Director, Battery Engineering, Manufacturing & Operations

About the role

The Director of Battery Engineering, Manufacturing and Operations will lead and scale manufacturing operations for KLA's emerging Battery Division in Los Angeles. This individual will drive manufacturing strategy, operational excellence, and new product introduction (NPI) for advanced battery solutions.

Responsibilities

• Drive capacity planning, cost optimization, and operational scalability

• Maintain high yield for sustaining products and increase yield for New Products

• Manage healthy mix between sustaining operations and R&D Engineering

• Partner with R&D & division personnel to establish roadmap for new battery technologies

• Own manufacturing readiness, DFM (Design for Manufacturing), and product release quality

• Drive beta builds, engineering validation, and manufacturing qualification

• Provide technical insights in Product Life Cycle (PLC) phases

• Implement continuous improvement initiatives (Lean, Six Sigma, automation) to improve yield, cycle time, and cost

• Ensure compliance with quality systems, reliability targets, and regulatory requirements

• Lead Root Cause Analysis and resolution of manufacturing and field related issues

• Correlate battery failures modes caused by the manufacturing tools, packaging tools, and supporting tools

• Support Quality Control efforts, including data analysis, documentation, establishing new tools PM processes, for yield and reliability improvement

• Participate in team efforts that address reliability issues

• Develop leadership bench strength and technical expertise across the team

• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in vacuum deposition or thin film deposition

• 10+ Years of experience in Manufacturing and Operations

• 5+ years of experience in R&D

• 7+ years of leadership experience in leading large teams (>20)

• Strong background in engineering, battery chemistry and data analysis

• Technical degree in relevant area (Material Science, Chemistry/Chemical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent)