Production Manager - 2nd Shift

About the role

Luna Innovations Incorporated (Luna) is a global leader in fiber optic test and measurement and distributed sensing, trusted by aerospace manufacturers, defense contractors, research institutions, and commercial operators worldwide. We are a team of innovators who engineer, manufacture, and relentlessly pursue quality, driven by a shared commitment to exceeding our customers' expectations. Our Chino, CA location develops and manufactures precision optical polarization components, modules, and test equipment critical to optical communications, silicon photonics testing, and fiber optic sensing applications worldwide. This role owns full production performance for Chino's 2nd shift: output, quality, safety, and people leadership across Team Leads and technicians manufacturing Chino's polarization and optical/photonics test and measurement products. This is an office-based leadership role, not a production floor position, though it requires regular, hands-on presence on the floor to directly supervise 2nd shift activity. It carries high-visibility scope, reporting directly to the VP of Operations, with room to grow into broader accountability spanning shift-level P&L, cross-site coordination, and site strategic planning as Chino's needs evolve. Travel is minimal, generally under 10%, primarily for occasional coordination with other Luna sites.

Responsibilities

• Own the 2nd shift production plan: scheduling and assigning personnel, establishing priorities, monitoring progress, revising schedules, and reporting shift production summaries against throughput, quality/yield, on-time delivery, and scrap targets.
• Directly supervise 2nd shift Team Leads and technicians; hire, train, and develop staff; ensure clean handoffs with 1st shift leadership on WIP, quality holds, and priority changes.
• Maintain workflow by monitoring process steps and control points, implementing cost reductions, and driving continuous improvement on the floor.
• Lead department goals for safety, quality, and operations while maximizing 2nd shift output; own shift-level safety compliance, incident response, and environmental/health regulation adherence.
• Partner with Quality to sustain calibration and inspection standards and drive non-conformance/corrective action closure on shift.
• Ensure equipment uptime by coordinating repairs and evaluating new equipment and techniques with Engineering; maintain working relationships across departments to keep them informed of manufacturing issues.
• Resolve personnel problems by analyzing data, investigating issues, and recommending action; manage staffing, scheduling, and overtime for 2nd shift in partnership with HR.
• Serve as a key point of contact for 2nd shift operations.