• Weight Loss and Tobacco Cessation Programs
• Tesla Babies program
• Commuter benefits
• Employee discounts and perks program
• Earned Wage Access: Real-time pay access paid daily, subject to eligibility and schedule (applicable for below Sr. Managers levels)