Production Manager

About the Role

Aalo is scaling from building reactors to building them in volume. The Production Manager owns that outcome. You will lead a team of Production Supervisors and their technicians, own the performance of the production department end to end, and be personally accountable for whether hardware ships on time, on cost, and right the first time. You will spend your days making resourcing calls, killing recurring problems permanently, and building the leaders who run the floor. This role is for someone who takes total ownership of a number and does not accept that the current rate is the best possible rate.

Key Responsibilities

• Own production output for the department — safety, quality, throughput, cost, and on-time delivery
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Production Supervisors; build a leadership bench that can scale with the company
• Translate the master production schedule into an executable plan; own capacity, staffing levels, and shift structure to meet it
• Drive consistency of standards, process, and performance across all shifts and lines
• Set and track departmental metrics; use data to identify constraints and eliminate them permanently rather than repeatedly working around them
• Own the department's labor and operating budget; make and defend build-vs-buy, repair-vs-replace, and capital investment decisions
• Partner closely with Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and Design Engineering to resolve systemic issues in process, tooling, materials, and design for manufacturability
• Lead root cause investigations and corrective actions on significant quality escapes, safety events, and schedule misses
• Plan and execute production ramp — hiring, training pipelines, layout, tooling, and process readiness ahead of demand
• Champion a strong safety culture and full compliance with regulatory, quality system, and documentation requirements
• Recruit, hire, and manage performance across the department
• Report department status, risks, and recovery plans clearly to senior leadership

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, manufacturing, business, or a related field; OR high school diploma or equivalency certificate and 8+ years of progressive manufacturing experience
• 5+ years of experience in a manufacturing or production operations environment
• 3+ years of experience directly managing people, including managing supervisors, leads, or other people managers

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing production in a regulated or high-consequence industry (nuclear, aerospace, defense, medical device, ASME code fabrication)
• Demonstrated record of ramping a product from low-rate to serial production
• Strong command of lean manufacturing and operational excellence — value stream mapping, takt, standard work, TPM, statistical problem solving
• Experience owning a departmental P&L or operating budget
• Experience implementing or scaling MES/ERP systems and shop floor data capture
• Familiarity with nuclear quality assurance requirements (10 CFR 50 Appendix B, NQA-1) or equivalent regulated QMS (AS9100, ISO 13485)
• Experience hiring and building teams quickly in a high-growth environment
• Track record of developing supervisors into higher levels of responsibility

Additional Requirements

• Willingness to work extended hours and weekends as needed to support production milestones
• Must be able to work on an active manufacturing floor and wear required PPE

Requirements

• Based in the United States
• Willing to work on-site in Austin, TX

What We Offer

• Competitive salary based on technical level
• Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
• Paid Time Off
• Corporate Gym Membership

Additional Information

• Applicants must be U.S. Citizens or U.S. Persons in compliance with 10 CFR Part 810 and may not hold non-compliant foreign citizenships.
• Direct applicants only. No recruiters or staffing agencies, please.

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