Director of Manufacturing for Plant Management

Key Responsibilities

• Safety Culture: Build and sustain a "Safety First" culture across the network — accountable for the physical and psychological wellbeing of thousands of team members. With a high attention to the unique hazards of battery chemistry, cleanroom environments, and high-voltage systems.
• Incident Reduction: Drive proactive risk assessment and human-factors engineering to continually reduce Total Recordable Incident Rate across a rapidly scaling workforce.
• Quality Set the Quality Bar: Design quality strategy and predictive analytics unique to battery cell/pack assembly (contamination control, electrochemistry process integrity, cleanroom protocols), setting the standard the network is built to hit.
• Delivery Launch Ownership: Own the strategy and execution for new battery pack manufacturing lines — from equipment commissioning and systems launch through to steady-state volume production.
• Throughput & Efficiency: Apply FPS principles to a novel manufacturing process, setting a new benchmark for cleanroom, high-tech assembly efficiency.
• Cost & Value Generation Financial Strategy: Set and own the combined financial strategy and operating budgets for battery pack manufacturing.
• Cost Optimization: Drive year-over-year "Total Cost per Unit" (CPU) reductions, critical to Ford's goal of delivering more affordable electric vehicles.
• Build the Best Team: People & Culture Organization Design: Stand up the manufacturing organizational structure, processes, and leadership team for a greenfield operation.
• Workforce Engagement: Build a "One Team" mentality and a first-of-its-kind organizational culture from the ground up, creating an environment where every team member feels heard, valued, and directly connected to leadership.
• Stable, Agile Workforce: Build positive employee relations strategies that keep a newly hired, rapidly growing workforce motivated, trained, and adaptable through a multi-year ramp.
• Talent Pipeline: Partner with Plant Managers to build strong local talent pipelines as these sites scale from launch to full volume.
• Plant Manager Development: Directly lead and develop Plant Managers across BOBM and Indiana Battery Pack, acting as a coach and "leader of leaders."
• Cross-Site Coordination (Dotted Line): Maintain a strong dotted-line partnership with Rawsonville Components Plant leadership — a site under the direct authority of the DOM, Transmission Operations — to align component quality, delivery schedules, and engineering changes impacting battery pack assembly.
• Community Partnership: Serve as a highly visible leader in new plant communities, building trust and local talent pipelines.

Our Preferred Requirements

• +15 years of proven experience in manufacturing, with demonstrated experience launching new/greenfield operations.
• Proven success as a Plant Manager or senior manufacturing leader in high-volume, high-tech, or cleanroom manufacturing environments.
• Demonstrated ability to manage the operational and financial health of multiple facilities simultaneously, including sites at different launch maturity stages.
• Expert-level knowledge of Lean Manufacturing (FPS) and a track record of standing up new manufacturing operations from construction/commissioning through full-volume production.
• Ability to lead through significant industrial disruptions and the ambiguity inherent to first-of-kind operations, with executive presence and a solution-oriented mindset.
• "Leader of leaders" with a history of mentoring high-potential manufacturing talent into senior leadership roles.
• Workforce Relations Expertise: Demonstrated ability to build direct, trusted relationships with a diverse, rapidly scaling workforce; experience navigating both union and non-union labor environments is highly valued.
• Battery, EV, electrochemical, or advanced/high-tech manufacturing experience strongly preferred.
• Master's degree in Engineering or a technical field.
• Direct experience in battery cell or battery pack manufacturing.
• Experience navigating workforce organizing activity in a manufacturing setting.
• Deep manufacturing engineering technical capabilities, including cleanroom and process-control systems.
• Union/Labor Expertise: Extensive experience building and sustaining productive labor relationships in a union (UAW) manufacturing environment, including direct involvement in contract negotiations or renewals.