Head of Operations & Business Management

Divergent is building the new industrial age. Every day, our teams design, manufacture, and assemble advanced systems for some of the world's most demanding industries. Our integrated engineering and manufacturing platform transforms complex designs into production-ready solutions, helping customers move faster, build smarter, and deliver critical systems when they matter most. Divergent is a qualified Tier 1 supplier to global automotive OEMs and supports leading U.S. aerospace and defense companies.

Join us and help push the boundaries of what can be built.
The Business Operations Manager is a generalist, cross-functional leader who bridges the business, data, and engineering/AI teams and is responsible for enabling high-quality, data-driven decision-making, operational alignment, and communication across the organization. This role establishes and facilitates the business processes, operating rhythms, and governance that enable Engineering, Programs, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance and other functional teams to make informed decisions, manage risk, and execute against company priorities, with a specific focus on driving efficient data flows and partnering with software/AI teams to operationalize our most critical, data-driven business decisions such as budgeting and capital investment (capex).
This role owns making the Sales, Inventory, and Operations Planning (SIOP) process more efficient and effective, facilitating aspects of it as a central cross-functional forum to align demand, supply, capacity, inventory, and financial objectives, including the inputs that feed downstream decisions like budgeting and capital planning. Beyond SIOP, this person will help identify which other operational processes the business strategically needs and then design, stand up, and lead them, bringing the same cross-functional rigor and data discipline applied to SIOP.
Success in this role requires navigating ambiguity, translating complex data into actionable insights, aligning stakeholders with competing priorities, and continually improving the systems, analytics, AI/automation tooling, and governance that support operational excellence in a fast-paced, high-growth environment.
Own aspects of and continually improve the company's monthly SIOP process, ensuring timely inputs, scenario analysis, and clear decisions at each step, while concurrently owning other strategic, cross-functional processes that affect operational decision-making and require the same rigor.
Facilitate structured business reviews, SIOP and beyond, that align Sales, Programs, Engineering, Operations, Supply Chain, Finance and other functional teams around priorities, risks, dependencies, and execution plans.
Translate ambiguous business questions (e.g., "into the data, reporting structure, and process needed to answer them repeatably, not just producing a one-off analysis.
Develop and maintain trusted reporting dashboards, KPIs, and data governance processes that provide leadership with accurate, actionable insights.
Partner closely with data science, digital, and AI/automation teams to improve planning systems, reporting capabilities, automation, and analytics that support scalable business operations, including hands-on evaluation and direction of new AI-enabled tools as they become available, not just coordinating with the teams that build them.
Identify cross-functional risks, constraints, and opportunities, driving mitigation plans and ensuring decisions are documented, communicated, and executed.
Partner with Finance and functional leaders to ensure operational plans support strategic and financial objectives.
Lead continuous improvement initiatives by evaluating existing processes, identifying inefficiencies and opportunities, partnering with functional leaders to design improved ways of working, and driving measurable improvements to operational performance.
Lead implementation of process improvements through excellent project management, stakeholder coordination and buy-in, defining business requirements, supporting software system development, driving change management, and ensuring successful adoption of new processes and tools.
Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain, Operations Management, Engineering, Business, Finance, or related field.

• 5 - 8+ years of progressive experience in business operations, S&OP/SIOP, program management, supply chain, production planning, engineering operations, or other cross-functional operational leadership roles within advanced manufacturing, electronics, aerospace, medical devices, or related technology-intensive sectors.
• Experience leading impactful cross-functional projects involving data and business processes.
• Hands-on data query and analysis ability (e.g., SQL, Python, or R).
• Able to translate an ambiguous business question into the data and reporting structure needed to answer it repeatably.
• Comfortable partnering with software engineering and AI/ML teams - can scope requirements, evaluate tooling, and speak credibly about feasibility and tradeoffs without being a hands-on engineer.
• Experience supporting recurring, high-stakes business decision cycles such as budgeting, forecasting, or capital investment (capex) approval workflows.
• Preferred: platform proficiency in ERP/MRP and advanced planning or analytics tools (e.g. SAP, Oracle, Kinaxis, o9, Power BI, or similar).
• Preferred: solid understanding of key supply chain concepts: forecasting, capacity planning, inventory optimization, lead-time management, and product lifecycle management.
• Preferred: experience operating in a hardware technology environment, where physical production constraints (supply chain, capacity, lead times) intersect with software/data-driven decision-making.

Generalist mindset: equally comfortable in a finance/budgeting conversation, a process-mapping workshop, or a requirements discussion with engineers.
Growth mindset with a track record of building or maturing processes, not just operating in steady-state environments.
Comfort operating in fast-changing, ambiguous environments with imperfect data and time-constrained decisions.
Systems thinker who sees end-to-end value streams and can simplify complex data and business planning processes into high level visuals and discussions for decision-making.
Data-driven and highly analytical, comfortable challenging assumptions and using facts to resolve conflicts.
Highly organized, detail-oriented, and comfortable operating with urgency and ambiguity while still driving structure and accountability.
Strong influencer and facilitator who can navigate conflicting priorities, challenge assumptions, and align senior leaders and technical teams around difficult tradeoff decisions.
Success is measured by how much faster and more reliably the business can move from a data-driven question - budgeting, capex, or otherwise - to an operational decision, and by the quality and durability of the processes and data flows put in place to make that repeatable
This role is based onsite in our Torrance, CA office.

Enjoy a world-class compensation package that includes a competitive salary, equity plan, and discretionary results-based incentive bonus opportunities, ensuring you're truly valued for your contributions.
Wellness and Time Off: Embrace a healthy lifestyle with paid vacation, sick time, and company holidays, including a year-end shutdown to recharge. Additionally, benefit from company-sponsored life insurance and short and long-term disability coverage for peace of mind.
Take advantage of reimbursement opportunities for learning and development initiatives, empowering you to continuously expand your skill set and reach peak performance.
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any other applicable state or federal protected characteristic. Divergent provides affirmative action in employment for qualified Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act.
In order to adjust to changes in our business, it may become necessary to add, remove or modify certain duties and responsibilities, or to reassign you to another job position. From time to time you may be asked to work on special projects or to assist with other work. Your cooperation and assistance in performing such additional work is expected.

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