Sr. Specialist, Manufacturing Engineering

About the role

L3Harris is seeking an Industrial Operations Engineer - Front Loading NPI to serve as the critical bridge between Product Development and Manufacturing Operations throughout the entire NPI stage-gate process, from pre-award phase through production hand-off.

Responsibilities

• Attend technical baseline reviews and understand the scope for the Front Loading Framework
• Understand current operational capabilities, and those required to win the bid successfully using the capability model
• Support red team reviews and ensure cost estimates reflect operations scope and deliverables
• Identify facilities, equipment, safety and staffing requirements from capability model. Work with Operations and Program Management to document plans
• Work with identified functional PoCs on the program (Engineering, Program Management, Business Development, Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain) to plan and initiate Front Loading activities for the program
• Identify operations-specific technology and process improvement special projects required to meet cost, schedule and margin in the bid
• Conduct Front Loading tailoring assessment to determine amount of hours required to deploy Front Loading and incorporate into the Program Transition Window (PTW)
• Develop detailed Design to Cost targets and agree targets with Program Management Team
• Organize and facilitate Challenges, Risks and Opportunities (CRO) Workshops to identify activities to address poor yields, common failure modes, supply chain risks/opportunities, high cost, and long touch/lead times
• Finalize manufacturing, test and production plans. Lead operational aspects of gate reviews
• Contribute manufacturing input into any Make/Buy decisions using the capability model
• Ensure that progress monitoring and tracking of the Frontloading Toolset applications is conducted in the monthly Program reviews
• Monitor schedule throughout effort for material delivery impacts
• Work with operations functional leadership to ensure key toolset roles are defined and filled
• Oversee facility setup, production layouts and specific equipment installations/configurations
• Conduct Design for Manufacturing (DFM) and Design for Assembly (DFA) reviews, providing feedback to engineering teams on manufacturability
• Lead cross-functional NPI teams through stage-gate reviews and readiness assessments
• Develop manufacturing cost models and support cost reduction activities
• Ensure Front Loading assessments are completed at all required gates
• Oversee Product Launch in line with Launch Targets
• Conduct final end item data package review, perform lessons-learned brief and log all required command media and program document updates

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree and minimum 6 years prior related experience
• Graduate Degree with a minimum of 4 years of prior related experience
• In lieu of a degree, minimum of 10 years of prior related experience
• Experience leading product transitions from bid/proposal phase through production hand-off
• Experience with Front Loading methodologies and NPI stage-gate based product transition
• Experience facilitating cross-functional workshops (CRO, 3P events, Design to Cost sessions)
• Experience with setting up manufacturing processes including assembly, test, and integration
• Experience developing Project Charters and presenting business cases to leadership

Preferred Additional Skills

• Experience in aerospace and defense manufacturing environment with bid/proposal support
• Experience in developing and executing capability models and operational readiness assessments
• Understanding of Lean Manufacturing (3P, Standard Work, Value Stream Mapping)
• Knowledge of Design to Cost methodologies
• Experience with capability modeling and operational readiness assessments
• Experience with ERP and PLM systems
• Experience with PFMEA, Control Plans, and APQP methodologies
• Experience with facility layout design and equipment installation planning
• PMP certification is a plus but not a requirement
• Strong facilitation skills for cross-functional workshops and gate reviews
• Understanding of DFx (Manufacturing, Assembly, Test, Automation) principles
• Strong project management skills with ability to manage multiple concurrent programs across the NPI lifecycle phases