Group Leader- 2nd shift

Role Overview

As a Manufacturing Team Lead, you will play a pivotal role in coordinating, guiding, and supporting your team to achieve operational goals. Reporting to the Supervisor, you are responsible for leading a team of production employees while ensuring daily operations are performed safely, efficiently, and in compliance with all quality and regulatory requirements.

This is a working leadership position. In addition to providing leadership and direction, the Team Lead is expected to actively participate in daily production activities, provide hands-on support where needed, assist with troubleshooting, and help remove barriers that impact production flow. The Team Lead leads by example, demonstrating a strong commitment to safety, quality, productivity, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Safety and Risk Awareness
• Promote and maintain a safe work environment by leading through example and ensuring compliance with all safety policies and procedures.
• Identify workplace hazards, address unsafe conditions, and implement preventative measures.
• Immediately escalate safety concerns that cannot be resolved at the team level.
• Ensure safety, quality, compliance, and integrity are never compromised to achieve production targets or schedules.
• Leadership and Team Coordination
• Lead, motivate, coach, and support a team of production employees to achieve daily production goals.
• Foster a positive team environment focused on accountability, collaboration, respect, and continuous improvement.
• Set expectations for performance, attendance, teamwork, and adherence to company policies.
• Working Team Lead Responsibilities
• Actively participate in production activities alongside team members as business needs require.
• Provide hands-on assistance during high-demand periods, staffing shortages, process interruptions, training activities, or production bottlenecks.
• Demonstrate standard work practices and reinforce proper manufacturing techniques.
• Assist with troubleshooting production issues to minimize downtime and maintain workflow.
• Production Performance and Schedule Execution
• Monitor daily production performance, including piece count, critical-path work, throughput, and schedule adherence.
• Ensure production priorities are completed on time while maintaining required quality standards.
• Develop and execute recovery plans when production goals are not achieved.
• Identify production constraints early and escalate equipment, material, staffing, quality, or scheduling issues before they impact customer commitments.
• Collaborate with Supervisors and supporting departments to remove barriers affecting production performance.
• Quality Control and Compliance
• Enforce adherence to all quality requirements, aerospace standards, work instructions, and documented procedures.
• Ensure products are manufactured in accordance with customer, regulatory, and internal requirements.
• Reinforce a culture where quality and compliance are never sacrificed for speed or production output.
• Address quality concerns promptly and escalate issues when necessary.
• Training and Employee Development
• Identify training opportunities and provide day-to-day coaching.
• Support cross-training initiatives to increase workforce flexibility.
• Mentor employees in technical skills, standard work, and continuous improvement practices.
• Assist with onboarding and development of new employees.
• Communication and Reporting
• Maintain effective communication within the team and with Supervisors.
• Communicate production priorities, schedule changes, quality concerns, and safety information.
• Provide timely updates regarding production performance, staffing challenges, and operational issues.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• Respond quickly to production issues and work collaboratively to identify effective solutions.
• Exercise sound judgment while following established procedures.
• Recognize when issues require Supervisor involvement and escalate appropriately.
• Performance Monitoring and Accountability
• Monitor individual and team performance against established goals.
• Provide constructive coaching and recognize positive performance.
• Hold team members accountable for following procedures, meeting expectations, and maintaining workplace standards.
• Support corrective actions in a timely manner while escalating performance concerns appropriately.
• Resource Utilization
• Maximize utilization of manpower, equipment, tooling, and materials.
• Support efficient production flow while minimizing downtime and waste.
• Recommend improvements that enhance productivity and operational efficiency.
• Collaboration
• Work closely with Production, Quality, Engineering, Maintenance, Planning, and other departments to maintain production flow.
• Resolve cross-functional issues through effective communication and teamwork.
• Employee Engagement
• Promote a respectful, positive, and engaged work environment.
• Encourage employee involvement in problem solving and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Recognize team accomplishments and contributions.
• Documentation
• Maintain accurate production records, labor reporting, and documentation.
• Aid in production reporting and performance tracking as required.
• Ensure required documentation is completed accurately and on time.
• Continuous Improvement
• Support Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify opportunities to improve safety, quality, productivity, workflow, and efficiency.
• Stay current with manufacturing best practices and continue developing leadership skills.
• Other Duties
• Perform other duties as assigned by management.
• Demonstrate flexibility by adapting to changing priorities and business demands.
• Support overall team success by assisting wherever needed while maintaining compliance with company standards.

Job Specifications

• High School Diploma and proven experience (typically 3+ years) in the machining field or equivalent knowledge.
• 2-5 years set up experience preferred.
• Strong commitment to safety and the ability to foster a safety-first culture.
• Strong leadership skills, including the ability to inspire and guide teams to prioritize safety in all aspects of operations.
• An understanding of manufacturing processes, production scheduling and operations, industry safety standards, and quality control methodologies.
• Working knowledge of risk assessments, hazard identification, and lean and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
• Attention to detail, problem solving, and analytical skills.
• Proficiency with computer skills, MS Office, Manufacturing software, etc.