General Manager - Investment Casting Foundry

About Franklin Precision Castings
Franklin Precision Castings is a specialty investment casting foundry producing precision cast components for defense and industrial markets. As part of a privately held, family-owned advanced materials and precision manufacturing group, Franklin Precision Castings serves customers who require dimensional accuracy, metallurgical quality, and application expertise in technically demanding markets.
We are seeking a General Manager to lead the full strategic, commercial, operational, and financial performance of our investment casting foundry in Franklin, Pennsylvania. This role carries full P&L responsibility and direct accountability for site leadership across engineering, quality, operations, sales, and finance.

Position Summary
The General Manager is responsible for the overall performance of Franklin Precision Castings, including revenue growth, profitability, operational execution, customer relationships, quality performance, safety, and organizational development. This is a hands-on leadership role for a commercially oriented, engineering-grounded manufacturing leader who understands foundry operations and can lead across the full business. The General Manager will report to the Group President and will be expected to improve performance, strengthen customer relationships, build leadership capability, and drive disciplined execution across the site. The ideal candidate will have strong foundry or casting experience, full P&L ownership, commercial judgment, and the ability to lead a technically demanding manufacturing business with accountability and urgency.

Essential Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership & P&L Ownership

• Own full P&L responsibility for Franklin Precision Castings, including revenue, gross margin, EBITDA, working capital, and capital efficiency.
• Develop and execute business plans focused on market growth, customer development, operational performance, profitability improvement, and capability investment.
• Set and manage the annual operating budget in coordination with executive leadership and provide regular reporting on commercial, operational, financial, and people performance.
• Evaluate and execute capital investments with clear return expectations and follow-through on post-investment results.

Commercial Development

• Lead commercial strategy for the site, including customer retention, account growth, new program qualification, and pricing discipline.
• Develop and maintain senior-level relationships with key customers across defense and industrial markets.
• Oversee strategic quoting, contract negotiation, and pricing decisions with a value-based approach that reflects the site's technical capabilities.
• Drive new business opportunities through customer development, new program activity, adjacent applications, and alloy or process capabilities that support profitable growth.

Operational Excellence

• Lead site performance across safety, quality, delivery, cost, throughput, and people development.
• Establish a consistent operating rhythm through daily management systems, KPI reviews, customer scorecard reviews, and corrective action discipline.
• Identify and remove constraints in casting, finishing, and related production processes to improve yield, throughput, and cost competitiveness.
• Champion Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement as daily operating disciplines.
• Ensure compliance with applicable environmental, health, and safety requirements and reinforce a safety-first culture across the site.

Quality & Customer Performance

• Maintain and improve quality systems to meet customer, regulatory, and business requirements.
• Build a quality culture focused on first-time yield, root cause discipline, corrective action effectiveness, and consistent process control.
• Personally engage in customer quality reviews, source approval processes, major corrective action events, and quality-related customer concerns.
• Ensure quality system integrity is maintained during growth, production changes, or leadership transitions.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, develop, and hold accountable site leadership across engineering, quality, operations, sales, and finance.
• Build organizational depth by recruiting, onboarding, developing, and retaining strong talent at all levels.
• Manage performance with clarity by recognizing strong contributors, developing employees with potential, and addressing underperformance directly.
• Partner with HR and executive leadership on workforce planning, succession planning, compensation, and leadership development.

Qualifications and Experience
Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Metallurgy, Business, Operations, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive leadership experience in a foundry, casting, precision manufacturing, or closely related industrial manufacturing environment.
• Foundry, casting, or other technically demanding manufacturing experience.
• Experience with full P&L ownership or direct accountability for financial, operational, and commercial performance.
• Demonstrated success improving business performance through revenue growth, operational improvement, margin improvement, or turnaround activity.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams across operations, engineering, quality, sales, finance, and other business functions.
• Working knowledge of quality systems, process control, production discipline, and customer requirements in a precision manufacturing environment.
• Ability to lead from the floor to the executive level, with credibility in both technical and business discussions.
• Ability to work full-time from the Franklin, Pennsylvania facility.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct investment casting experience.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Materials Science, Metallurgy, or a closely related technical field.
• MBA or graduate degree in Engineering, Business, or a related discipline.
• Experience serving aerospace, defense, industrial, or other technically demanding customer markets.
• Experience with Lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, or other structured continuous improvement methods.
• Experience with ERP-driven production scheduling, financial reporting, and job-shop or foundry operating environments.
• Track record of new program development, customer diversification, or profitable growth in a specialty manufacturing environment.