Senior Manager, Manufacturing Operations

Job Description

Job Description

Location: Nevada (Manufacturing Facility) Employment Type: Full-time, Exempt Reports To: VP Manufacturing 

Responsible for leading the day-to-day manufacturing operations of Noovo's luxury camper van production facility and developing the operating systems required to support continued growth.

This role owns manufacturing execution from chassis release into production through final vehicle completion and handoff to Quality and Delivery. The Senior Manager is accountable for safety, production output, schedule attainment, labor productivity, manufacturing quality, cost, standard work, workforce development, and continuous improvement across all production departments.

The Senior Manager translates the Master Production Schedule into executable daily and weekly production plans and ensures the organization has the people, processes, tools, information, and cross-functional support necessary to achieve those plans.

This leader will play a critical role in Noovo's transition from a growing craft-oriented manufacturing environment into a disciplined, scalable production system capable of increasing throughput while preserving the craftsmanship, flexibility, and product quality that define the Noovo customer experience.

Essential Responsibilities

Manufacturing Leadership & Execution. Lead all day-to-day manufacturing activities across Noovo's production operation. Provide direct leadership to Production Managers and manufacturing department leaders and ensure clear accountability for Safety, Quality, Delivery, Inventory, and Productivity (SQDIP). Translate production requirements into daily operating priorities and maintain visibility to actual performance throughout the day. Ensure production issues are identified early, assigned clear ownership, and resolved before they affect downstream operations or customer commitments.

Production Planning & Schedule Attainment. Partner with Planning, Supply Chain, Inventory Control, and Production leadership to execute the Master Production Schedule. Establish daily and weekly production plans by vehicle, VIN, production stage, and department. Monitor production attainment and stage-to-stage movement and implement recovery plans when performance deviates from plan. Ensure manufacturing constraints are identified before they become production interruptions.

Production Flow & Capacity. Own manufacturing flow across the complete vehicle production process. Identify bottlenecks, capacity constraints, excessive WIP, imbalanced workloads, and inefficient material or vehicle movement. Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop takt expectations, standard cycle times, staffing models, line balancing, capacity plans, and improved production layouts. Develop manufacturing capability necessary to support increasing production volumes and mixed-model manufacturing.

People Leadership & Organizational Development. Build and develop a strong manufacturing leadership organization. Establish clear responsibilities and expectations for Production Managers, Supervisors, Leads, and production employees. Coach manufacturing leaders in daily management, problem solving, employee development, accountability, and continuous improvement. Develop succession plans, cross-training strategies, skills matrices, and workforce-development programs supporting future growth.

Safety Leadership. Establish a manufacturing culture in which safe work is a prerequisite for production. Ensure supervisors and managers conduct routine safety observations and promptly correct unsafe conditions and behaviors. Partner with Safety and Facilities leadership on corrective actions, training, PPE, ergonomics, equipment safety, workplace organization, and regulatory requirements. Ensure production demands never override established safety requirements.

Manufacturing Quality. Own Manufacturing's responsibility for building the vehicle correctly the first time. Establish clear accountability for workmanship and process adherence throughout production. Partner with the Quality Director to improve First Pass Yield, reduce defects, eliminate repeat failures, and reduce rework. Ensure manufacturing teams follow released drawings, BOMs, work instructions, specifications, inspection requirements, and standard work. Reinforce the principle that Quality owns the quality system and independent verification; Manufacturing owns the quality of the work it produces.

Standard Work & Process Discipline. Establish repeatable manufacturing processes across all production departments. Ensure standard work is documented, trained, followed, audited, and continuously improved. Partner with Manufacturing Engineering to develop work instructions, tooling, fixtures, process controls, visual aids, production layouts, and standardized work methods. Prevent undocumented tribal knowledge from becoming the manufacturing system.

Continuous Improvement & Lean Manufacturing. Lead development of a Lean manufacturing culture focused on identifying and eliminating waste. Drive improvements in flow, labor utilization, material movement, workplace organization, changeover, rework, waiting, transportation, and production cycle time. Establish structured problem-solving and Kaizen practices throughout the organization. Encourage employees closest to the work to participate actively in improving the processes they perform.

Labor Productivity & Workforce Planning. Develop staffing requirements based on production volume, takt, standard labor requirements, skills, and capacity. Monitor direct labor hours per vehicle, labor efficiency, overtime, attendance, and staffing utilization. Balance labor between production areas when appropriate while protecting required skills and quality. Partner with HR and manufacturing leadership on recruiting, onboarding, training, performance management, and workforce planning.

Manufacturing Cost. Partner with Finance, Supply Chain, and Manufacturing Engineering to understand and improve manufacturing conversion cost. Identify drivers of excessive labor, overtime, scrap, rework, consumable usage, and inefficient processes. Establish cost-reduction initiatives that improve operational performance without compromising product quality or customer experience.

Material Readiness & Inventory Discipline. Partner with Supply Chain and Inventory Control to ensure production has the correct material at the correct place and time. Establish clear expectations for production employees regarding material movement, consumption, returns, scrap, and ERP transactions. Ensure manufacturing does not create uncontrolled inventory movements or bypass established transaction processes. Support point-of-use inventory, kitting, replenishment, supermarket, and other material-delivery improvements.

ERP & Manufacturing Data Integrity. Ensure manufacturing transactions are completed accurately and timely within Odoo or the designated ERP platform. Partner with ERP Operations and Manufacturing Engineering to improve routings, work orders, BOM accuracy, labor reporting, production completion, material consumption, and manufacturing data. Use operational data to drive decisions rather than relying solely on anecdotal information.

Engineering Change & NPI Execution. Partner with Product Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering to implement new products, configurations, and Engineering Change Orders in a controlled manner. Ensure production teams receive appropriate documentation, tooling, material, training, and process changes before implementation. Participate in production-readiness reviews and pilot builds and provide manufacturability feedback during product development.

Cross-Functional Leadership. Serve as the primary manufacturing interface with Quality, Supply Chain, Manufacturing Engineering, Product Engineering, ERP Operations, Compliance & Product Safety, Facilities, Service & Repair, HR, and Finance. Establish clear escalation paths so manufacturing issues receive timely cross-functional support.