Director, Manufacturing Operations, MN

About the role

Panther: Better Health Is Skin Deep With its intradermal SmartPatch™, Panther has unlocked the healing powers of the skin by precisely delivering and activating local and systemic treatments where they can be most effective. Panther is targeting economically attractive markets of increasing clinical and regulatory difficulty, starting with efficacious Cosmetics and Medical Aesthetics, and later, Therapeutics. Panther’s AI-based platform accelerates product development and personalizes treatment and care, resulting in compelling provider and consumer user experiences. Panther’s platform, significant IP portfolio and advantaged regulatory strategy provide a defensible moat. Panther is launching initial products beginning in 2027. Panther is led and supported by successful serial entrepreneurs and advised by leading medical professionals. The Opportunity Panther Life Sciences is building a new category of consumer-centric health and beauty products powered by our SmartPatch platform. As we move from development into commercialization, manufacturing becomes the critical unlock for scale, quality, and customer trust. We are seeking a Director of Manufacturing Operations to own this transition end-to-end. This role is responsible for translating innovative R&D into reliable, high-quality, and scalable commercial production across both cosmetic and medical device products. You will lead the build-out of Panther's manufacturing strategy, serving as the bridge between internal development teams and external CMO partners. You will define how manufacturing operates at Panther, from selecting and standing up partners, to leading technology transfer, to building the systems that allow us to scale from thousands to millions of units. This is not a maintenance role. You will be building the manufacturing function from scratch. Your work will directly impact product availability, customer experience, and the company's ability to grow. You will work closely with the leadership team and cross-functional team members in formulation, device development, and quality to establish a manufacturing engine that supports both near-term commercial goals and long-term platform expansion. This is for someone who wants to build, scale, and set the standard for manufacturing in a category-defining company with a great team and a platform that is already generating clinical results. If you want to build something that matters, we want to hear from you.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary relationship owner and day-to-day point of contact for CMO partners
• Lead technology transfer from R&D to clinical and commercial manufacturing
• Oversee late-stage clinical and commercial production across product lines
• Drive manufacturing performance metrics including yield, throughput, and product quality
• Support CMO selection and onboarding, including process validation and scale-up
• Build and manage supply chain, logistics, fulfillment, and inventory operations
• Own material sourcing and supplier relationships
• Identify critical dependencies and build supplier redundancy to mitigate risk
• Build the manufacturing line from the ground up with a path from ~10K to ~1M units per month
• Drive automation, process optimization, and line redesign as production scales
• Own manufacturing cost modeling and financial planning (FP&A) for operations
• Develop sourcing strategy and budget frameworks in partnership with finance and leadership
• Establish systems and processes to