Vehicle Production Manager

About the role

This role is a unique opportunity to drive innovation in underwater vehicle systems, maritime sensors, subsea telemetry, and ISR solutions that support critical defense and national security missions at Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific (NIWC PAC). The selected candidate will be part of an elite, top-notch group and will be responsible for overseeing and managing the acceptance, testing, and certification of unmanned maritime vehicles for a rapid-paced, high-priority project.

Responsibilities

• Cook with NIWC Vehicle SMEs to review vehicle system data and address unforeseen technical issues.
• Support the Test Director with planning and executing at-sea Factory Acceptance Tests (FATs), performance testing, and certification checks.
• Manage and maintain the Master Production Schedule (MPS) along with system software and hardware baseline milestones.
• Engage with industry partners on schedules, issues, and resources that impact NIWC’s ability to deliver fully tested and operational vehicles on schedule.
• Keep NIWC project leadership (PM, DPM, LSE, and Vehicle Lab Lead) informed of risks, issues, and challenges.
• Oversee the configuration of vehicles to support sponsor requirements.
• Generate vehicle readiness reports and track the status of each vehicle’s issues/failures.
• Manage vehicle inventory, materials, parts, and procurement of lab supplies.
• Prepare procurement requests for the production or purchase of components or parts based on the Master Production Schedule, shop load, and inventory requirements.
• Manage vehicle production lab space and test equipment.
• Manage local test procedures, tools, and equipment for conducting vehicle preparation, checkout, and post data offload for each system and at-sea event.
• Coincide with industry partners to develop in-lab test procedures, plans, tools, and equipment to ensure proper Factory and Government Acceptance Testing.
• Liaison between Engineering/R&D and Production teams.
• Implement, manage, and oversee quality assurance and configuration management programs for the vehicle production effort.
• Analyze data to inform operational decisions or activities.
• Affect significant improvements in projects, processes, and solutions to enhance results.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizen with ability to obtain TOP SECRET security clearance; active SECRET clearance required.
• Bachelor’s (or higher) degree from an accredited institution and 5+ years of relevant experience.
• Process-oriented and attention to detail.
• Strong leadership skills.
• Experience working with and managing small groups.
• Must be flexible and responsive to customer needs.
• Frequent movement around piers, docks, and facility spaces.
• Requires frequent movement around piers, docks, and facility spaces.
• Requires work in various temperatures and inclement weather.
• Requires work in /or in loud production environments.
• Supervise 1+ personnel in their daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly activities and provide mentoring, guidance, and career discussions for direct report employee(s).
• Be responsible for hiring, firing, raises, promotions, and all HR associated actions for direct report employee(s).

Preferred Qualifications, Skills, And Experience

• System production experience.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and teamwork abilities.
• Highly organized and able to prioritize tasks for team members.
• Ability to read, understand, and interpret complex technical documents.
• Strong problem solving and troubleshooting skills.
• UUV testing experience (or general at-sea test experience).
• Project management experience.
• Experience with Microsoft Office and Visio.
• Experience with Open Project is a plus.
• Ability to operate crane/davit.
• Capable of supporting at-sea testing is a plus.
• Small boat certified (or willingness to get certified) is a plus.